Beer can air heater for boat in winter?

[Ross D]

I was heard about making an air heater from old beer cans, a bit of ducting and some acrylic sheet. It sounded great and ideal for sheds, garages etc. I looked it up on line, the instructions are here

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Soda-Can-Heater/

I thought about making one of these and using it as part of the winterisation of the boat, rather than using a black heater to keep out the freezing and damp.

Has anyone made one and or used one for their boat?

The best bit is you have to drink all the beer first, and if it doesn't give enough heat the solution is to drink more beer and make it bigger

Ross

 

[Deleted member 36384]

i saw this on TV the other day and thought the same, good idea for the boat laid up. I wont get round to it though.

 

[dunmor]

that would look really nice in the front cabin! not

 

[Lodesman77]

that would look really nice in the front cabin!

Why would you put it in the front cabin?

 

[dylanwinter]

cheap to make, easy to store, works when the sun is shining

alternative technology at its finest

D

 

[VicS]

cheap to make, easy to store, works when the sun is shining

alternative technology at its finest

D

Could incorporate a couple of flower pots a baking tin and some candles so that it can be used when the sun is not shining too.

 

[pvb]

Could incorporate a couple of flower pots a baking tin and some candles so that it can be used when the sun is not shining too.

I've heard that magnifies the heat magnificently!

 

[Bilgediver]

that would look really nice in the front cabin! not

It is painted with black paint and left outside the boat with air trunks carrying the air in and out ?)

 

[chrisbitz]

cheap to make, easy to store, works when the sun is shining

alternative technology at its finest

D

Easy to store? Where? It looked pretty big to me!

Are you planning on towing Katie L behind the Centaur so you can store your solar heater in it?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Snag seems to me to be that it will only earn its keep on a bright, cold day! On a nice sunny summer day, it won't be needed. At night, when it's needed, it won't work. During the day, when it's cold and damp and overcast, it won't work. So, realistically, the only time it would work is on a cold, sunny day - which does happen, but not often enough for the effort involved.

Something like this but with some form of heat storage might work, but at added complexity, size and weight. Might work better if you used water as the working fluid instead of air, and had an insulated holding tank to store the hot water until it was needed for heating. Lots of domestic installations doing this, even in the UK, and they can attain temperatures at the water outlet at near boiling point. But basically, you'd have to install some sort of matrix heater to use the heat from the hot water, and you'd have to have a massive hot water tank to store a respectable amount of heat.

 

[Dipper]

That won't work in the UK. It only produces Fahrenheit heat whilst we need Centigrade heat.

 

[Robert Wilson]

Not mention of a toilet roll or sticky-backed-plastic................................

 

[Trundlebug]

Can't make it.

Went to my local builder's merchant to get some lumber and they'd never heard of it.

I thought it was a part of the lower back anyway?

 

[MASH]

D'uh oh! Shoulda gone to the Home Deepo!

 

[MASH]

72 beer cans at £1 each.
"Lumber" at £25
Polycarb sheet £25
Duck tape £10
Fan £5
Solar panel £25
Call it £150

A fan heater with frost-stat costs £20. How long do you persevere with a great clumsy contrivance that can't work in winter cos there's no sun when you could have used the other £130 on years of electric heating?

Its a nice idea, but like all these bunny-hugger ideas not founded on any financial or practical sense.