bypass hot water heater hoses.

[garyw]

hi
i have had a slow leak of antifreeze into my bilge for some time and checked all the hoses and found that there was a leak at the base of the hot water heater which i suspect is the cause although it is on ly  3 years old put in by the prior po , ? new at the time.   i carefully checked all the hoses which seemed ok after running the engine so i think the heater is leaking.  . so my question is that i want to eventually get a new tank and in the mean time bypass this part of the circulation.   can i just connect the the 2 hoses that come out of the engine ?

thanks

gary w
catalina 34
summer wind
1986

[KWKloeber]

Gary

Absolutely. 
The hoses running to the WH are actually an anomaly to the tractor engine.  There is a short thermostat bypass hose between the two ports on the engine (the nibs on the coolant pump and thermostat housing.)  it's only the boat engines that use those ports to heat the potable water.  And at that, the early Universal (M-25) engines did even not use those two ports - the heater hoses came off the heat exchanger.

kk

[garyw]

Thanks

So just cut some hose and create a new bypass loop until I get a new heater.   There wouldn't be any damage to the engine.

Gary W

[KWKloeber]

Or disconnect them from the WH and stick a 5/8 x 5/8 connector between the two ends.  Just like the WH is there (but isn't.) 

You can loop it anywhere you can.  The bypass is there to keep some coolant moving before the thermostat opens.

kk

[garyw]

thanks so much