First let me point out that many of these pictures have been posted elsewhere in this blog, and that the final replacement happened on 10/30/2021. This is a more complete explanation of what was involved.
Our water heater has been leaking on and off for “a while” When we bought the boat there were indications of a leak at the base of the water heater, but no standing water (earliest reference I have for the leak is late January 2020. Yes, that is 23 months ago. Sometimes it would leak and be a pain for days or weeks, and sometimes for weeks or months it would not leak. It is very hard to find an intermittent leak. Eventually we decided to just go ahead and replace the heater. This is far easier said than done. As a reminder we are in Mexico, so first up is the issue of figuring out where to buy the heater, then how to get the heater here, then how to get the old one out and the new one in. So, in no particular order here are the questions and answers:
How to remove/install the heater. I asked Island Packet how to do this, from the pictures, you will note that the heater will not fit through the access to the heater. Island Packet (who made the boat) said that the heater was installed after the internal fiberglass was installed, and that it went through the back of the settee and slid down the hull to the correct level, then was moved to the centerline and bolted down. Sounds good, but the pictures show that there are now three refrigeration compressors located here. All installed after the water heater and before the boat left the factory. In other words this is an issue on all of these boats. So, comparing notes with other IP445/465 owners, at least one has cut his settee and removed/replaced the heater and then repaired the settee (Jim Shanahan on an IP 445-14 S/V Watermark III) I got pictures and suggestions from him. I asked Island Packet about which way they would go, cut the settee or remove all the refrigeration? They responded with, cut the settee.
Where to buy the water heater, I searched on line and finally bought it on Amazon and had it shipped to our son in Sacramento Jan 25th, 2021. We paid about $485 for the heater.
How to get it to the boat. We brought it to Mazatlan as “checked luggage”. When we got there we had to pay 19% import duty on it. But at least we had it on the boat. Oh and by the way when we got back the “intermittent” leak was not leaking.
Somewhere in here, I figured out that we needed to get an anode for the heater (this is a small metal piece that is designed to erode faster than the internals of the heater and be replaceable). It screws into the heater where the drain valve is. So, I ordered one and brought it down a month ago.
Finally HOW to actually remove/install this heater. We asked Elizabeth (she runs the company who watched our boat through the hurricane season). She gave us the connection to Sergio who brought a fiberglass guy who spent several hours cutting the old settee out, then he left and another guy showed up to help Segio with the plumbing work. The fiberglass guy was supposed to be back on Monday, then Tuesday and finally he showed up on Wednesday. This sounds pretty bad, but in all reality it probably had more to do with language barriers than anything else. We are in Mexico, and they celebrate the Day of the Dead, this is an important holiday here, and it involves a 4 day weekend. Saturday – Tuesday, and the Monday and Tuesday we were expecting him to show up were part of the 4 day weekend. In any case the finished product works great and looks fine.
OH, and now that the old heater is out we can see what the problem was, the plumbing system on the boat is hoses, and the supply hose to the heater was clamped onto a plastic nipple (cracked), screwed into an iron elbow which was screwed into a brass fitting screwed into the aluminum tank. At this point we had a new heater on board, and all required parts to install it. So the old heater was removed and the new one installed.
THE WATER HEATER IS A WHALE/SEAWARD MODEL F1100. THE F MEANS THE ENGINE HEATER HOSES GO TO THE FRONT OF THE HEATER. THE 11 MEANS 11 GALLONS. THE 00 MEANS IT IS 120 VOLTS (IF IT WAS S1150 IT WOULD MEAN THAT THE HEATER HOSES GO IN THE OPPOSITE SIDE FROM THE FRONT, IT IS STILL 11 GALLONS, BUT IT IS A 240 VOLT HEATER.
