Replacement of Hot water heater

[ReelMagic]

Have a 2003 38 Open w/cummins 450 HP engines. Believe the hot water heater located in the engine room on the starboard side is leaking so I plan to replace with the same 11 gallon unit... Looks like it can be pulled out without taking the heat exchanger off the starboard engine... Has anyone replaced the hot water heater and if so did it come out with out major surgery. Looks like it will come out but looking for help.

As an update to my above post..... Completed the replacement today...... Can't get the 11 gallon unit out unless you remove the outer sheet metal skin and the insulation.... Once removed the tank, it's a cylinder, comes out with room to spare.... Reversed the process to reinstall. Took the stainless sheet metal skin off the new hot water heater, protected the insulation with a plastic bag and placed the tank into the boat. Once in the boat, in the original place (outboard forward side of the starboard motor) I reinstalled the sheet metal skin then screwed down the unit. Reinstalled all plumbing and hooked it up electrically.... All good now....... Trick is to take the sheet metal case off the water heater and re-install once in place...... BTW the tank had a crack on the bottom. Don't understand why as it has always been drained for the winter.... Oh well its done and we're back in business.... Hope this helps someone else that has to replace the hot water heater on a 38 Open.

[ReelMagic]

Completed the replacement of the heater. See original post for process

[trit21]

Was there a reason you decided to NOT install one of those InstaHot water heaters? vs the original? Would love to hear if you thought about it and why decided against it. 

[ReelMagic]

I did look into the "InstaHot water heaters" and felt they didn't provide the capacity the original 11 gallon Seaward Hot Water heater did..... We travel extensively and use the boats shower every night sometimes doing dishes at the same time and never ran out of hot water. Also we use the outside transom shower quite a bit with the grand kids and adults during the day when at anchor and the generator is off relying on the stored hot water from the tank. Overall we've been quite pleased with the stored hot water and capacity provided by the original Seaward Hot Water heater/tank... It was worth the effort to replace with the original as designed by Tiara......M2C

[trit21]

Those were my thoughts as well just was wondering if you happen to another reason I did not think of, thanks, you have a great boat BTW. 

[CaptBrett]

Have a 2003 38 Open w/cummins 450 HP engines. Believe the hot water heater located in the engine room on the starboard side is leaking so I plan to replace with the same 11 gallon unit... Looks like it can be pulled out without taking the heat exchanger off the starboard engine... Has anyone replaced the hot water heater and if so did it come out with out major surgery. Looks like it will come out but looking for help.

As an update to my above post..... Completed the replacement today...... Can't get the 11 gallon unit out unless you remove the outer sheet metal skin and the insulation.... Once removed the tank, it's a cylinder, comes out with room to spare.... Reversed the process to reinstall. Took the stainless sheet metal skin off the new hot water heater, protected the insulation with a plastic bag and placed the tank into the boat. Once in the boat, in the original place (outboard forward side of the starboard motor) I reinstalled the sheet metal skin then screwed down the unit. Reinstalled all plumbing and hooked it up electrically.... All good now....... Trick is to take the sheet metal case off the water heater and re-install once in place...... BTW the tank had a crack on the bottom. Don't understand why as it has always been drained for the winter.... Oh well its done and we're back in business.... Hope this helps someone else that has to replace the hot water heater on a 38 Open.

Hello i have a 01 38' open same engines as yours. My Hot water heater isn't heating at all, don't see any leaks. Any suggestions???


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[ReelMagic]

As your water heater produces hot water in 2 ways; one via a cal-rod electric heater using 110volts and the second using the hot water from the fresh water engine cooling.....Need to know if you have hot water after running the boat for an hour or so.... If you do then the cal-rod electric heating system is not working correctly. Check the circuit breaker for the hot water heater under the stair on the main circuit panel... Make sure its on and providing 110 volts to the water heater... If power is going to the heater then I would guess the cal-rod itself is NG....... Would need to replace if its the cal-rod.....BTW if you have turned the Hot Water heater circuit breker "ON" with NO water in the hot water tank it's a strong possibility you burned the cal-rod out..... The cal-rod gets very hot very fast and without it being submerged in water it will burn out.... M2C

[CaptBrett]

As your water heater produces hot water in 2 ways; one via a cal-rod electric heater using 110volts and the second using the hot water from the fresh water engine cooling.....Need to know if you have hot water after running the boat for an hour or so.... If you do then the cal-rod electric heating system is not working correctly. Check the circuit breaker for the hot water heater under the stair on the main circuit panel... Make sure its on and providing 110 volts to the water heater... If power is going to the heater then I would guess the cal-rod itself is NG....... Would need to replace if its the cal-rod.....BTW if you have turned the Hot Water heater circuit breker "ON" with NO water in the hot water tank it's a strong possibility you burned the cal-rod out..... The cal-rod gets very hot very fast and without it being submerged in water it will burn out.... M2C

Thank you sir, i know there was water in the tank........ just a little odd, because it worked last year great, and don't recall having to run the boat to heat the water, but i was thinking about that,......
checked the breaker, seemed to be all good.
Can i replace the cal rod? And if so how do i do that??? Thanks much for the help!



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[ReelMagic]

[attachment=283]
Before I change the cal rod I would ensure you have 110v at the hot water heater itself.....Need to remove the cover where the electric wires go into. Another test is to reset the overtemp sensor located under the same cover... I've attached the manual for the heater.. Look at pages 4 & 5, especially page 4 step 8 on reseting the overtemp switch.

Following replacement of my hot water heater I tried to remove the cal-rod from the tank but was not successful. Believe the Aluminum tank corroded the threads... M2C

[CaptBrett]

Before I change the cal rod I would ensure you have 110v at the hot water heater itself.....Need to remove the cover where the electric wires go into. Another test is to reset the overtemp sensor located under the same cover... I've attached the manual for the heater.. Look at pages 4 & 5, especially page 4 step 8 on reseting the overtemp switch.

Following replacement of my hot water heater I tried to remove the cal-rod from the tank but was not successful. Believe the Aluminum tank corroded the threads... M2C

Thank you again.... so i have been told this water heater has a heating element ? Is that correct ?

I have water running thru it, flipped switch a number of times, to see if my volt gage would move, but nothing, so i guess its not getting power ? Thoughts ? This is a big help I appreciate your help


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