New hot water heater

Hello all,

I am getting ready to replace my old Raritan 6 gal hot water heater. While looking online I found the Seaward brand, which is square instead of round and was wondering if anyone new anything about this brands quality. It is less than half the price for the 6 gal, and then, because it is square, I may be able to fit the 11 gal in my available space.

The next question is, would I want the 11 gal vs. the 6 gal? I plan to be away from marinas most of the time, so the additional electric power to heat 11 gal vs. 6 might be an issue.

Thanks for any input,

Dan - Akupara

Yes, the price is appealing. I have been looking at water heaters in preparation for replacement. I looked at the Seaward site and note that they produce units with either stainless steel or galvanized steel exteriors. The ss version is only $60 more than the galvanized. Good news is that the aluminum hold down brackets are welded to the alum. tanks, so no disimilar metal contact there.

There is another concern I have, however. I see that the tanks are made from "Alcoa Alclad aluminum alloy." Is there any concern about storing hot water, potentially near 180 deg. F, in aluminum? I know that some folks are adamant about aluminum pots, pans and pressure cookers being harmful. Don't know if this is myth or reality.

And I have no direct experience with Seaward.

I found this i nfo on the safety of using aluminium;

Back in the 1970's, some researchers in Canada reported the finding that people who had died with Alzheimer's had unusually high levels of aluminum in their brains. It sparked controversy – was aluminum the cause of Alzheimer's, or the result of it? Many people were alarmed by this and threw away their aluminum cookware.

More recent studies would seem to indicate that the increased levels of aluminum were due to the Alzheimer's itself. Brains which have already suffered damage from Alzheimer's will allow unusually high levels of aluminum in.

This is not difficult as aluminum is everywhere. The most common elements on Earth (in order of prevalence) are oxygen, silicon, and aluminum. It's in air, water, soil and consequently in the plants and animals that we eat.

So can using aluminum cookware harm me?

Current research believes that it is safe to use. To put it into perspective, many common medications contain aluminum.

One antacid tablet may contain more than 50 milligrams of aluminum.
One aspirin may contain between 10 and 20 milligrams of it.
The World Health Organization says that an adult can safely ingest more than 50 milligrams of aluminum each day. People in the western world naturally consume about 10 milligrams each day and only 2 of those milligrams come from aluminum cookware.

My other concern would be that Al conducts heat very good and may not keep the water hot for as long a time as the glass lined SS of the Raritan. Example, run the engine to anchor and then try to take a shower an hour later, how hot will hte water still be?

Also, I read a post stating that the SS outer shell is not really worth it, just thought I would throw that unsupported atatement out there.

Thanks, Dan - Akupara

Thanks for the info. Now I'll not worry too much about aluminum cookware......

Our present tank which is an old Raritan 11g, keeps water warm, in outside temperatures like 65 to 80 deg F, for as long as 36 hours after an engine run. I do not have a regulator on the tank so the temp is about 180F after a few minutes of running the engine. How long exactly? Don't really know but I suspect that it heats quickly as it's plumbed into the coolant side of the engine.

In the Bahamas we often use a sun shower bag for warm shower water as it's too much of a hassle to run the engine / start the generator just for hot water!

I'll check the SSCA site to see if there is some direct info.