Boat heater that also generates 30 watts of power £300(ish). Would you buy one?

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sam_uk

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Hi

I came up with an idea for a small boat heater that would use the existing gas/alcohol stove in the galley to generate dry heat, with the exhaust vented outside. It would also generate 15-30watts @12v for battery charging. I'd build a C0 monitor into the cable, so whenever the device was powered on the C0 monitor would be powered on too.

It would basically be a combination of existing technologies

Boat heater that vents outside
http://www.pan2000.se/english/index.html

12v Thermo-electric generator:
http://www.thermonamic.com/pro_view.asp?id=824

I'm seriously considering building a prototype but thought I would gauge interest.

Would you buy one?

Thanks

Sam
 
sam_uk said:
Would you buy one?
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No, but I might be interesting in a thermoelectric retrofit for my existing charcoal heater. However, if this
TEG-ST30-12V.jpg

is a 15W one, who big will your 30W version be?
 
JumbleDuck said:
No, but I might be interesting in a thermoelectric retrofit for my existing charcoal heater.
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Sadly I found my Bencgo didn't get consistently hot enough to put out 13-14v. At it's hottest it did, but generally it was doing 8-12v. I basically mounted one of these on the side: http://www.thermonamic.com/pro_view.asp?id=800 That said, it could be worked around by adding more modules to generate a higher voltage for the same temperature.

JumbleDuck said:
However, if this is a 15W one, who big will your 30W version be?
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That's definitely the upper limit for size! I think you could get more out of it by adding more modules. It would be a trade off between size & generation. Maybe 20w would be a more sensible target?

This design is less bulky:
http://www.thermonamic.com/TEG30W-English.pdf

Thanks

Sam
 
Would it also need a power supply to power a fan or is that all taken care of inside the box? First though is all that warm air high up and in the one place. warm air needs to get down to feet level and be spread around the boat with extra outlets or a decent fan.
 
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Spyro said:
I like the idea, does it also need a power supply to power a fan or is that all taken care of inside the box? First though is all that warm air high up and in the one place. warm air needs to get down to feet level and be spread around the boat with extra outlets or a decent fan.
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good point

I wonder if some-one could come up with a sort of device that used simple physics to enhance the convective airflow from a few tealights without using electricity

D
 
Spyro said:
I like the idea, does it also need a power supply to power a fan or is that all taken care of inside the box? First though is all that warm air high up and in the one place. warm air needs to get down to feet level and be spread around the boat with extra outlets or a decent fan.
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The fan is powered from the device itself, all inside the box.

It might be possible to have a separate vent pipe for hot, clean air you could put on the cabin sole. The priority has to be getting the wet/C0 vapour out of the boat though I think.
 
sam_uk said:
The fan is powered from the device itself, all inside the box.

It might be possible to have a separate vent pipe for hot, clean air you could put on the cabin sole. The priority has to be getting the wet/C0 vapour out of the boat though I think.
Click to expand...

I thought the priority is heating the boat. :) Anyway it all looks rather messy. Design an oven that has all this built in with an external exhaust and you might be onto a winner.
 
Is this whole thread so far, a joke?

I wonder how many tea-lights would be required to generate enough electricity to drive an electric auxiliary? And would there be enough power over, to spray the cabin with water in the event of conflagration?
 
Lighting the stove to charge a battery does not make much sense to me. But using surplus heat may be another matter. For instance using ( and disipating 0 the heat from my Eberspacher exhaust ( yes I recognise the condensation implications) What about heat from fridges especially in hot climates etc.
 
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pcatterall said:
Lighting the stove to charge a battery does not make much sense to me. .
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Agreed. Lighting the stove to warm the boat makes more sense, with electricity as an additional benefit.

I see it as complimenting solar. During the summer solar works great.

In autumn/spring/winter there is little light for solar and you need heat too which is where this might work.
 
sam_uk said:
Agreed. Lighting the stove to warm the boat makes more sense, with electricity as an additional benefit.

I see it as complimenting solar. During the summer solar works great.

In autumn/spring/winter there is little light for solar and you need heat too which is where this might work.
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But its only 30 watts max. What is the use of that & how would that heat a boat ? May as well use a hot water bottle.
 
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Sandyman said:
But its only 30 watts max. What is the use of that & how would that heat a boat ? May as well use a hot water bottle.
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No you misunderstand; A stove will put out around 1000watts of heat. Let's conservatively assume half is lost to exhaust. So you get 500watts of heat in the boat.

Additionally 20 of those watts is converted into electricity which you can use to run lights, netbooks, charge batteries etc.
 
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