Heaters

Nolance · April 5, 2017

Anyone have any issues with their boat heaters. Mine only seems to push good heat when its under a load such as surfing. When i'm idle, there is a noticeable decrease in temperature output. This is pretty much the case whether the water temp is 50-80 degrees.

Btw

2016 S226

Cwazy1 · April 5, 2017

Heater cores work by utilizing a heat exchange with the hot engine cooling water, which should be the same temp as your engine (160F). So theoretically it will perform better when you are under load as the engine will be circulating water faster and thus your water through the heat exchange will be warmer. Water temp will never matter unless your lake is near boiling, or if your engine is having issues getting to temp.

I 100% notice a difference between 1.5k RPM and 3.5k RPM. What you can do to help increase air temp through the heater core during low RPM activities is to shut vents that you're not using. I almost always shut the walkthrough tube as thats the one that is used the least.

MFaso · April 6, 2017

Heater cores work by utilizing a heat exchange with the hot engine cooling water, which should be the same temp as your engine (160F). So theoretically it will perform better when you are under load as the engine will be circulating water faster and thus your water through the heat exchange will be warmer. Water temp will never matter unless your lake is near boiling, or if your engine is having issues getting to temp.

I 100% notice a difference between 1.5k RPM and 3.5k RPM. What you can do to help increase air temp through the heater core during low RPM activities is to shut vents that you're not using. I almost always shut the walkthrough tube as thats the one that is used the least.

Or, can you put it in neutral and rev it a little? (I'm guessing this isn't great for the engine)

stoked · April 6, 2017

Anyone have any issues with their boat heaters. Mine only seems to push good heat when its under a load such as surfing. When i'm idle, there is a noticeable decrease in temperature output. This is pretty much the case whether the water temp is 50-80 degrees.

Btw

2016 S226

Do you have a low idle wye? It uses the venturi effect to pull water through the core when idling. I highly recommend it:

http://www.heatercraft.com/low-idle-wye-1-25-hb-x-5-8-hb/

Nolance · April 6, 2017

^Do you have one installed on your boat? Any issues with overheating?

Anything we can do to extend the surfing season. Especially, when we live in Minnesota.

stoked · April 7, 2017

^Do you have one installed on your boat? Any issues with overheating?

Anything we can do to extend the surfing season. Especially, when we live in Minnesota.

Yup! I installed one on my 2007 Avy when I installed the entire heater system myself, on my 2015 33 it came with the wye from the factory.

If you don't like the idea of the wye, there was a guy that used to pop in and out of threads here, I think shawndoggy, that used a ballast puppy to push water through his heater. He wired it to the heater switch so when the heater kicked on, the pump kicked on. But I think he did that before the wye made an appearance.

I have a heatercraft install over in the DIY section that shows the wye and the installation of it. If you go that route let me know and I can easily talk you through it. Should take about an hour, 2 beers, and a hacksaw/sawsall/2" Pipe cutter, whichever is your weapon of choice, you have to cut the water intake line.