Hot Water Heater 330 Grady Express

[mfl1375]

I have a 2004 and have had it for a couple years. Love it BTW.

I was looking to heat the fresh water, but everywhere (the manual, the power switch board) said "make sure there is water in the water heater." So the question is how do you get water in the water heater or when one fills the boat with fresh water, does the water heater fill? The guage was on empty, so I didnt turn it on, but the guage might not be working? Any info appreciated as my internet and manual searches came up empty, no pun intended.

Thanks.

 

[kirk a]

I don't know the official answer, but what I did earlier this summer was to fill the water tank on the boat. After powering the fresh water, I then turned on one of the hot water spigots (bathroom or kitchen) ran water for a few minutes. Water flowed nicely, so I then held my breath and powered up the heater. 20 minutes later had one of the best showers of my life!

 

[wspitler]

The water heater is normally full at all times as it is a part of the water system. If you open a faucet on the hot water side of a sink and water comes out, it is coming from the heater. Just like your house. It takes about 10 minutes with AC power and the switch on for the water to get hot.

 

[HMBJack]

Bill has it correct above

On another note - on my boat (2006 330), when the hot water got fully hot - the clear reinforced hose that attaches to an elbow there POPPED OFF!

This resulted in Niagra Falls happening on the inside starboard side and down into the aft berth. I didn't know this was happening due to all the other ambient noise while operating the boat. Of course the FW pump runs and runs until the 50G tank is empty. So I relocated ALL of my FW into my aft berth and bilge!

Evidently, when the water gets real hot, on my 15 year old hose and hose clamp, the rubber in the hose softened up and let loose. What a mess to clean up! Now I double clamped everything near the water heater - so far so good. I should look into a elbow with a longer barb so as to better hold Two hose clamps. The current one is a bit short for this...

I however am still concerned about it and only turn on the hot water if I really need it. Anyone else experience this?

 

[DennisG01]

Yup - the hot water heater will always fill before you can get pressure anywhere else. Meaning, if you've already been using your fresh water tank, the HWH has been full this whole time. It may not be completely full though (air pocket) - so opening a hot faucet till a good stream comes out is needed. Another easy method is to just open the expansion valve till water exits. Ideally the expansion valve is plumbed overboard - but some boats simply have it dump into the bilge.

 

[Flot]

The expansion valve on the 330 drips onto the holding tank below it.

HMB your thermostat may not be working properly - like you, I discovered that leaving the 20 year old hot water heater on too long does something - in my case it triggered the expansion valve and I had a minor drip to below.

I was surprised at just how fast it heated up. I was really just running it to exercise my generator, but I think in most boating conditions you'd have plenty of hot water after 10 mins of the heater being on.

 

[mfl1375]

Thanks everyone