I have a CAPE DORY 33 and have to replace the water heater. The sail locker is the only way in or out. The water heater is 14" dia. If I strip the insulation I can ge it down to about 12". However, the sail locker is barely that dimention.Any ideas?
KJDORY@aol.com
Replacing water heater
Moderator: Jim Walsh
-
Tom
Re: Replacing water heater
Since you speak of diameter, I'm guessing you have the original Raritan water heater. On my 31 it came right out through the port cockpit locker with a little pushing and shoving. Of course, you strip off everything you can and push in the sides etc. The square stainless ones by Atlantis go right through. If worse comes to worse, you can always take your Sawzall and cut it in two. Of course, if you put a hatch in your cockpit sole you can make it big enough to put a water heater through also.
BTW when you put the new heater in, they often get an air lock and cause your engine to overheat. There is a trick to getting the air bubble out. There are some posts about this in the archives and when/if you get to that point write me directly for more specific information if need be. Keeping the zinc up in your heat exchanger helps prevent electrolysis inside the water heater although doesn't totally prevent it in most cases. Since you're going to be ripping everything apart in both the coolant and fresh water circuits anyway, you might want to test the heat exchanger while you're at it. If the heater is bad, the heat exchanger might be also -- or is close to going bad. Just like in your car the coolant has to be completely replaced from time to time. If you haven't done it lately or don't know how long it's been, this is a convenient time to do that also. An ounce of preventative maintenance is worth a pound of the proverbial cure later on.
TomCambria@mindspring.com
BTW when you put the new heater in, they often get an air lock and cause your engine to overheat. There is a trick to getting the air bubble out. There are some posts about this in the archives and when/if you get to that point write me directly for more specific information if need be. Keeping the zinc up in your heat exchanger helps prevent electrolysis inside the water heater although doesn't totally prevent it in most cases. Since you're going to be ripping everything apart in both the coolant and fresh water circuits anyway, you might want to test the heat exchanger while you're at it. If the heater is bad, the heat exchanger might be also -- or is close to going bad. Just like in your car the coolant has to be completely replaced from time to time. If you haven't done it lately or don't know how long it's been, this is a convenient time to do that also. An ounce of preventative maintenance is worth a pound of the proverbial cure later on.
Ken Jones wrote: I have a CAPE DORY 33 and have to replace the water heater. The sail locker is the only way in or out. The water heater is 14" dia. If I strip the insulation I can ge it down to about 12". However, the sail locker is barely that dimention.Any ideas?
TomCambria@mindspring.com
-
Ken Jones
Re: Replacing water heater
TomTom wrote: Since you speak of diameter, I'm guessing you have the original Raritan water heater. On my 31 it came right out through the port cockpit locker with a little pushing and shoving. Of course, you strip off everything you can and push in the sides etc. The square stainless ones by Atlantis go right through. If worse comes to worse, you can always take your Sawzall and cut it in two. Of course, if you put a hatch in your cockpit sole you can make it big enough to put a water heater through also.
BTW when you put the new heater in, they often get an air lock and cause your engine to overheat. There is a trick to getting the air bubble out. There are some posts about this in the archives and when/if you get to that point write me directly for more specific information if need be. Keeping the zinc up in your heat exchanger helps prevent electrolysis inside the water heater although doesn't totally prevent it in most cases. Since you're going to be ripping everything apart in both the coolant and fresh water circuits anyway, you might want to test the heat exchanger while you're at it. If the heater is bad, the heat exchanger might be also -- or is close to going bad. Just like in your car the coolant has to be completely replaced from time to time. If you haven't done it lately or don't know how long it's been, this is a convenient time to do that also. An ounce of preventative maintenance is worth a pound of the proverbial cure later on.
Ken Jones wrote: I have a CAPE DORY 33 and have to replace the water heater. The sail locker is the only way in or out. The water heater is 14" dia. If I strip the insulation I can ge it down to about 12". However, the sail locker is barely that dimention.Any ideas?
Thank you for your information on the water heater. I will use his procedure of removal and I have already looked at the Atlantis T
series, 6 gal.Could you send me the tip on getting the air out of the water heater? I just replaced my heat exchanger 2 years ago along wih all the hoses. Once again Thank You!
KJDORY@aol.com
-
Tom
Re: Replacing water heater
There was a discussion about this a month or two ago, so you might look in the archives as others had suggestions also. The only thing that worked for me was this system. What happens is that if you hook the coolant hoses up and then pour coolant into the reservoir tank to replace the air, the air rises to the highest point of the system which is the top of your water heater. It forms a sort of vapor lock there which doesn't allow coolant to circulate. So it's like having a bad themostat even though you don't. The hot coolant goes round and round inside the engine and in about 10 minutes boils, because it never gets to the heat exchanger to be cooled off with the raw water in the heat exchanger. Thus there is plenty of water coming out the exhaust, but it isn't cooling the coolant.
