Gravity fed Taylors heater while sailing?

[esarratt]

I want to be able to use this heater while I am sailing--Hal Roth mentions doing this with his Taylors heater.

I bought an older Taylors 68 kerosene heater and it needs a kerosene tank.

I have two ideas.

I am considering a gravity feed kero tank 2-3 feet or more above the unit. Anyone done this? Will it work while sailing?

My 2nd thought is to take an old, OR a new, pressure tank from an el cheapo pressure stove and adapt this as the heaters tank.

I have thought about buying a new tank from Taylors itself, but I suspect it will be $$$ so I am looking at other options first.

I can pick up (or have fabricated) a tank fairly cheaply.

Your thoughts.

[Snowpetrel]

Not sure if gravity would have enough pressure. I had an earlier version of that heater, worked very well in my 26 footer. You can use a bike pump and fittings to presurise a tank. An old fire extinguisher might work, and some have a valve for presurisation.

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[Shawn67]

That looks like a pressurized burner, like this:



You won't be able to gravity feed that, fuel needs to be pressurized. Gravity feed works for pot drip burners, not pressurized burner.

Also, not sure I'd want to have that burning while sailing, esp. unattended. Those silent burner kero burners can be blown out fairly easily and it will keep pumping out vaporized fuel until the point where the fuel cools the burner enough and then it is squirting out liquid fuel. Likewise if the pressure in the tank drops enough (due to fuel usage) the burner will go out but continue to drip fuel.

Shawn

[leftbrainstuff]

As a kid I remember the pressurized kero heater at grandma's house belching out fire like a dragon.

I suspect you wont be able to gain enough head height to gravity feed it. The household units were rarely gravity fed as it was considered a fire hazard. This was a risk known since the 1930s.

I wouldn't have one on my boat. Especially not one cobbled together from bits and pieces.

We have a diesel espar located in the engine compartment. We have a fire suppression system and it poses no additional hazard than the engine.

I'm not comfortable with the idea of running any salon located heater while underway. A fire on a boat is simply unmanageable.

Avoidance is the only practical strategy IMHO.

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[Doug Brown]

Another thing to watch out for with a gravity fed system, especially in COLD weather: As the burner heats up the interior and the fuel tank, the fuel will "thin out" and flow at a much faster rate than what it was set for when cold.

I had a friend who had this happen to him in England. He fired up the heater and had to leave the boat for about 20-minutes (not a really smart move...) and when he came back onboard he found fuel pouring out of the burner, on fire, and flowing onto the floor and down into the bilge - now all on fire!!!!

Very lucky for him he caught it at an early stage and was able to extinguish the fire with a small dry chemical extinguisher. Structural damage was minimal, but the spilled fuel and dry chemical mess took a while to clean up!

[esarratt]

OK. Got it. Not while sailing. Hal sailed with his wife so I suspect someone was around the heater all the time.

I'll look for a tank to pressurize the kero supply. Thanks!

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by esarratt

OK. Got it. Not while sailing. Hal sailed with his wife so I suspect someone was around the heater all the time.

I'll look for a tank to pressurize the kero supply. Thanks!

An old out of date gas (LPG) bottle could be converted into a kero tank without too much trouble, say a 2 or 5 kg one.

[Siberianhusky]

One area I wouldn't trust a hacked homemade setup is a fuel burning heater of any kind, If I were bound and determined to use it I would buy proper replacement parts.
CO poisoning and fire are my biggest fears onboard.
One you wake up dead wondering why. The other, well once it's out of control abandon ship!

[Saltyrope]

I had a Taylors kero cabin heater which I sold complete after I bought a Taylors drip feed diesel heater. The kero heater worked well however, like the kero stove I use, I am on board while using kero heating devices. I had thought of adding a thermal cut out to the kero heater however it went in the last page of the to do list. I may still have a pressure tank and pump from a two burner stove that I bought for spare parts for my stove. That is in NZ so if your locality and freight costs make it worthwhile and you wish to send me a message I will check my spare parts cupboard when I return from my current position on a delivery voyage. Regards, John

[buzzstar]

"I have thought about buying a new tank from Taylors itself, but I suspect it will be $$$ so I am looking at other options first."

I do not understand the part quoted above. Looking and pricing are free. Why not do this first so you have a standard of comparison.

[pickpaul]

Thinking about installing a Dickerson Newport Diesel pot burner when I have the dollars. Can that be used while sailing? My alberg 30 is initially tender and loves aailing on her ear. Im guessing while motoring or downwind would be ok?

[Snowpetrel]

Used a couple of other bigger Dickinson diesel heaters sailing offshore without an issue. I think the float bowl needs to be mounted fore and aft. Biggest issue is backdrafting down the flue caused by the sails.

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[hpeer]

Snow,

Good for you with the Dickensen. I have one in my hunting cabin and it works well, but not without some fussing. It is an Adriatic. I can't imagine one in a sailboat. I know opinions vary widely on this.

OP, senfpd me a PM, I might be able to help you. I may have a suitable tank in the basement I can part with reasonably. Not sure , it's about a thousand years down the sediment pile.

[Shawn67]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

Used a couple of other bigger Dickinson diesel heaters sailing offshore without an issue. I think the float bowl needs to be mounted fore and aft. Biggest issue is backdrafting down the flue caused by the sails.

I think that is one of the advantages of the Sig version with the balanced draft installed. The combustion air intake can be located in almost the same position as the exhaust so there won't be as large a pressure differential. That will help prevent backdrafts. It is also safer to prevent possible O2 depletion in the cabin.

Shawn

[Strait Shooter]

I have a Dickinson Bering stove and use it just about every day of the year in the Pacific Northwest.

But NOT when I'm sailing! I tried it once, and have decided that it's easy enough having her backdraft the way it is without me introducing any more variables. Motoring is fine though.

But that's me and my boat. I think lots of variables on a wide range of boats makes it difficult to speak as definitely as we tend to do about stuff like this.

Trial and error......