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

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Yes, I'd be interested in a device which allowed me to leave the boat unattended for weeks at a time in winter, which did some or all of the following without needing mains:
- dry heat the boat to avoid freezing, or to some consistent low temperature
- circulate dry clean air
- keep the batteries topped up
- potentially power up a battery (integrated?) which then powered a desiccant humidifier (integrated?) on an auto timer for a couple of hours a day.

Would not really care how it's powered, but some easy way to carry energy helps (eg gas bottles are fine, maybe fuel cell depending on £).

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

No because that's an enormous amount of money for 30 watts that won't heat a boat unless it is tiny. We had two 500 watt heaters to heat a 36 foot boat but it was using shore power.
 
KellysEye said:
>Boat heater that also generates 30 watts of power £300(ish). Would you buy one?

No because that's an enormous amount of money for 30 watts that won't heat a boat unless it is tiny. We had two 500 watt heaters to heat a 36 foot boat but it was using shore power.
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I think you misunderstand his proposal, which is for a thermoelectric generator producing 30W of electricity from a fraction of the heat available.
 
dancrane said:
Sounds great. Where can I get one? Does...anybody actually manufacture them?
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The Swedes use stirling engines for aip for their submarines, so you can get sensible power from then. Equally thermo electric generators are practical and have been in use for many years. I ran 3 seafix stations using them powered by calor gas some 40 years ago. Today for the same task you would use solar and wind, and save the effort of delivering 56kg gas cylinders to uninhabited islands.
 
This all sounds encouraging - although it's a pity the systems in existence aren't in common use - I wonder if the considerable heat produced within the 'greenhouse' zone behind a car's windows, for example, could be focused sufficiently to run a small Stirling battery charger...or is such power already much better harvested by the same sun on solar panels?
 
dancrane said:
This all sounds encouraging - although it's a pity the systems in existence aren't in common use - I wonder if the considerable heat produced within the 'greenhouse' zone behind a car's windows, for example, could be focused sufficiently to run a small Stirling battery charger...or is such power already much better harvested by the same sun on solar panels?
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They are in common use, for example http://www.thegreenage.co.uk/tech/chp-boilers/

They are used to generate electricity (and income via feed in tariff) from the gas boiler exhaust. They are useful in places where solar panels aren't appropriate. They are large, heavy and make a bit of a racket though.
 
agurney said:
They are used to generate electricity (and income via feed in tariff) from the gas boiler exhaust. They are useful in places where solar panels aren't appropriate. They are large, heavy and make a bit of a racket though.
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dancrane said:
Interesting...the Saab site said they're virtually silent.
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He's talking about MicroCHP (Combined Heat and Power) systems, which basically replace your central heating boiler with a diesel engine and generator ... the waste heat warms your house and the electricity can be used or fed-in as required.

You're talking about the Saab/Kockums Stirling cycle engines as fitted to Swedish. Singaporean (ex-Swedish) and Japanese submarines. They are indeed very quiet, because they use continuous external combustion rather than intermittent (bang-bang-bang-bang-bang ...) internal combustion.
 
JumbleDuck said:
He's talking about MicroCHP (Combined Heat and Power) systems, which basically replace your central heating boiler with a diesel engine and generator ... the waste heat warms your house and the electricity can be used or fed-in as required.

You're talking about the Saab/Kockums Stirling cycle engines as fitted to Swedish. Singaporean (ex-Swedish) and Japanese submarines. They are indeed very quiet, because they use continuous external combustion rather than intermittent (bang-bang-bang-bang-bang ...) internal combustion.
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No, I'm talking about a CHP system that effectively adds a stirling engine to the flue from a gas central heating boiler, like this one that British Gas tried to sell me recently: http://www.baxi.co.uk/renewables/combined-heat-and-power/ecogen.htm.
It's the stirling engine that makes the noise; it's probably not that bad on reflection, but it's not silent.
 
agurney said:
No, I'm talking about a CHP system that effectively adds a stirling engine to the flue from a gas central heating boiler, like this one that British Gas tried to sell me recently: http://www.baxi.co.uk/renewables/combined-heat-and-power/ecogen.htm.
It's the stirling engine that makes the noise; it's probably not that bad on reflection, but it's not silent.
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Coo. I stand interestingly corrected. I presume it's the free piston displacer which makes the noise.
 
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