Best heater for use during winter?

[islandplanet]

Originally Posted by Seychelles

I have used Hurricane and Wallas and can not recommend them for liveaboard.

I had just the opposite experience with Hurricane and the handful of owners I knew who had one were very happy.

What specific reasons would make you recommend against a Hurricane hydronic system? Are you in the business?

When I sold the boat it went down south so the heater doesn't get used much except perhaps for making hot water. I paid the boat a visit last year and the thing still runs fine 10 years later. Has a few thousand hours on it and no service other than occasional bleeding.

[Seychelles]

No, I don't work or sell any of the heaters. I was only relaying my own personal experience for the benefit of other liveaboards who may be considering purchase and installation of diesel-fired heaters in cold climates. I'm not tyring to bad mouth Hurricane. I had a lot of combustion problems with my unit and finally gave it away. Maybe it was a $4000 lemon?

[islandplanet]

Originally Posted by Seychelles

No, I don't work or sell any of the heaters. I was only relaying my own personal experience for the benefit of other liveaboards who may be considering purchase and installation of diesel-fired heaters in cold climates. I'm not tyring to bad mouth Hurricane. I had a lot of combustion problems with my unit and finally gave it away. Maybe it was a $4000 lemon?

Did you talk to the folks at ITR? Did they offer any recommendations? Was it making a sort of "huffing" sound as it tried to start? Did the problem occur from the time the unit was new or was it something that developed later? I know we had to do a good job of plumbing the fuel supply.
I have no experience in Alaska but do you run into problems with fuel at those low temperatures?

If ours ever failed to start bleeding it took care of the problem immediately. I wonder if you had an issue with the bleeder valve not closing all the way on account of a piece of dirt or something? Any idea if it was a fuel or burner related problem?

I wish someone would give me a hydronic system right now. I'm not living aboard but the boat is way too cold downstairs even with the little electric heater. I guess the only answer is moving the boat 700-1000 miles south.

[Capct]

I live aboard my old gal Jan April June July August Sept and often October.
I have different types of heat for different situations.In the BC Gulf islands July and August are nice and often September is no problem either...But October and January tho...are a different beast.This past January I spent a week frozen in ice...

I use have three electric heaters depending on where I am.A built in boat heater with a fan and portable baseboard and a small 800 watt oil filled radiator.
The little radiator I can run if I am on the hook with my generator,
and in conjunction with the bus heat system and remain nice and warm.The generator will also keep power going to a smart inverter and it also keeps power going to the batteries to keep all four charged.
I can switch between 12v and 110v lighting

When Im moored in my slip It is plugged into shore power.
I have that on a 30 amp breaker box.

The bus heater system works off the engines along with a seperate bus to my my hot water tank which runs off the starboard engine.
So essentially Im never really without an adequate option for heat or a hot shower.

There are however many different kinds of heaters.If I ever find a hankering to drill a vent hole in my deck for a chimney pipe which is not likely to happen... I would go for one of these
Steveston Marine: marine, boating, and fishing supplies

[Seychelles]

Spent lots of time with ITR/Hurricane on phone and lots of money diagnosing problems. Finally came down to a question of reliability. We weren't comfortable relying on the unit. It's too cold up here to boat without a heater and too cold to liveaboard without one. The final straw was the unit developed a pinhole leak in heat exchanger that allowed coolant to enter combustion chamber. This happended in middle of night and resulted in us sooting several boats at the dock. When we removed unit, we noticed that the flexible exhaust pipe has rusted through so it was a blessing we removed the unit otherwise the boat may have burned up. This is why welded stainless tubing should be used for exhaust and should inspected and replaced when necessary.

[coot]

Originally Posted by Seychelles

I have used Hurricane and Wallas and can not recommend them for liveaboard.

What kind of problems did you have with the Wallas?

I've gotten tired of paying for repairs to my Espar and was thinking about the Wallas as an alternative. The guy at Scanmarine tells me that the blower motor is good for 5000 hours and that it doesn't soot up as much as the Espar or Webasto, therefore does not need as frequent servicing.

Wallas says that the end user can perform the regular servicing, though Scanmarine says most people end up sending the unit to them for routine service. Webasto explicitly states that the end user can't service the unit. Espar doesn't explicitly say, but I had to call around to find a dealer who would sell me parts.

