Water heaters

[Marguerite Becker]

I was wondering if anyone has installed one of the PrecisionTemp Shower-Mate Marine Water Heaters. For someone who dearly loves a hot shower, the concept of having a steady supply of hot water is certainly intriguing but I'm skeptical without knowing anyone with first hand experience. Any owner comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.I've added the link to the site for reference.Marguerite new Hunter 356 owner

 

[Ron]

My experience

I tried one of the elcetrical type. The problem is that the effectiveness of this type of heater is in direct proportion to how many gal per min you are using. I had to restrict the flow to a trickle(not really but certainly much slower than desired) for the flow rate to be such that the heater had enough contact time to heat the water. In addition the electric one required an enormous amount of power. Secondly the price for a shower at $1450 seems very high. Home Depot sells one for your whole house for less than this. I realize this is different but without a liberal return policy I would be careful. They are certainly not like you may be use to. Look at the Spec 88 degrees increase at one gallon per minute. This a substantial increase but what is it a 4 gpm which is pretty slow. 22 degrees increase. This means if your water is at 80 degrees then your hot shower will be a 102. Not a very hot shower.

 

[Clyde]

This has been discussed before.

If you check the archives, this has been discussed numerous times before. The Precision water heater is a little on the high side in price. "Live Aboard" sailors have installed either a Paloma or Bosch water heater used for residential use. The Bosch unit is a lot cheaper than the Precision unit. A Hunter 34 owner had put one in and seems to be happy with it, check the link I found in the archive. Hope this helps.Fair Winds.Clyde