Water heater loop cap-off?

[Brad Arrington]

I have a domestic hot water heater with a heat exchanger loop connected to my QSB 8.3.  The water tank is leaking; I have to remove the water tank to send it for a warranty claim.  Therefore, I won’t have a water heater for a while and need to rig the engine to run.  <br /><br />My question is:  how should I handle the coolant loop hoses out of the engine?

• Option 1:  Cap off the input and output hoses for the coolant loop. 
• Option 2:  Connect the two hoses with a barb to make a continuous loop. 

Option 1 is far easier, but will it damage the engine at all to close off this loop?  The hoses high-temp, 200psi rated.  

Topic

[Brian Knudson]

Water heater loop bypass

Just bought a maxum 4600 with twin 8.3s.   Rusted out water heater had the coolant lines barbed together. I installed a new heater and reconnected the water and coolant lines.  When you pull the barb, coolant will want to drain all over the space.  It is not under pressure so doesn’t take much to stop.  I put the heater in place, attached the water lines, made sure I had clamps ready to go, and I pulled the barb and put both lines on their respective ports in one motion.  Got my hands messy, but didn’t spill much.

[Rob Schepis]

How is Option 1 much easier than Option 2?  When you pull the heater out you will have the two open ends of the coolant hose in hand so connect them together properly and safely and you’re done and when the heater comes back it’s a simple reconnect.

[Tony Athens]

QSC 8.3 water heater loop ?

No way without good pictures of exactly what you are talking about–I know this engine,  top to bottom, but I have no clue on this one without seeing exactly how your “loop” is hooked up..

Normally, a proper heater loop has valves that can be shut to do exactly what you are trying to do. Plenty of pics on this site showing how we ( and you should) do it.

Tony

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