I am considering adding a couple of Y valves to the heat exchanger plumbing I have in my Islander 28 so I can circulate the contents of my FW tank through the heat exchanger instead of sea water when I so choose. We cruise the Maine coast and are not troubled with hot weather. We don't drink the water from our holding tank as a cold beverage. Having a little stored heat inside the hull may prove to be a comfort on most days "down east". We try to extend our season when we can and have sailed all winter in the past. We do not have an electric water heater.
What would be the problems I might create if I had two Y valves connected to the heat exchanger's raw water lines? Would the exhaust just get too hot to be safe? (I expect so). Would circulating the warming FW water create an un-managable engine temperature issue. I certainly don't want to risk over heating the engine ( I do have a temperature and oil pressure alarm installed). I wonder how warm I could expect to raise the temperature of the fresh water in the holding tank before I needed to switch back to the raw Gulf of Maine coolant. I do have a bypass valve on the engine's cooling lines. I could monitor it and switch back to raw water at what ever point the FW was keeping the engine from cooling properly. I wonder if it would be worth it to try?
I would expect to turn off the raw water and introduce FW briefly while still having the raw water return (now FW from the tank) emptying into the muffler. Then switch that Y valve to return the FW to the holding tank. Perhaps a second heat exchanger is a better idea?
George
What would be the problems I might create if I had two Y valves connected to the heat exchanger's raw water lines? Would the exhaust just get too hot to be safe? (I expect so). Would circulating the warming FW water create an un-managable engine temperature issue. I certainly don't want to risk over heating the engine ( I do have a temperature and oil pressure alarm installed). I wonder how warm I could expect to raise the temperature of the fresh water in the holding tank before I needed to switch back to the raw Gulf of Maine coolant. I do have a bypass valve on the engine's cooling lines. I could monitor it and switch back to raw water at what ever point the FW was keeping the engine from cooling properly. I wonder if it would be worth it to try?
I would expect to turn off the raw water and introduce FW briefly while still having the raw water return (now FW from the tank) emptying into the muffler. Then switch that Y valve to return the FW to the holding tank. Perhaps a second heat exchanger is a better idea?
George
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