Alternative boat heater

bilbobaggins

bilbobaggins

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After enduring the Continuing Sagas of Eber over many months ( more Coronation Street than Neighbours ), I recall seeing - on a German boat visiting Lerwick - a small diesel-fuelled heater which I'd like to track down. This has a vertical-barrel combustion chamber about 3-4" in diameter, and a polished steel flue about 1-2" across.

Does anyone have any info?

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We have an inventors show on TV. Some school kid had invented a camping hot water heater. It had a tub of kerosene (read diesel) with 4 fat wicks of fibreglass.. at the bottom. This went up a tube about 2 metres high to exhaust at the top.
It seems to me that if you put a outlet in the cabin roof and the burner on the floor that the heat radiated out from a little less than 2 metres should provide some warmth with no fumes.
To improve the efficiency you could use aluminium or copper tube about 3 inches diameter. If fins were attached inside into the hot air flow and possiblky fins on the outside to shift heat into the cabin it could work better. You could also have rightangled bend to exhaust at the rear bulkead and if it were long (more efficient) then you could fit a small computer style 12v fan at the exit. Of course a similar arrangement could fit over a spirit stove.
I don't need a heater but it seems there are many simplle arrangements that could warm the cabin a little without the troubles of an Ebb.
Olewill who knows not even slightly anything about cabin heating.
 
I believe that Eber get a bad press. We have never had any problem at all with ours. The only time its stopped was when the diesel ran low! *

I strongly beleive that most of the problems people have with Ebers is from sometime poor installation of old and battered ones out of vehicles. We fitted a brand new marine one exactly according to the manufacturers instructions and I have total confidence in it.

(* Correction - when I fitted it originally, it failed with an odd 'fail code', and the dealer went out of his way to replace it the NEXT DAY under warranty. He even gave me his home address so that I could take it round on may way home in the evening, and then having checked it out the next day gave us a new one. There was a manufacturing fault on the control board.)
 
Hi, I agree, most faults are due to installation problems. A common problem is the fuel supply, on many boats, the heater is a long way from the fuel tank and the pump will take a long time to initially prime itself and the heater ends up locking itself out before it has chance to fire. One way round this is to use a vacuum oil extractor to suck fuel through to the pump before doing the final connection to the heater (or if you on't mind the taste of diesel, you can suck it through yourself!). Use the fuel pipes (1mm bore for a D2) that comes with the kit and if possible, fit the standpipe into the fuel tank, I have seen heaters using large bore fuel pipe and struggling to pump fuel through. Try to avoid the fuel pipe having 'air traps' upside down 'u' bends, if possible have the pipe in a continuos slope up from the tank to the heater, to prevent air locking.

Peter
 
Dickinson diesel - one of our best buys

We installed a Dickinson diesel heater about 10 years ago when we bought the boat and still extoll its virtues. It puts out masses of heat (?5Kw), has a glass door so you can see the flames (sounds silly but it is very cheery, like an open fire at home). It takes a while to get it going (bit of an art which HWMBO has mastered !) so there's not much point in turning it on and off so its less useful in spring and autumn but great if you're on the boat for a while. It's marvellous for drying the boat out and reducing humidity.

It does have its disadvantages, as I've said, but I wouldn't be without it. We run a small radiant desk heater as a quick or short-term alternative when we're on the mains. Whether you can fit one in is an issue - they are best if mounted at floor level but we had to have ours above the seating to prevent major woodworking.
 
Re: Dickinson diesel - one of our best buys

Bilbo...
I have a reflex diesel heater of much the same dimensions you discribe.
I love it.
Lighting it is simple... just chuck a small bit of firelighter in it and turn it on at the tap... Takes a few mins to get going, but not a problem.
Burns about a gallon a day when i use it a lot in the winter.
and it needs no electrical power at all... Which i think is a huge advantage over the Ebber
 
Thank, guys. I now have some names/websites to go rooting around in.

For me, one of the great pleasures of cruising in wet and windy places ( aka UK ) is to come in from sea to somewhere 'bomb-proof' like Moidart, Droma Buidhe, or St Helen's Pool, get hooked up solid. Then off with the damp gear, on with the track suit and the Boots, Tent, Arctic - arguably the best bit of 'apres-sailing' gear yet invented.

Once the cassoulet has warming us up nicely, one can settle warm and dry onto the settee, a wee drammie and a good book to hand, some Puccini or Sibelius on the player, and listen to the wind and rain lashing around - outside!

Ah, yes. Tentboots..... just the thing for one of Lakesailor's nubile little friends!


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Hi Bilbo,
Since our sail in December, I've got our Mikuni up and running - along with sorting out the engine fuel system and various other jobs!! It is very effective, and the heated towel rail is a real luxury! All the problems with the heater related to the installation, so only myself to blame, but probably true of other types as well. I have, of course, got it working just in time for our summer heatwave - ha, ha.
SWMBO and I have just decided today, looking at the long range forecast, to delay departure for Ireland by a couple of weeks. I think the bank manager is very relieved!
Must say I also enjoy your scenario, but possibly not quite as much as sitting in the cockpit with a cold beer watching the tropical sunset... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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