Cabin heat from diesel engines

[UNCIVILIZED]

One thing as yet gone unmentioned about bulkhead or floor mounted heaters. Is that it'd make sense to add some (type of) thermal retentive mass to them/in their vicinity. In much the same way which Soapstone, or fire brick, is added to/built into, high efficency wood stoves/fireplaces for homes.

That, & perhaps adding some type of thermal extraction jacket to such a heater's exhaust vent/chimney.
Perhaps a tightly spiraled water jacket made out of copper tubing, encircling the chimney? Either with some insulation over it, or not.

Or, some other brilliant, KISS solution. So that very little heat produced by the heater actually escapes from the boat, via the chimney. And retains the BTU's produced by the heater, with much greater efficency than does just the air inside of the boat.

Also, one other KISS addition, heating wise, it to buy one or more fans which are designed to be placed atop a fireplace mantle, or wood stove. And that are powered simply by the rising hot air, which causes their blades to spin. So that you get a setup where the heat is spread around the cabin/boat, for "free".

[bix85]

Great info. Thanks for the replies. Do all diesel heaters have a blower on the exhaust? If so, I can safely extract chimney heat.

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[topmast]

Those stove top fans use the heat difference between base and radiator to produce electricity to run the fan. So needs a hot stove top. Stove pipes run hot,especially wood burning, so a second layer helps avoid chunks of wet gear sticking to it. Open at the deck head and held off the stove with legs ,about an inch clearance all over With some cunning sheet metal it can lead behind the stove or thru a bulkhead to duct to ?? A computer fan in the far end sucks hot air out or just themo vents to deckhead when off. Either way better circulation.Hot water can work well but fraught with challenges and heavy too. A small vessel might gain from a custom made deck iron holding enough hot water to over flow to galley sink Fill from foot pump. DYI rules.

[Juho]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

One thing as yet gone unmentioned about bulkhead or floor mounted heaters. Is that it'd make sense to add some (type of) thermal retentive mass to them/in their vicinity. In much the same way which Soapstone, or fire brick, is added to/built into, high efficency wood stoves/fireplaces for homes.

That, & perhaps adding some type of thermal extraction jacket to such a heater's exhaust vent/chimney.
Perhaps a tightly spiraled water jacket made out of copper tubing, encircling the chimney? Either with some insulation over it, or not.

Or, some other brilliant, KISS solution. So that very little heat produced by the heater actually escapes from the boat, via the chimney. And retains the BTU's produced by the heater, with much greater efficency than does just the air inside of the boat.

Also, one other KISS addition, heating wise, it to buy one or more fans which are designed to be placed atop a fireplace mantle, or wood stove. And that are powered simply by the rising hot air, which causes their blades to spin. So that you get a setup where the heat is spread around the cabin/boat, for "free".

We built a fireplace with lots and lots of bricks for our house. In a boat water might however be a better option for storing heat.

The heat capacity of water is higher. Water has however also some problems. It may boil and freeze. Bricks have also their problems. Boats do not usually have much extra space for the required number of bricks (unlike houses) right next to the fireplace, but hot water tanks can be installed pretty much wherever one wants to have them. Maybe only some bricks around the fire, and soon after them a water jacket around the chimney. The most efficient approach might be simply to make the chimney go right through the first small water tank / boiler / jacket. Water can be pumped from there to the other (isolated) tanks.

It makes sense not to light the fireplace up very often (too tedious). A fireplace is also very efficient in producing heat. For these reasons it may be good to have quite large hot water tanks that can absorb all the produced heat. Water is good also because you can easily get rid of it whenever you want to have a lighter boat that sails better.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by bix85

Thanks for all of the replies. Much appreciated! Now, I'm trying to decide about hot water for dishes and showering. A forced air system won't help me there, but is nice otherwise.

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If you spend the Bucks you could go Hydronic, heat the boat and have water for showers,ect.
They are forced air as well.


Sent from SV Cloud Duster

[Juho]

Originally Posted by bix85

Thanks for all of the replies. Much appreciated! Now, I'm trying to decide about hot water for dishes and showering. A forced air system won't help me there, but is nice otherwise.

Sent from my HTCONE using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

You can heat the water in your hot water tank using ...
- engine (good when you are on the move)
- electricity (good when you are connected to shore power)
- hydronic heater, burning diesel, propane or firewood

[sailor1924]

Originally Posted by topmast

Those stove top fans use the heat difference between base and radiator to produce electricity to run the fan. So needs a hot stove top. Stove pipes run hot,especially wood burning, so a second layer helps avoid chunks of wet gear sticking to it. Open at the deck head and held off the stove with legs ,about an inch clearance all over With some cunning sheet metal it can lead behind the stove or thru a bulkhead to duct to ?? A computer fan in the far end sucks hot air out or just themo vents to deckhead when off. Either way better circulation.Hot water can work well but fraught with challenges and heavy too. A small vessel might gain from a custom made deck iron holding enough hot water to over flow to galley sink Fill from foot pump. DYI rules.

I strongly caution that a fan needs to push air into a ducted chimney surround. On my old boat, I built an enclosure around my chimney out of insulation with an inlet at the bottom and an outlet duct at the top. I installed a computer fan at the outlet end of the duct about 2 feet from the chimney, it pulled huge amounts of heat from the chimney system and raised the air temperature in the boat by about 10 degrees from 60 to 70 degrees in a 20 degree New York winter. I was delighted, but, overnight the muffin fan at the outlet melted from the heat and the deckhead at the chimney became so hot it started to char and produce smoke and only luck kept me from dying of asphyxiation in my sleep.
Below is a picture of my current heater with some, very simple to make, radiators that scavenge 100 degrees from the chimney; 189 degrees F at stove top and 90 degrees at the deck level. The fan also helps circulate the heat. I'm also considering adding a water coil to be cut into the existing water heater and bus heater loop that are currently heated by the propulsion engine, though that is a little trickier then I'd like requiring solenoid valves, a circulating pump and not really KISS. On balance to add a radiator in the forward cabin as the heat does not get up there very effectively is an attractive idea and I could add a loop in the head, very attractive.