Drinking the water

Water Heater Element

This is the water heater element I (actually Maury, he was the one that climbed into the engine compartment and got it loose) removed from the hot water heater. It was covered with scale from the various ports where I have filled up the water tanks. Consequently the scale was causing it to short out and blow the circuit breaker for the shore power.

Since it is not an easy fix we went all the way replacing not only the heater element but also the thermostat, circuit breaker and high pressure relief valve. Total cost was about $114. I then discovered that I could have purchased most of the pasts at Lowes Home Improvement for about half the cost of purchasing them online at a marine store.

For those of you who are appalled that we actually use the water that comes out of the tanks I suggest you do not look at the heater element in your hot water heater at home. If you live in an area of hard water chances are that your element looks every bit as bad.

Fair winds and following seas.