Heating and Cooking

[GordMay]

DENNIS:

Denatured alcohol is ethanol that has additives, such as 10% methanol*, to make it poisonous or unpalatable, and thus, undrinkable. In many countries, it is required that denatured alcohol be dyed blue or purple with an aniline dye.
The products of combustion are merely carbon oxides (CO, CO2). The additives aren’t particularly noxious, in this regard.

* Hence “methylated spirit”.
Other typical additives include isopropyl alcohol, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, & methyl isobutyl ketone.

Propane is probably the most popular marine cooking fuel, because (overall) it’s the best.

The 120VAC may be required to drive a pump, and a one-time spark initiation.

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

I don't get why the major diesel heater/oven manufacturers like Taylor, Dickenson and Sigmarine (to name a few) don't jump onboard with the coaxial flue design (Pipe in a pipe for both intake & exhaust)? Well, it seems some do for propane, but not for diesel. Is there a reason for this ???

[ConradG]

If you want to stay with diesel for hot water you guys might want to look into an espar hydronics. Very efficient and uses little 12V. With the timer you can set it to come on at any time for a given amount up to a week away so your hot water can be ready when you wake...or just flick it on when you want. Probably would only take 15 minutes to heat a twenty galon tank.

If you're wanting heat, there's nothing like radiant under floor or radiators.

The boat I am looking at has a dickinson pot burner and they are the most efficient but for warm weather I'll throw my espar in for hot water (have an eight year old one from my truck that has given me many hundred hours of troublefree use per year for six of the eight and sat for one before I hooked it up this winter and she started right up). I'll use a wick alcohol origo for anything but baking in the heat...and the solid fuel bbq of course!

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

I was going through my Yahoo account and found one of the 12-volt hot water element links: 31 Water and Air Heating Diversion Loads for Charge Controllers

The subject came up earlier in this post so I thought I'd put the link out there.

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

Well, I kicked off some E-Mails to ask if some of the major manufacturers offer a coaxial flue closed combustion diesel heater or stove. I received a response from Dickinson Marine/ Sig Marine:

Hi Dennis,

We do not have a direct draft diesel appliance available. Our R& D department has been working on this for years now trying to achieve this. Unfortunately, only the propane units are direct draft for now. The diesel units are only available in natural draft.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Parry
Dickinson Marine/ Sig Marine
Dickinson Manufacturing
407-204 Cayer St. Coquitlam, BC
V3K 5B1 Canada
Tel: 604-525-6444 Ex. 302
Fax: 604-525-6417
dmfgpurch@telus.net
www.dickinsonmarine.com
www.sigmarine.com

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

Well, I can't seem to locate a true marine closed combustion diesel system with coaxial flue. There are some that appear to be land-based equipment with a side note that they can be installed in a boat, but nothing impressive that I've found.

It was worth the look, but I guess I'm back to the Origo 6000 as the best choice for a stove/oven. There are reports of the heat on this particular model matching propane so if it even comes close it should work for me. I'll have to live with the lower temp (hopefully not too much lower) and the extra water vapor in the cabin, but not having to vent the system does make better sense with the gimbals. There's also the plus of not having the extra heat in the cabin from a diesel oven.

If someone knows of a closed combustion diesel heater, I still haven't given up hope entirely. Something larger than the Taylor 079D as that model, which I have onboard, doesn't produce enough BTU's for the boat. I appreciate any suggestions !!!

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

Got a response from Taylor - They don't offer a closed combustion system. I checked out the reply E-Mail address, found the website and confirmed with a follow up E-Mail that seasure is the company/website for Taylor now.

[Brent Swain]

Love my woodstove. Free heat, can't overflow ,nor burn faster that the amount of air I let in. Shut the air off and it goes out, filled with bone dry charcoal, that lights quickly when I return.

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

My folks have a fireplace (yeah, here in Florida) that is 18 ft high inside (21 or 22ft to the top) and took 10 tons of Tennessee stone to cover it. Needless to say, I've done my fair share of chopping wood with an axe, splitting logs with a sledge hammer and wedge and finally stepped up to a gas-powered splitter. It may be free, but there is a cost to that wood. Of course, the charcoal is a nice angle. I bet you're not heating a 50ft boat in the dead of winter though with that unit, eh? How many BTU's do you get?

[Brent Swain]

I'm heating a 31 ft boat in BC winters in up to minus 12 . Friends heat much larger boats with wood no problems. In BC, the beaches provide enough wood to pick up a few days supply in less than 15 minutes, no cutting necessary. Not the case everywhere,tho.

[hpeer]

If I have not mentioned it before the US distributor of Taylors and Lavac is St. Brendan's Isle, the mail forwarding people in Florida.

Complete head service: toilet and something to read, all from the same folks!

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

I've heard a lot of good things about Brendan's Isle. I have a brochure I got from 'em that I'll have to dig out. I love my Taylor heater, it's just not enough BTU's in the winter for this Florida boy ...

[GordMay]

St. Brendan's Isle, Inc.
411 Walnut Street, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043-3443
Tel: 800-544-2132 -or- 904-284-1200
Fax: 904-284-4472
E-mail: sbi@sbimailservice.com

Web ➥ http://www.sbimailservice.com

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

Thanks for the quick link, GordMay !!

Taylor replied to another inquiry I made:
I’m sorry we do not manufacture any bigger or different heaters you will probably have to go to an air system like Eberspacher.

There has been a good case for using an Eberspacher hydronic system in this thread for heat and hot water, but no reference to how long it lasts in a marine environment with the computerized components. Thoughts??

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

I think I'm back to the Origo 6000 for cooking and a draft design diesel heater for heating with perhaps a twist.

The Dickinson Diesel Marine heaters (Draft Design) have an option for hot water. They only use a single turn with stainless steel tubing. Just pull any manual at DickinsonMarine.com - Diesel Heaters and scroll down 3/4 of the way and you'll see "Hot Water Coil Option."

They have an intake and exhaust vent. I sent an E-Mail to see if this could be set up in a coaxial flue configuration. We'll see ... Although it's not closed combustion, the intake pipe with draft control should help prevent all the air from being sucked out of the cabin ... maybe ...

The Lofoten model also has a cast-iron lid, providing a 4" diameter surface for cooking. I bet that would be a lot hotter than the Origo 6000 ???

As far as hot water, my Taylor has many wraps using copper coil. I would think this would be a better conductor of heat so perhaps I want to try to remove this off my Taylor and use it on a new Dickinson heater? If it doesn't fit, would it be better to have custom copper tubing wrapped several times around or is the single turn stainless steel tubing a more durable/better setup?