Dickenson Diesel Heater

[ColinMurray]

Looking for any comments on the Dickenson diesel cabin heaters. Looks a little complicated to run but there would always be fuel on board. Colin ...

[nv5l]

I have the 120, and although it heats up nicely, I always had trouble with it sooting up. I moved it recently so I could have a longer flue -- I think it was getting too much fuel and didn't have enough draw. I need to wait until spring to finish the installation, but hopefully that will fix it.

[S/V New Sensation]

We have an older Antartic and find it easy to use and maintain. The only problem we've had is backwinding. We cannot use it under sail or it will backwind at least in our set up. At a dock or at anchor this is not a problem and if we turned on the fan for forced ventilation we could probably use it under sail but we have alternative heat while underway if we need it. We really like the feel of having a fire place on board and it is great even during our NW summers for taking the chill out in the early morning. After the first couple times you light it it will become really easy.

[Kalinka1]

Had one took it out. Too much soot and unable to control it. replaced with an Espar now have forced air heat throughout the boat and loveit.

[North26West80]

I've had the Alaska model for almost 20 years and I love it and have nothing but praise for it. Since coming to Florida it does not get as much use, but I love a cold front when I can go down to the boat and enjoy being aboard with the heater. In the last couple of years there has been a few weeks of 30-40 degree weather and I actually prefer to spend the nights on the boat instead of the house.

Soot? None. And I mean almost zero--not inside the heater or on the deck. I followed the installation instructions carefully and I think flue length is probably the key. I mounted it at the lowest point in the cabin (as recommended for good convective circulation) and the flue length up to the deck is about six feet--maybe a bit longer because I had to offset it with double 45 degree bends to get the stack outboard of the mast.

I feed it from a gravity feed header tank of about one gallon that I fill up daily with a diverter valve from the electric engine fuel pump. It uses about a gallon per 24 hours of running.

The only problems I've had are with old fuel. I can tell when my fuel is getting old (about 4-6 months) by the lack of intensity and color of the flame. I've learned to drain it of fuel completely in the spring because it will gum up the float valve and cause it to stick after about a year. (then you will have big-time soot and other problems)

Because the fuel flow is controlled by an internal float valve, it can be sensitive to heel if you mount it with the wrong orientation. I didn't follow the instructions exactly in this regard, so when sailing if I tack I also have to adjust (tack?) the heater control valve to keep the intensity constant. I don't sail with the rail in the water, so I've never considered it more than a minor problem.

Even at half throttle, it puts out a lot of heat and I usually leave some hatches cracked open to keep comfortable unless the temperature is near freezing. I sleep with it running with no worries, but a few years back I bought a CO2/fire alarm and mounted it nearby just in case. (A household fire alarm that also has a CO2 detector--about $20)

If that is not enough, feel free to post your questions and I'll be glad to respond.

[hpeer]

I bought an Adriatic stove for my hunting cabin. It was all electric but the electric keeps going out. Now I trickle charge a battery with a solar panel.

I have used it a few weekends. Sometimes it was as low as 18F when I got there. I still don't have a lot of experience with it but I get the sense that when it is really cold it doesn't want to work real well. I seem to have to keep an eye on it as the cabin heats up. Then when the cabin is warm it seems to run fine. I find it a bit finicky to adjust the float and I don't see a huge difference in the various settings.

There are some old posts around about these guys. Some love em, some don't. I can't tell if it is the stoves act different, poor installation, or operator error. I'm kinda in the middle.

At this point I would not put one in a sailboat. Trawler? Sure!

I put in an Airtronix in both boats. I have the heater running all the time in the new boat. Been running for about 8 weeks now with this darn cold winter we are having.

I have kero (primus type) heaters as a back up though.

2¢

[Play Actor]

We've had an Antacrtic for 22 years now. We used it a lot back when we were cruising the east coast. It always worked well for us, and we used the forced draft fan most of the time, just to avoid any backwinding or soot problems. We haven't used it in the Caribbean,obviously, but it's a nice looking part of our cabin decor, and always has a tea kettle sitting on top. Back when we used it for heat, the kettle added enough humidity to keep all of our interior teak from shrinking, as the heater, properly vented, really dried out the boat.

[roverhi]

Has anyone installed the separate air feed flue to take care of backwind problems. The electric fan should take care of the problem but the separate air intake is totally passive which I like, IF IT WORKS.

[North26West80]

If you are talking about the flapper valve thing that goes midway up the flue, I have one of those in mine but I'm not sure how much effect it has. I think in really gusty winds it has helped. I only run the fan for a minute or two during startup and sometimes shutdown.

[roverhi]

No, Dickerson reccomends running a separate 3" pipe with it's own deck iron and Charlie Noble down to the burner to help equalize the pressure above and below deck, if you have a problem with Back Draft. Not sure what the flapper valve you describe does but don't think it's not for Back Draft.