Dickinson Solid Fuel Heater

[michaelmrc]

i use a dickinson propane (Newport) bulkhead style fireplace/furnace on my boat while anchored out its very nice heats the boat quite decently and give the boat a great ambiance, we looked at the dickinson solid fuel heater but upon their recommendation i was told that it should be considered a occasional use only as its not designed to run full time.

[CDunc]

Bash-Agreed

[lookoutnw]

Originally Posted by mrsmimiwhite

I HAVE A BRAND NEW DICKINSON MARINE STOVE/OVEN FOR A 50' BOAT THAT WAS NEVER INSTALLED. THE MODEL IS "THE ATLANTIC". MAKE AN OFFER. MARY 208-687-0532

I had a 'Pacific' the 'Atlantics' little brother on mine with a few computer fans to move air in 3 cabins. Warm dry and nice except for the occaisional diels fumes in the cabin. Always ready to cook also.

[lookoutnw]

Originally Posted by GeoPowers

We have a Webasto Hydronic heater and I must say it is awesome. Very highly recommended, and to quote my buddy, " Dude, this boat's heater is better than the one in my house!!" We stayed very toasty with the thermostat having plently of room to spare. It takes fuel from the diesel tank, the heater draw being slightly higher than the engine's so you can make it to the refueling dock after running dry on heat alone...

I reasearched on line, blogs and actually looked at these. I preferred the Hurricaine II by ITR because it is much quieter, less complicated, has 11VAC heater element in it and 4.8 gal fluid reservoir. I helped install a Webasto and was glad of my decision in advance for the Hurricaine II.

[lookoutnw]

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger

Anyone have any experience with the Webasto diesel hot air blower type, ducted thought the boat?

Experience is with the ones on boats, in trackedUS Army Vehicles. They are finnicky (SP) and are loud. Nice air as long as they have no restrictions in the flow, and teh duct is insulated and not too long. Go check them out in person and see it for yourself. I have the ITR HUrricaine II because I think it is better.

[lookoutnw]

Originally Posted by soundman67

I have the Dickerson pacific galley stove that runs on diesel off of a pump. I also have the Dickerson Newport propane stove in the aft stateroom.
First problem is that the Pacific is just too much for my 40 fishing trawler. I have to have windows open when its running. I cant seem to get it dialed down far enough and still keep it burning cleanly. Also the pump clunking every 30 seconds is enough to keep you awake if you are a light sleeper. I know that the pump issue can be resolved by moving it onto a rubber mount and rubber mounting the fuel line but havent gotten there yet.
I will be installing the water coil into the heater and putting a couple of bus heaters around the boat. That should move some of the heat out of the galley and to other areas of the boat. I will have to see how well that works.
The Newport propane is a great heater. heats the bedroom just fine. only complaint is that the heater fan is loud. I am looking for alternatives to this but I havent talked to Dickerson yet.
Overall I am very happy with the heater and the stove but I am going to have to work on them to massage the performance and to keep them quiet and easy to live with.

Not sure if thats helpful or not but I cant imagine doing a liveaboard with solid fuel and not having to spend all my time figuring out how to collect and stow enough fuel. With diesel and propane I already have these fuels onboard for cooking and propulsion so why not use them for heat as well.


doug

ON the Pacific I had, the key to combustion was a good rebuild of hte Firebrick and burner well. About $10US and 3 hours work, 2 days drying. The Combustion fan is also critical. When you turn down the fuel, watch how much you have the fan on, Too much 'whips' the flames and too little doesn't give enough air flow. Takes a while to get it down. The setting on the flow control and fan also change with teh outside temp of the stove pipe cap. If it gets too cold, it will cause sooting also. Hence one of the reasons for my going to ITR for the Hurricaine II solution.

[CDunc]

Lookoutnw,
The ones in U.S. Army Tracked vehicles are Borg-Warners and although very similar in appearance are somewhat different in how they operate. I have lots of experience with the Tracked vehicle Heaters and when I saw the Espar ones I was knocked off my feet and wondered why didnt we have those in our Tanks, would have saved many cold nights. Kinda like the difference between a Yugo and a Caddy.

[Bill Burgette]

If it will help figure a proper sized heater it may help to know that a 1500 watt electric heater is just a fuzz above 5000 BTU's. You were running two so you had around 10,000 BTU's and that wasn't keeping your boat warm. Using the approximation where you take the length, width and height of your heated area and multiply by 14 to get an approximate BTU required.

If your heated area were 35 feet long, approx. average 10' wide and 6.5 feet high multiplied by 14 that would seem to indicate about 25000 BTU. That's the equivalent of 5 of your 1500 watt heaters. Sound about right?

[MitchM]

i am considering the installation of a plat cat vented platinum catalytic. heater. (google. the plat cat website. which has. full details. ) the. advantage. of. this. install. is. that. it. uses. a vent. that. does. not. require. the. charley. noble. thru the. deck. and. the. system seems. much. more. reliable. than. the diesel. fired. i had. a. dickinson. propane htr on. my. last. boat. and. it. didn,t. heat enough. to. be worthwhile.

[michaelmrc]

im not sure what dickinson propane heater you had but i have the p9000 it puts out 5500 btu on low and 7500btu on high
i looked at the plat cat myself but their big model only puts out 5200btu
heres the specs on both units
Product
DickinsonMarine.com - Propane Fireplaces