Best Diesel Heater

[cburger]

I am also preparing to install a diesel heater. As space is limited and not wishing to have the high energy consumption of some other types the plan is to go with the bulkhead style fed from a day tank. I am conflicted on weather to go with the Dickinson Newport ot the Sig Marine 170.

The Newport should be less trouble to install as it doesn't required a two flu setup, and is also a lot nicer looking. The Sig stove reccomends the two flu balanced system and is more difficult to install.

If I understand the Sig's two flu system the idea is the combustion air is drawn from outside the boat and prevents the possability of starving the cabin for air, (Safer) and decreasing the chanch of backdraft. More that likely will go with the Sig.

[Bluemansailor]

On my last boat a Bristol 32, I installed the small Webasto. Easy installation in the engine compartment and work flawlessly - I was a liveabaord for 3 years in Philadelphia and then went cruising. Worked great in the marina, at anchor and while sailing. In the 6 years I owned the boat - it was one of the things that was totally problem free.

If I decided to put a heater on my new boat it will be a Webasto again.

[GeoPowers]

Originally Posted by Lancerbye

I have an Espar D5 hydronic with 4 zones. Great when it is working good but can be finicky. Using the summer diesel found in most places south of Nanaimo can cause sooting problems. Winter diesel is hard to find. Running it on Kerosene once in a while helps clean out the soot. If the voltage drops too low it will not work. Needs yearly de-carbonizing. Produces good dry control heat. Depending on the number of fans used it can be a power user.

+1 on this. I have a Webasto hydronic. The big plusses are it keeps the boat very warm with multiple zones, you have hot water at anchor when running it, and the runs are 3/4" or 1" heater hoses instead of 3" or 4" ducts through bulkheads. The hoses also produce radiant heat. The negatives as lancerbye stated are cleaning of unit and power consumption. The Webasto if I remember correctly has less diesel fuel consumption for a comparible btu espar, but the Webasto is a big energy hog of 12V (with the Espar using less 12V power). When running, my heater uses on average about 6.5 amps, plus another 3.5 amps for the "radiator" fans themselves. (I have 4 zones/fans to 9 outlets.) 10 amps adds up quickly when it is really cold outside!

All that said, I would never trade in my hydronic for a forced air. The ability to have hot water at anchor is awesome, and the hydronic system provides radiant and blower air heat that takes up less space.

Frank

[barnakiel]

A friend has a diesel galley stove, I believe it may be Wallas. It doubles as a cabin heater - there is an add-on blower. I like it - no extra space for the cabin heater required.

OK googled the link it is a unit like this:
http://www.scanmarineusa.com/walla-8...July-2011s.pdf


b.

[Bash]

I've used both Espar and Webasto. They seem fairly comparable.

I went from hydronic on my previous boat to forced air on the present because the hydronic system didn't dry the cabin like a forced-air system does, and to us as liveaboards (shower-aboards and cook-aboards) that was important enough that we were willing to forgo the other advantages of a hydronic system.

[captainKJ]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

A friend has a diesel galley stove, I believe it may be Wallas. It doubles as a cabin heater - there is an add-on blower. I like it - no extra space for the cabin heater required.

OK googled the link it is a unit like this:
http://www.scanmarineusa.com/walla-8...July-2011s.pdf


b.

Is 6650 btu enough to heat a 35 foot sailboat?????

[minaret]

Originally Posted by captainKJ

Is 6650 btu enough to heat a 35 foot sailboat?????

Volume in cubic feet x 12 = BTU's required to efficiently heat a given space.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by captainKJ

Is 6650 btu enough to heat a 35 foot sailboat?????

There are online calculators that tell you hom many BTUs per cubic foot of home volume you need per a specific location. E.g.:

BTU Calculator provided by the heater shop .com

A closed tent over the companion way helps to keep the heat too. Some sort of hull / deck insulation a must if in freezing climes. You must minimize heat loses, just like with a fridge.

Making the cabin hot easy. Keeping the cabin well ventilated and dry another issue.

b.

[minaret]

Another vote for hydronic. We have an OL-60 with 7 zones, Real fan heaters, Wirsbo tubing, Everhot, etc etc. It's an awesome sysytem. I installed it myself with help from my friends who do marine electrics, that not being my department. It cost about 10k all told, a pro install for the same system from the guys who helped me out is about 30k. Compare it to putting a good furnace system in a house price-wise, that's how I think of it.
Olympic hydronics are much more robust than Webasto or Espar, because they are a 110 system as opposed to 12 volt. Ask around at Sure for their opinion, you'll see that they have done almost no warranty work on these systems, unlike Webasto which keeps them busy. I was going to go with a 2010 until I did some research and talked to friends who install systems for a living. The only drawback (for a boat like mine which has a surplus of amperage, 2300 amp hrs on my banks) is that the boiler unit is pretty large and heavy, 120 lbs. I had to shoehorn it into my engine room...

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by rnjpinz

Rebel Heart, That is exactly what I am trying to avoid. I don't mind spending a few dollars but I want a system that will produce under way and at anchor.

Finding a diesel unit that will work at anchor is not a big problem. I have the Newport wall mounted unit and it really puts out the heat.

- - But anything that burns fuel (diesel or propane, etc.) has to be vented to the outside which introduces problems of wind reversing the "draft" in the chimney. In other words, they don't work underway - both from a requirement for a chimney and positive "draft" up the chimney - and - providing a level boat so that the burning diesel doesn't spill from its "cup."

- - That leaves you with the remote mounted heaters - usually in an engine room - that use forced air and a diesel spray system for burning the fuel. Somehow you need to investigate how to get an exhaust (chimney) system to outside the boat that is not affected by wind and water spray while underway.

- - They can supply heated air to the cabin areas via ducts or heat water for modern hydronic heat radiators in each cabin area.

- - There are systems that use your fresh water cooling system of the main engine to blow heat into the cabin - but - only when the engine is operating and producing significant heat.

- - By requesting a unit to work when underway, you have vastly complicated the problem but with sufficient research and creativity there should be an answer.

[Cheechako]

The Little Webasto units we installed worked well on 26-32 ft planing powerboats doing 40-50 mph!

[PEACETIME]

I have a Force 10 bulkhead unit that does the job ok. Also have a Heater Buddy propane bulkhead unit that works better. Has a tip over safety and a low oxygen sensor. Doesn't need vented and it uses fuel I already have on board. Wish I had known of the H B before I installed the Force 10. Propane is a little more wet, but not like water running off the overhead. Diesel is dirty and requires sometimes venting the entire cabin to remove soot and fumes. Also no safety what so ever, I don't leave it on unless someone is up. Force 10 looks like it should be on the boat but @ $100 for the H B, I can look in a different direction!

[Cheechako]

My in laws used a bulkhead mount Catalytic Propane heater in their RV for years. Seemed to work quite well, although it was more of a space heater. evidently no carbon monoxide risk with the catalytic...

[Sandero]

Osiris,

That's an excellent point/observation and one I didn't even consider when I decided to add heat. The Espar system is unaffected by the weather the wind or the waves.

[DeborahLee]

I know you said diesel but I decided to buy a $30 ceramic electric heater and use my gen set to power it. I also installed a Red Dot heater ($100) on the engine since I would be motoring most of the way down the ICW. It kept the cabin real warm all day while not burning any extra fuel. Then the Honda 2000 in the evening since the cabin was already warm it didn't take much to keep it warm.