Calorifier

[claymore]

Anyone got one?

[Nick]

.

Anyone got one?

Yes, loads of people.

[So_Sage_of_Lorne]

aye I have one.

[claymore]

Do you get the biggest that will fit
The biggest you can afford
The smallest you need for the regular crew
The one that somehow relates to the amount of water you can store in your tanks?

[So_Sage_of_Lorne]

The overriding factor will be how much water you carry.

We carry 70 gallions (320 L) and the calorifier holds about 25 litres (5.5 gals)

[claymore]

Ah - do you have a shower or is that for washing and washing up?

[sahona]

I've got one ~ it was on the big list I invested in when we got Sahona. However, it's still in the shed. I can't make up my mind where to site it. Was going to but it in beside the engine, so short pipes to the coil, but we have a gas geyser in the galley, and Kath likes it....... so I would have to pipe the two in series. Now I'm looking at the locker under the stb'd berth in the spare room, but I think I may have to dismantle everything to get it in. It's a "C-Warm" compact 20 and is bigger than I thought it would be (or the boat is smaller ~ yes that's it, I didn't measure carefully enough and bought in haste)
I'll be interested in your solution.........

[So_Sage_of_Lorne]

Yes, shower etc

To be fair, we haven't used the thing in anger yet.
The boat designed for long Passages and extended cruising so the ratio should be about right.

I understand that you keep the hot very hot to use a high proportion of cold in the mix.

[claymore]

Like Bill we have a gas heater in the Galley but my insurers have asked me to get rid of it as it doesn't have a flamesafe thingy.

I've looked at some calorifiers and could fit a 40 litre one to the bulkhead in front of the engine. Will now need to rip the galley apart to fit a new tap and the sink is looking a bit ancient and so why not go the whole hog and have a new worktop and fix a shower mixer tap in the bathroom and a shower unit into the floor - will I need to fit a holding tank for shower water?
What a parlaver.

[BigNick]

Ours will provide enough for two reasonable showers - I am guessing its at least 25litres. The snag is that if you rest up for the night, have a decent nosh, do all the washing up etc, the tank then refils with cold water. So even though you might use say half a tank of hot, you end up with a full tank of only just warm enough for a wash the next morning.

Definitely better than nothing though. Would strongly recommend an immersion heater if you spend more than a couple of nights a year close to a mains electric supply - which I am guessing doesnt actually happen in Scotlandshire.

I think you need to fit the biggest one possible that will fit in a suitable space. I dont see where the size of the cold tanks would come into the equation.

[So_Sage_of_Lorne]

I think you need to fit the biggest one possible that will fit in a suitable space. I don't see where the size of the cold tanks would come into the equation.[/quote]

The water for the Calorifier has to come from the cold tanks, their has to be a ratio which provides the optimum balance, not much use having a load of hot water and no cold.

[claymore]

Thats what I was thinking. We have 40 gallons storage for cold water so I guess 40 litres is going to be ok. Just hope it doesn't ake me back to owning a landrover where you are topping it up at every occasion - just in case

[aquaplane]

I've no experience of hot water on a boat other than a Coleman instant jobbie on Seminole. The shower waste just goes through the floor grating into the bilge under the head.

A manual bilge pump then gets rid of it over the side, no holding tank, have the rules changed?

I don't know if my parents are particularly tight with water but they get wet, stop the shower, then soap up and wash everywhere, then rinse off. They even put the kettle full of water it takes untill the hot comes through into the kettle.

There isn't much point tied to a pontoon in Tarbert but if you are away from a tap for a couple of weeks I can see the point in being frugal.

[DaveS]

The snag is that if you rest up for the night, have a decent nosh, do all the washing up etc, the tank then refils with cold water. So even though you might use say half a tank of hot, you end up with a full tank of only just warm enough for a wash the next morning.

I hesitate to comment, since I don't (yet) possess a calorifier, but the normal arrangement with a hot water storage tank is to draw the hot water off from the top and fill with cold at the bottom. That way the hot stays at the top (stratification) and doesn't mix with the cold to give a tank of tepid. The latter will happen if the tank contents are stirred, e.g. by briefly operating a low level immersion heater.

[claymore]

Ah, the old aqua-science....its all a mystery to me.