Heater tank Shut off valve for Bavaria 32.

[ICENI]

Recently I spent my first two weeks on board my new to me (secondhand) 2002 Bavaria 32.

Whilst there, I attempted to try out the water heater as the boat is laid up ashore.

Beforehand, I attempted to ascertain if the tank had been drained at all so as to take care not to overheat the immersion heater.   I also checked the variouse pipework for a shut off valve to no avail!   There was no warning  on or near the tank about danger of overheating.

I also checked the line and neutral pins of the Immersion heater connection plug and got the lowish resistance one would expect from a heater element.

Next I switched on the 13 amp plug heater supply socket and after a few minutes checked for warm water.   There was none.   I then rechecked the resistance on the supply plug pins.   Still a normal resistance.   I therefore switched on the heater again.

Still no hot water!   A recheck of the resistance -  and horror of horrors there was now no resistance!

After waiting some time for the thermostat to cool down, I rechecked things.   Fortunately now back to the original resistance of the water heater.   

Can anyone advise me if there is a shut off valve in the water supply feed pipe and if so, where is it located please?

[Yngmar]

There is none on our boat of similar vintage. But if you turn on a hot water tap anywhere in the boat and pressurized water comes out, then the tank must be receiving pressurized water.

There is a thermal breaker on the tank heating element, if you turn the thermostat all the way to one or the other side, the hole in the yellow setting dial will reveal the breaker. Push in to reset.

Takes a lot longer than a few minutes to get hot water from the 800W element by the way. Check after an hour

[Fenders]

On our B32 (2004) we have a Quick water heater which operates on shore power. Yours may be the same.
It is very efficient and from cold it will heat a tankful in 15/20 minutes.
I agree with everything else Yngmar has mentioned.
When you turned on the heater did the red light on the panel illuminate?
I recall seeing that our tank has its own mains socket(2 pin). I don’t know how this is connected into the electrical panel at the chart table. But I guess you have already checked the electrics from the panel all the way back to the heater.

[Salty]

My water heater is controlled from a switch on the mains 240volt control panel as marked in the first photo below. That switch is fed power from the rear side of the mains breaker switch as shown in the second photo. Examining the reverse of the mains panel and looking at the reverse of the water heater switch which is next to the mains breaker will show the live and neutral connections coming into the switch from the mains breaker. Unfortunately I don’t remember which of the wires on the breaker switch connected to the water heater, but this should be easy to see with the mains panel removed from the bulkhead.

WARNING, REMEMBER TO UNPLUG YOUR MAINS SUPPLY CABLE AND TAKE STEPS TO ENSURE THAT IT CANNOT BE RECONNECTED WHILE YOU ARE WORKING ON THE MAINS PANEL.

To remove the mains panel there are four fixed bolts, one in each corner of the mains panel and to which there is a wing nut securing each of the bolts. With the power off you can reach behind the mains panel to unscrew each of the wing nuts, and the panel can then be pulled away from the plywood bulkhead. The neutral wire is attached into the first layer of connections to the breaker with the positive wire is connected into one of the second layers of connections.
To replace the mains panel simply insert the bolts on the reverse of the panel into their respective holes in the plywood bulkhead. Next comes the tricky bit of replacing a wing nut onto each of the bolts without dropping it into the myriad of wires you can feel behind that panel, but which many you can’t see let alone feel your way past to pick up a lone wing nut. Good luck with that !!

[ICENI]

Thankyou Salty.