[Amgine]

Capct: I really like that propane heater in theory, but as I've just been reminded by my boat, I have a very simple electrIcal system-a pair of batteries and an alternator. My #1 battery is clearly dying at 11 years of age, but this might easily have happened earlier given the extremely poor charge management to which it's been subjected.

To run anything propane I'd probably need an electronic shut-off. Plus this fireplace has a blower fan to improve its efficiency as a heat source. Which also means the fireplace won't work at all if I manage to kill the house battery.

I'd love the instant-on of the propane furnace (and instant heat for the stove), but I don't like to rely on one system for another. ::wry grin:: Mostly because my systems are notoriously unstable, I daren't stack them up!

[GordMay]

WEBASTO Burner Tube Recall

Webasto has uncovered a potential issue with the burner tube of the DBW 2010 coolant heater manufactured from November 2002 until February 05, 2005 wherein the stainless steel walls of the burner tube, in some cases, is made out of material that is not within specification and in those cases could fail prematurely. If such a failure occurs, the surface temperature of the exhaust tube exiting from the heater can increase and could potentially ignite combustible materials in or around the installation area of the heater resulting in a fire which could cause personal injury. Occupants may notice an increase in noise relating to such an occurrence and may observe heat related discoloration of components of the heater's exhaust system.

If you are the owner of a DBW 2010 coolant heating system installed on your watercraft, Webasto urges you to contact your selling Dealer/ Distributor or Sure Marine at (206) 784-9903 to arrange to have the burner tube replaced. Please note that the burner tube is also supplied as Webasto replacement / spare part no. 26553A and may have been fitted into your DBW 2010 during routine maintenance or repairs.

Please contact us at 1-800-555-4518 with questions concerning this issue. If you call, be sure to have the serial number of the heater available.

[Tom Spohn]

Toyotomi
If you are considering a diesel furnace look into this one. We use one on our 35' boat and it keeps the boat toasty warm. No inside air is used for combustion and all products of combustion are vented safely outside.

For your furnace, heater, and stove needs. Rural Energy Enterprises, Inc.

When the boat is just sitting in the marina one of the "muffin" type electric heaters works fine to keep it dry. The boat does not have to be warm inside--just above the dew point.

When we have shore power on trips and the temperature is not too low we use a Caframo electric heater. Puget Sound Temps. usually above freezing in the winter.

[hellosailor]

There's a lot of personal valuing to do with a heater. The nice dry heat from the Ebasco type (which is essentially what is used to heat diesel busses) is NICE.

Lots of folks have used a kerosene heater, and claim that if you use top grade kerosene (aka paraffin oil to the Brits) it doesn't sink. But to some of us, it stinks and we'd rather have no heat at all.

Alcohol? Don't even think about it, any open flame produces water vapro and alcohol is the far worst. You can keep a 32' boat warm at 30F with one Origo portable alcohol burner, sure. But you'll wake up in a sauna in the morning, with condensate dripping on your head.

A lot will depend on your local fuel costs and availability, but I'd strongly suggest avoiding anything that puts the "flame" inside the boat--and adds condensation.

[ColdEH]

I have a Webasto Hydronic system on board with four heater cores . it works great , I change the nozzole every year but thats about all I do . I have the 20 liter buffer tank under the aft bunk so it keeps the toes nice and warm. Take a look at my photos and you will se the boat siting in ice, My wife and I live aboard year around.

[Stillraining]

My solutions and contributions to this age old problum have been banned from this site..

[Alondra]

..... Come to Thailand.....!

[Aquah0lic]

I heated my house last winter with a wood stove and I agree with sully and kai that nothing matches the comfort and coziness of wood heat. HOWEVER, the biggest problem is that unless you want to get up and load the stove in the middle of the night, you wake up to a cold house/boat. Second big problem is the unavoidable mess from loading and emptying.

If you are tied to shore power, an electric blanket is great to supplement a less than stellar cabin heater and will even warm the whole v-berth if you close the door.

[Viking Sailor]

A friend's boat caught on fire when their heating blanket was left on and bunched up while they were at work. They lost their cat and the boat was a total loss.