The previous owner had disconnected the water heater (Attwood 6 gal.) when the boat was put up last fall. I'm in the process of of getting the water system hooked up for the season and wondering what the procedure was for hooking things back up. The hot and cold water hoses appear to be connected together, I assume when it was winterized. The water heater has one open fitting and one with a hose leading under the galley sink but open on the other end. Does anyone have a plumbing diagram I could use to show the proper routing of the lines and should I flush out the antifreeze before or after I reattach the lines to the water heater. Also, how I can I tell the intake side of the heater from the discharge side? They don't seem to be labeled.
Spring Commissioning, Water Heater
- Thread starter ChuckH
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It's simple..
Cold water line (incoming) attaches to the fitting at the bottom of the water heater...hot water line (outgoing) attaches to the fitting at the top.
The manual for Atwood water heaters includes a diagram...only took me 3 mouse clicks to find it on the web in about 15 seconds. You can also find it that quickly by googling "atwood marine water heater."
Recommission the system before reconnecting the water heater. I've posted instructions for doing that a number of times...you can find them by searching for "fresh water maintenance" in the forums here.
Cold water line (incoming) attaches to the fitting at the bottom of the water heater...hot water line (outgoing) attaches to the fitting at the top.
The manual for Atwood water heaters includes a diagram...only took me 3 mouse clicks to find it on the web in about 15 seconds. You can also find it that quickly by googling "atwood marine water heater."
Recommission the system before reconnecting the water heater. I've posted instructions for doing that a number of times...you can find them by searching for "fresh water maintenance" in the forums here.
Doesn’t sound good, Chuck.. There should be two hoses going back to the engine coolant system.. the cold and hot potable water should not be connected together.. The suspicious side of me says that the PO had a leak in the tank and bypassed it, but did it in such a way that when you open a hot water faucet, ya get water.. I think I would carefully pressure test the tank before attempting to re commission it. Easiest would be to connect the hot and cold water lines up and pressurize with the house pressure water. Open the hot water faucets and blow thru until no air comes out.. then close and let sit.. with the water pressure on. Remove the tank end of the coolant hoses and look for drips out of it .. leave the pressure on the tank for a few hours and look for water around the base of the tank.. The hot and cold fittings will have threads and the engine coolant fittings will be male hose barbs.. Good luck ! ( I hope I am not correct on this one)
Ah Ha.. I erroneously read the open fitting and hose to mean engine coolant fittings.. On re-read, it sounds more like the open fittings are part of the bypass scheme.. and the engine coolant fittings aren't located.. Sorry for the mis-read..
Chuck...
if one fitting is near the bottom and the other is near the top, consider the bottom one "Cold In" and the top one "Hot Out".
Be sure the water heater is "full" before turning it back on electrically after reconnecting the hose or you will risk burning out the heating element.
if one fitting is near the bottom and the other is near the top, consider the bottom one "Cold In" and the top one "Hot Out".
Be sure the water heater is "full" before turning it back on electrically after reconnecting the hose or you will risk burning out the heating element.
Dave, 15 to 20 minutes. Many people incorrectly think that they can simply leave the 120 V breaker to the heater on all the time, like in their house. I don't recommend it. Heat the water, turn off the breaker, run it out, and then heat it again for 20 minutes. 6 gallons lasts a long time, even if you use it for showering on board.
Also, try this: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5836.0.html
Also, try this: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5836.0.html
Why Stu?
I keep mine on all the time. If I did not live aboard I would turn it off when not needed.
Reason is on my old Seaward I don't trust the temperature gauge/shutoff, if indeed there even is one on the AC side. I just don't like to leave AC on anything unless it's actively required. We also rarely plug in, mostly when we're visiting another marina. Just a habit. Plus the "rotten egg" syndrome I linked to in my last post.
Thanks for the replies. My water heater has the inlet and dischage hoses at about the same level, but upon closer inspection I did notice an "H" and "C" stamped into the heater so connecting everything went pretty smooth. I flushed the anti freeze out of the system then reconnected the heater and filled. It did take longer than I thought to fill, which brings me to another question. There is a valve that opens near the top of the heater that I assume bleeds the air when filling. Should this be open when filling the heater. When I did open this while the water was going into the heater, it sounded as if the heater would fill quicker. Sorry for my ignorance, but this system is all new to me. My previous boat had a 5 gal. tank for water and a simple hand pump at the faucet, cold water only.
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