calorifier re-location

[blue-max]

I'm not sure of the size of the original calorifier but I reckon its not much  bigger than 15lts. I'd like to  replace it with a bigger one.  Its located in the engine room cramped in behind the gearbox and on the port side of the prop shaft under the generator platform. Using this location would allow space for a calorifier 30cm  diameter 50cm in length - perhaps 20 lts. I was wondering if I could use the space in the saloon bilge to  place the calorifer. I have not measured the space available under the floor but wonder if there are any issues pacing the calorifer further away from the the engine. Anyone have experience or views about this?     

[Yngmar]

One consideration is the increased volume of engine coolant needed to fill the longer pipe run. You'll probably also want to insulate the hoses if they leave the engine room. It'll also take longer to heat up all that water before it reaches usable temperatures. All this for 5 liters more?

[blue-max]

Re-heat time will not be an issue, nor do  I think  would be increased engine freshwater coolant - might take a bit longer for engine to  get up  to  temperature? It would provide an opportunity to  clear out most of the service water pipes from the engine compartment - its such  a messy  installation. I am also  wondering whether it would be feasible to  have a purpose made calorifier to  fit the space - can't be more expensive than standard units ( I'm thinking fabrication in Turkey or maybe Bulgaria)

[Jeffatoms]

We have an Ocean 38 and we were unhappy with the OEM calorifier/hot water heater (Nordic?) as we didnt like the volume provided by such a small unit so we designed and built one just for us.

We went from a 6 gallon horizontal oriented model to an 18 gallon custom vertical model as we had the space and vertical is much more efficient.  It features both a 24 volt DC/600watt/25 amp electrical element and a 120 VAC/1500 watt /13 amp electrical element.  It also has two independent heating coil  loops, one for engine coolant and one connected to our Espar hydronic diesel cabin heater.  One happy user reported that it sustained a party of four with daily showers, dish washing and all other needs for a week relying on just solar power.  We have made others with 12 VDC and 220/240 VAC.

Hopefully this doesn't come across as self-promotion or advertising a product, it's just that I designed it privately for myself and my Bavaria Ocean 38 and it began selling itself to other boaters and yacht manufacturers.  I snapped the enclosed photos today of one headed to Tiawan to be installed in a new Hylas 57, the Sailboat of The Year for 2022 by Cruising World.  Note the upper heat exchanger coil is capped with black covers in the attached photo.


The unit stands 32.5 inches tall and the cylindar is 16 inches in diameter.  It resides behind the saildrive in our engine room and sits on a self-leveling platform.

If you are interested in more please contact me privately. 

[blue-max]

Hello Jeffatoms,
Very interesting, only thing that surprises me is that more people have not tried this. I've decided, after changing the 240v heating element to stick with the original installation. When the ambient temp is 30 degrees + its cool water that's needed!