Heater Leaking

[dlcork]

Looking for Tige owners experiences with heaters leaking. I was running the boat this weekend and on Sunday I noticed I had a lot of water by my feet while I was driving. After further investigation I noticed a steady stream of water coming out of the heater hose at the foot of the driver. I removed the heater from the boat and dropped it off at the locally marina (unfortunately not a Tige dealer). I plan in coupling the hoses together which should make it so I can use the boat (bypassing what was my heater).

I want to make sure I understand the possible issues so my local marina doesn't run me down the wrong path. Any thoughts of comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,


Dan

[WakerideN]

Looking for Tige owners experiences with heaters leaking. I was running the boat this weekend and on Sunday I noticed I had a lot of water by my feet while I was driving. After further investigation I noticed a steady stream of water coming out of the heater hose at the foot of the driver. I removed the heater from the boat and dropped it off at the locally marina (unfortunately not a Tige dealer). I plan in coupling the hoses together which should make it so I can use the boat (bypassing what was my heater).

I want to make sure I understand the possible issues so my local marina doesn't run me down the wrong path. Any thoughts of comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,


Dan

no issues. just couple it and use the boat. not sure what boat you have.. its water off the motor. not a big deal. probably a weld gone bad is my guess on the inside?

my take depending on what they want $$ wise to fix.. get a new one.. most are just these anyhow. i usually have dealt direct with them. great service.

http://www.heatercraft.com/heaters/

[dlcork]

Thanks for your help.....I will wait and see what the marina comes back with. Wisconsin has been experiencing the hottest summer I can remember so I haven't needed the heater this year.

[dingleberry]

also can be caused by an improperly winterized heater core

do a search on this site for heater core replacement - it is basically like a 1970's Ford part, if I recall correctly, and usually can be replaced fairly cheaply if repair is not possible

[mls6722]

also can be caused by an improperly winterized heater core

do a search on this site for heater core replacement - it is basically like a 1970's Ford part, if I recall correctly, and usually can be replaced fairly cheaply if repair is not possible

If you store the boat where it freezes, you must blow all the water out of the lines and the heater core. You could even add some antifreeze for good measure.

[Timmy!]

Dingle has the right advice there. Been through this, got a heater core from a 70's Ford truck and fixed the problem for like $25 or something. In the meantime, just pull the hoses off of the core and put a coupler between them and happy boating!

[talltigeguy]

Dingle has the right advice there. Been through this, got a heater core from a 70's Ford truck and fixed the problem for like $25 or something. In the meantime, just pull the hoses off of the core and put a coupler between them and happy boating!

Heatercraft will want somewhere in the neighborhood of $250 for a new core. Good advice right there.

[Moki]

I am going through this right now. If you only have a 2 vent heater, then you can use the 1976 Ford F100 Heater Core. But, if you have the 3 vent heater (mine) then it is custom made for Heater Craft. I just bought one off this site 2 minutes and 34 seconds ago. http://www.jmsonline.net/heater-craf...y-het-h301.htm for around $100 shipped.

[Timmy!]

Thanks for the tip Moki!

[holiday13]

Or google a local radiator shop, they would be the best ones to have look at fixing it keeping in mind the price of a new one. Sadly, in the world of "replace rather then repair" it will probably be cheaper to buy a new core even if you have a 3 port and need to drop $100.

What I have done for years to winterize mine (as I did the "blow the lines out" trick one year and enough water remained that it settled in one corner and cracked my core) is to take a small wet/dry vac, hook the vac up to the upper outlet of the core and run a hose off the bottom inlet into a bottle of marine antifreeze. Then just turn the vac on and suck the antifreeze out of the bottle and into the heater core. No second guessing if all the water is out then. I found that the core will hold about 1/4 gallon of anti freeze so I usually run 1/2 gallon through to be safe. And when I winterize I always bypass the heater anyway for this reason, I just look the in and out, winterize the motor then do this to the core.

[Moki]

I used to do the "take of the hoses and blow" process as well. Then I moved to the antifreeze through the water intake and hoped it made it to the heater core. That is an interesting way to ensure there is antifreeze. If I could get the core for $20, I wouldn't be so worried. Although, on my core, it looks more like corrosion is the culprit and not freezing.

[talltigeguy]

I used to do the "take of the hoses and blow" process as well. Then I moved to the antifreeze through the water intake and hoped it made it to the heater core. That is an interesting way to ensure there is antifreeze. If I could get the core for $20, I wouldn't be so worried. Although, on my core, it looks more like corrosion is the culprit and not freezing.

Although it looks like corrosion...are you saying that you used the blow method before and never had a problem, but then had a leaky heater the first time you used antifreeze?

(yes, I am leading the witness).

[Moki]

Although it looks like corrosion...are you saying that you used the blow method before and never had a problem, but then had a leaky heater the first time you used antifreeze?

(yes, I am leading the witness).

Dang, caught in my own web! Have you been watching Sherlock Holmes lately? But seriously, it does make me think that it is better to store the heater core dry than full of RV antifreeze. What do you do?

[talltigeguy]

Dang, caught in my own web! Have you been watching Sherlock Holmes lately? But seriously, it does make me think that it is better to store the heater core dry than full of RV antifreeze. What do you do?

I don't let my boat freeze

But if I were to let my boat freeze, based on comments I have seen on the internet, I would blow it out. The hoses are very long and it is probable that although antifreeze went through your entire engine block, that it did not get to the heater core and back. So your heater was still full of water and broke during the winter.

[Moki]

I don't let my boat freeze

But if I were to let my boat freeze, based on comments I have seen on the internet, I would blow it out. The hoses are very long and it is probable that although antifreeze went through your entire engine block, that it did not get to the heater core and back. So your heater was still full of water and broke during the winter.

No, I don't think that it was due to freezing. I keep it in a heated hangar, but I winterize just in case the heat goes out for some reason. There is a small hole that I think was caused by corrosion. The last couple of years, I have been winterizing using antifreeze. I let the engine warm up to where the thermostat opens up and then run about 4-5 gallons of RV antifreeze through it; where before I would drain the block and blow the hoses out. Just getting lazy...