A bit underwhelmed by newly installed Taylors 079d heater

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fredrussell

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Fired it up for the first time last night after a fairly conventional install. After running for an hour or two boat was not what I would describe as ‘toasty’. Mine is a 26’ boat, heads and forepeak closed off and an outside temp of 7 degrees celsius. It’s early days obviously and I still have some learning to do re keeping drip rate constant, but if other Taylor’s heater owners could let me know how theirs perform I’d be interested. Should I be able to sit in t-shirt and jeans with heater on full, or am I expecting too much?

I’m an eber fan normally, but no alternator on boat so went for drip fed heater.
 
On full output that's 2.1KW, more than enough to bring your cabin up to toasty.


Possible causes:

Damp boat needs drying out first
Flue pipe and chimney not perfectly installed
Constricted fuel supply (you should be using 0.3l per hour n full heat setting)
Hot air being sucked out through mast (stack effect) or escaping through deckhead ventilator ?


My money is on the hot air escaping. Was there much wind last night ?
 
Keeping the drip rate at the correct setting is probably crucial. Having said that, some owners seem to reckon that the quoted heat output is, shall we say, "optimistic".

Incidentally, Taylors rate the 079D at 2.1kW which they say is 8200 BTU, whereas the 079K is rated at 2.1kW which they say is only 7200 BTU.
 
I can't sit within a metre of mine when it's on full chat and the round burner enclosure is glowing cherry red.
Have you got a nice full, swirling bunsen-blue flame visible through the small window?

Rubbish picture but you can see the flame and the glowing stainless steel which is fairly limted in this pic but will extend upwards almost to the flue outlet.
 

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My flame is blue and swirling but definitely not enough to get the enclosure glowing. I had it going at 110 drips per minute as per manual, but it did say this was only a rough guideline. I’ll try turning it up a bit more.

It was a bit windy last night, and boat would have been damp sarabande - will try again tonight and make sure hot air losses are kept to a minimum.
 
fredrussell said:
Fired it up for the first time last night after a fairly conventional install. After running for an hour or two boat was not what I would describe as ‘toasty’. Mine is a 26’ boat, heads and forepeak closed off and an outside temp of 7 degrees celsius. It’s early days obviously and I still have some learning to do re keeping drip rate constant, but if other Taylor’s heater owners could let me know how theirs perform I’d be interested. Should I be able to sit in t-shirt and jeans with heater on full, or am I expecting too much?

I’m an eber fan normally, but no alternator on boat so went for drip fed heater.
Click to expand...

I have had mine for about 14 years and am still very pleased with it. I have never sat in t shirt but then i never have it on maximum heat and am content with shirt and jumper when the outside temperature is 5degrees. I have only once turned it up so high that the fire box glowed red but it made me nervous. However, i recommend you do turn it up until you get the fire box glowing red as that will tell you whether your fuel supply is adequate and not restricted in any way. Let us know how you get on. Hopefully you already have a CO detector.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
Yep, have CO detector. Fuel supply is via the correct electric pump so ‘pressure’ should be adequate. The pump supposedly gives a more constant drip rate.
 
If you are running with a pump the pressure and delivery volume should be ok, I'd look at the flue. In the last boat (30') I extended the outer flue 50cm above the deck head, it made a huge difference. One winter night we ran it full blast for too long and had 28 degs C in the saloon.
 
Hadenough said:
If you are running with a pump the pressure and delivery volume should be ok, I'd look at the flue. In the last boat (30') I extended the outer flue 50cm above the deck head, it made a huge difference. One winter night we ran it full blast for too long and had 28 degs C in the saloon.
Click to expand...

Trying the extended (and insulated) flue above deck as I write this. How long should it take for burner enclosure to glow with heater running at full chat?

Do these heaters need decoking once in a while? It’s a second hand heater, perhaps it needs that.
 
My old Model 65 Taylors paraffin heater produces more than enough heat for my 28' yacht but, not yet having installed any means of moving the warm air around (a heat-powered stove top fan has been suggested), the heat is concentrated amidships.

The paraffin heater also has the advantage that you get quite warm pumping up the pressure tank!

By the way, your heater should be located as low down as possible otherwise you'll have a layer of cold air below the warm air.
 
I’ve been looking through the window at the burn and it looks to me like the top row of flames are much larger than lower ones. Top flames extend all the way to burner pot outer edge whereas lower ones only extend 5 to 10mm. Can I assume that the innerds need a good clean? Running now for an hour at approx 110 drips a minute and not a hint of cherry red on burner pot.
 
parsifal said:
My old Model 65 Taylors paraffin heater produces more than enough heat for my 28' yacht but, not yet having installed any means of moving the warm air around (a heat-powered stove top fan has been suggested), the heat is concentrated amidships.

The paraffin heater also has the advantage that you get quite warm pumping up the pressure tank!

By the way, your heater should be located as low down as possible otherwise you'll have a layer of cold air below the warm air.
Click to expand...
This where down tent boots are de rigeur on a boat.
 
fredrussell said:
I’ve been looking through the window at the burn and it looks to me like the top row of flames are much larger than lower ones. Top flames extend all the way to burner pot outer edge whereas lower ones only extend 5 to 10mm. Can I assume that the innerds need a good clean? Running now for an hour at approx 110 drips a minute and not a hint of cherry red on burner pot.
Click to expand...

Then wind it up to 200 per minute. If it is not overheating you can't do any harm. Otherwise, yes, you need to drop the fire box and decoke it.

I did once have an overheat problem. The heater did not light property (i think i was trying to rush it) and for some unexplained reason i must have had a buildup of diesel in the bottom of the firebox so when i eventually got it going it got hotter and hotter and the fire box was getting very red and even though i turned off the fuel the buildup of diesel was still burning like mad. I got really worried.

Underneath in the centre of the fire box is a round hole which is the air inlet. If you stuff something in that hole (preferably something heatproof) the fire dies down fairly quickly. Lesson learnt! I now have a small wooden tapered bung just in case.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
Quick update: Cleaned it last night and tried it again. Better now - had the central burner enclosure glowing red but from above the burner pot only. Burner pot not glowing much at all, until I turn it down to two drips a second then burner pot (only) glowing. Heat output good anyway, so that’ll do for now. Will now concentrate on making cabin less draughty and that should do it.
 
Hello Fred,

That doesn't sound right. I have a similar system and it toasts my 28ft boat. If I have it on full, its too much.

Im not sure where your located but I'm in GYC London, and John who is the Taylors man, is due back to my boat because he's doing an overhaul on mine. if you continue to have issues, i'de advise having it looked at. Ive always used mine wrong, and eventually this ended in me needing a full rebuild at a ££££
 
Hmm, you’re probably right benlui- but what I don’t understand is what issues these Heaters can suffer from given that there are very few moving parts. There was no soot in mine really - but there was some gunk in the t-fitting where the fuel enters the burner pot.

I couldn’t remove the burner stool from burner cup during cleanout last night on boat, will take them home this weekend and soak them in paraffin (as per manual) and check there’s nothing amiss, but if fuel is being delivered correctly I’m struggling to see what else can be causing ‘strange’ burn on mine. If Taylors servicing charges are as surreally expensive as their spare parts I may well be forced to put up with it as is. Will report back after weekend’s maintenance session.
 
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