What you have to do is get the air out of the water heater. To do this you pull the coolant hose off and blow into it as hard as you can. You have to blow hard enough to compress the air in the heater and force it into the hose where it can be circulated out through the resevoir tank. So you take the cap off the expansion tank and then blow so hard your eyeballs pop out. You can hear the air bubble up through the expansion tank when it leaves. You do this while the engine isn't running, of course, and put your thumb over the fitting on the expansion tank so the coolant doesn't run out. The idea is not to let any new air into the system.
Pne thing you might try which I am going to do next time is to lay the water heater on it's back before installing it. Pour coolant into it until it is full righ to the brim of both fittings. Then attach the coolant hoses while coolant is flowing out of them. Now set the water heater in place and secure it with the hoses already attached. It sseems to me this would not trap air in the heater and you'd be all right without the blowing trick. BUT I haven't actually tried this yet, it's just a theory of mine. If after you've got everything ready and you start the engine and see that the temperature just keeps climbing and in about 15 or 20 minutes it overheats then the most likely thing is that you have an air lock and you can go back to blowing the lines to clear the air lock. It took me a week to figure this out the first time. At $ 50 an hour you owe me about a thousand dollars in time saved, but since you're a reader of the Cape Dory BB we'll forego the charge and just wish you good luck.
Ain't Walt's board great!
P.S. For some reason the fresh water lines don't need this procedure, just the coolant side.
TomCambria@mindspring.com
What you have to do is get the air out of the water heater. To do this you pull the coolant hose off and blow into it as hard as you can. You have to blow hard enough to compress the air in the heater and force it into the hose where it can be circulated out through the resevoir tank. So you take the cap off the expansion tank and then blow so hard your eyeballs pop out. You can hear the air bubble up through the expansion tank when it leaves. You do this while the engine isn't running, of course, and put your thumb over the fitting on the expansion tank so the coolant doesn't run out. The idea is not to let any new air into the system.
Pne thing you might try which I am going to do next time is to lay the water heater on it's back before installing it. Pour coolant into it until it is full righ to the brim of both fittings. Then attach the coolant hoses while coolant is flowing out of them. Now set the water heater in place and secure it with the hoses already attached. It sseems to me this would not trap air in the heater and you'd be all right without the blowing trick. BUT I haven't actually tried this yet, it's just a theory of mine. If after you've got everything ready and you start the engine and see that the temperature just keeps climbing and in about 15 or 20 minutes it overheats then the most likely thing is that you have an air lock and you can go back to blowing the lines to clear the air lock. It took me a week to figure this out the first time. At $ 50 an hour you owe me about a thousand dollars in time saved, but since you're a reader of the Cape Dory BB we'll forego the charge and just wish you good luck.
Ain't Walt's board great!P.S. For some reason the fresh water lines don't need this procedure, just the coolant side.
Ken Jones wrote:Tom wrote: Since you speak of diameter, I'm guessing you have the original Raritan water heater. On my 31 it came right out through the port cockpit locker with a little pushing and shoving. Of course, you strip off everything you can and push in the sides etc. The square stainless ones by Atlantis go right through. If worse comes to worse, you can always take your Sawzall and cut it in two. Of course, if you put a hatch in your cockpit sole you can make it big enough to put a water heater through also.
BTW when you put the new heater in, they often get an air lock and cause your engine to overheat. There is a trick to getting the air bubble out. There are some posts about this in the archives and when/if you get to that point write me directly for more specific information if need be. Keeping the zinc up in your heat exchanger helps prevent electrolysis inside the water heater although doesn't totally prevent it in most cases. Since you're going to be ripping everything apart in both the coolant and fresh water circuits anyway, you might want to test the heat exchanger while you're at it. If the heater is bad, the heat exchanger might be also -- or is close to going bad. Just like in your car the coolant has to be completely replaced from time to time. If you haven't done it lately or don't know how long it's been, this is a convenient time to do that also. An ounce of preventative maintenance is worth a pound of the proverbial cure later on.
Ken Jones wrote: I have a CAPE DORY 33 and have to replace the water heater. The sail locker is the only way in or out. The water heater is 14" dia. If I strip the insulation I can ge it down to about 12". However, the sail locker is barely that dimention.Any ideas?
Tom
Thank you for your information on the water heater. I will use his procedure of removal and I have already looked at the Atlantis T
series, 6 gal.Could you send me the tip on getting the air out of the water heater? I just replaced my heat exchanger 2 years ago along wih all the hoses. Once again Thank You!
TomCambria@mindspring.com
-
Chris Scheck
Blowing out your lines ...
Good idea about blowing out the heater lines. You might try using a compressor to do that instead of lung power. One of those little battery powered compressors for tires would probably work. And I hear that scuba divers use air tanks for all sorts of things like that. Auto parts stores have portable air tanks you can pump up at a gas station and then take to the job ... I've used them to blow dust off the teak before I varnish. They don't last very long though, not much air in them.
Chris Scheck
RAGTIME CD33
Newport
cscheck@aol.com
Chris Scheck
RAGTIME CD33
Newport
cscheck@aol.com