Hydronic heater installation.

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by sobraon

Where is your boiler unit installed?

Mine is installed in the engine room. Noise is not a big issue inside the boat. Most of the noise is outside at the exhaust port. Sometimes my neighbors complain about the noise. It is pretty loud standing near the exhaust port. But inside the boat the radiator fans make more noise than the furnace itself.

[Lepke]

If your hydronic plumbing runs thru cold areas, it pays to insulate the lines. That way the heat reaches where you want heat and not the engine room and blige areas. You may get away with a lower boiler temperature. I use valves for zone control. They're available in most voltages, ac & dc. ebay is probably the cheapest.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by sobraon

Where is your boiler unit installed?

The major components for the Hydronic Heating System should arrive at the boat this week.


Just in time as temperatures in Korea this week have been plummeting.

I am still deciding on the location of the Eberspacher H10. I have two options:

1. In a Lazarrete locker at the stern of the boat or:

2. in the rudder locker in the aft cabin.

The 1st option is the more problematic. The unit would have to be installed higher than 500mm above the lowest component of the system. It will necessitate breaching a water tight bulkhead to install electrics and plumbing. The unit will be more exposed to the elements than the second option. Exhaust would exit the stern.

The 2nd option is easier but has it's downfalls. It would comply with the 500mm recommendation. It would not require passing the plumbing and wiring through the water tight bulkhead. It would however be inside the boats interior. The exhaust would exit the stbd side aft of the hull. Noise may be an issue.

Garry
Home Page

Get it out of the passenger space! It's not that hard to get two pipes and a cable bundle safely through a watertight bulkhead.

The exhaust should be as short as possible, as well isolated as possible from any objects or especially any flammable materials, and should if possible go out the transom. Topsides may be immersed on a big heel, so routing the exhaust through topsides should only be done well aft and as high as possible, and only if it's not one of those boats with beam as wide at the transom as it is midships.

Behind a watertight bulkhead is an ideal place for the furnace. Eliminates the risk of any smoke or CO getting into the interior.

"Exposed to the elements", within reason, is ok -- remember these things are designed to live in truck engine spaces which are rather open to the elements. If there is no seawater splash, you should be ok.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Hopefully this is covered in the literature & instruction manuals with the equipment, but for any kind of boiler system that I've ever worked with, there tend to be guidelines on how pure the water in the system needs to be. Along with how to test it for impurities (dissolved solids), & how to keep it within tolerances so that the system operates within it's optimum range. Since the minerals & chemicals found in water from the tap or a hose can form scaling on critical parts, including hoses & heat exchangers. And of course such obstructions, or precipitates coating things can really screw up your system & it's components.

If you need more info on this I may be able to look for it later, but be ready for some DIY home chemistry And in the meantime, get friendly with any snipes that you can find.

BTW, wrwrangel/SV Denali Rose has some excellent posts in their blog on dealing with condensation onboard, optimizing one's bunk & bedding for cool weather sleeping, & possibly onboard heating... given that they're based in Alaska.
There's a link to their blog in their siggy line IIRC.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

Hopefully this is covered in the literature & instruction manuals with the equipment, but for any kind of boiler system that I've ever worked with, there tend to be guidelines on how pure the water in the system needs to be. Along with how to test it for impurities (dissolved solids), & how to keep it within tolerances so that the system operates within it's optimum range. Since the minerals & chemicals found in water from the tap or a hose can form scaling on critical parts, including hoses & heat exchangers. And of course such obstructions, or precipitates coating things can really screw up your system & it's components.

. . . . .

Uncivilized is right, and this is an important point. NEVER use tap water in one of these systems. We use deionized battery water or distilled water.

You can also just use pre-diluted antifreeze/coolant which turns out to be a bit more expensive, but it's very convenient.

We change it every two years (just like main and genset coolant) to prevent the precipitation which occurs when the additive packages start to break down. We do this in lieu of the rather better practice described by Uncivilized, which includes testing, but this seems to work ok. Probably if you did regular testing you could get more out of your coolant before you have to change it.

We use normal pink glycol, the same type we use in main and genset. We checked with Eberspacher technical support to check the specific type and formulation of the coolant we use, and we stick to the same brand and formulation and don't mix it with others.

[transmitterdan]

Just a pedantic point of clarification: Even though we talk about the "boiler" the hydronic heater does not boil the water. If it did we could not use most antifreeze compounds. And we could not plumb it with heater hoses. The correct terminology is to call the burner unit a furnace.

[mitpol16]

PEX popularity can be attributed to many factors, includingcost, flexibility, resistance to scale and chlorine, and fast installation with fewer connections and fittings. PEX is also more efficient as it doesn't lose heat like a copper pipe will. Although PEX is not suitable for use outside, it is much more resistant to freezing temperatures and bursting.

[DeepFrz]

You mention that sabraon is a big boat. Are you sure a Hydronic 10 heater is large enough?