Boat Heating

[edante]

I've decided to install air blown heating. Trying to decide between Mikuni, Webasto or Eberspacher.

My priorities are

1. low noise
2. low electrical consumption

Looking at the various specifications , to achieve about 2KW output , the Eberspacher airtronic D4 seems best claiming to draw only 13 watts.

Does anyone know how noisy the eber D4 is compared to the D2 , or other makes.

thanks
Jeff

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[LORDNELSON]

My experience of an Eberspatcher D3 is that it is noisy and uses a start up current of about 18 amps dropping somewhat after startup but still power hungry. If I was starting from scratch on heating I would go for a gas or diesel powered stove (wood fired would be nice but where do you store the wood?). The power demand of hot air heaters strikes me as a constant worry unless you have shore power and if you have shore power why not use electric heaters? I appreciate that if you have hot air you can pipe it around your boat but unless its a very large boat some heat from the saloon will move into the other areas and hot water bottles are very comforting in bed!

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[TonyBrooks]

Please check the startup current - 25 amps would not suprise me.

I know this is not for long, but often it will be when the batteries are, shall we say, not in the best state of charge, and voltdrop causes ignition problems.

As far as I am concerned, all these forced darught conmbustion heaters tend to be noisey and require very regular maintenance - have a trawel through the forum.

I go with either a solid fuel or drip feed diesel stove.

Tony Brooks

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[bedouin]

You might also consider the gas burning blown air heater from Propex - that has lower electricity consumption than any of the Diesel ones - but is more expensive to run if used regularly

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[Talbot]

I have the D4 airtronic. If you install carefully then it is an acceptable level of noise. Start-up is power hungry, but running at the lower settings (the ebers are particularly good in this area) does use less power than its rivals.
you also need to be careful where you site the pump as that is noisy as well (Tick-tick-tick- so annoying as well as noisy).

I installed my eber using felt washers to further isolate the heater unit from the bulkhead it is mounted on. I sleep the other side of that bulkhead, and dont find it a problem.

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[searover]

Hi ive not long ago ininstalled an 1.8 kw. eberspacher on my boat , but i think i must be differant to everybody else , as mine is quiet and not noisy at all i only have a 27.ft. boat so it is neaR to me, wherever i am in the boat it 0nly draws heavy for acouple of seconds then it runs forever on very little current as i have a 70 amp hr. battry just one and that does everything . im pleased with mine wouldnt fit anything else. Regards.

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[Phoenix of Hamble]

I was also intrigued by this months Mikuni advert in ST....

They stated "some premium brand marine heaters will not run on marine red diesel"

Anyone know who they are referring to?

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[Peppermint]

Re: I own a load of them

in their natural habitat, trucks. They are very reliable in the main, I wouldn't install one without a dedicated battery as there power draw can it seems be a bit variable. They are quite noisy at the exhaust outlet and the turbine whine is not to bad if you think carefully about location and sound damping.

On boats they seem slightly less reliable. The main fault I've come across is that they won't start up without the engine running. Mains/charger connection isn't good enough. This is on charter boats that see a bit of use though.

The other problem is the type of heat delivered. Most crews I sail with find that the heat is a bit dry and not many of them want the thing blowing at night. They like it wafting before they get up though.

I met a guy who'd just scrapped his warm air system and put radiators in. He reckoned it to be the best thing he'd done to make the boat comfortable ever.

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[edante]

thanks for all your replies.

I'll probably be buying a D4 at the boat show - i'll update you all when its fitted.







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[edante]

helpful - thanks

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[freeman]

Whatever you do avoid Wallas.
I think that they dont like a marine enviroment.
Mine has been rubbish

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[pvb]

Little known facts...

I've had Eberspachers in various boats, and have mostly fitted them myself. There are some little known facts about them which can significantly enhance their performance.

First, many people moan about power consumption, but often this can be dramatically reduced by selecting a different version. For example, you say you're looking for 2kW output, but you're looking at the 4kw D4 - and this is the right choice for you. The 2.2kW D2 version takes 2.8A when running at 2.2kW, whereas the D4 takes only 1.1A when running at 2kW (and will be quieter too because it'll be using a lower fan speed).

Secondly, there's no need for Eberspachers to be noisy. Eberspacher have a huge range of accessories which includes metal/rubber shock absorbing mounts, noise-reducing fuel pump holders, and - best of all - a "process air silencer" which fits in the main outlet ducting and removes the fan noise. My current boat has an Eberspacher with one of these silencers fitted, and the system is effectively silent. Have a look at the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.espar.com/pdfs/access.pdf>Eberspacher Accessories guide</A> and consider getting at least a silencer.

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