Charcoal Heaters

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JeffBoath

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Hi, I currently have a Eberpacher heater on my Elizabethan 31, however I would like to replace it with a bulkhead mounted charcoal burner, mainly as I have no means of maintaining battery charge to run the Eberspacher. I'm a bit old fashioned so really like the idea of the charcoal burners, does anyone know of the best ones to buy and what to avoid? Are there any pitfalls that I need to know about? Thanks, Jeff.
 
JeffBoath said:
Hi, I currently have a Eberpacher heater on my Elizabethan 31, however I would like to replace it with a bulkhead mounted charcoal burner, mainly as I have no means of maintaining battery charge to run the Eberspacher. I'm a bit old fashioned so really like the idea of the charcoal burners, does anyone know of the best ones to buy and what to avoid? Are there any pitfalls that I need to know about? Thanks, Jeff.
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I fitted a Hampshire Heaters charcoal heater this spring. It's well made, easy to fit and looks nice, but as I haven't actually lit it yet I can't tell you how it performs.
 
Hi Jeff

I inspected a Colvic Watson the other day for a client which had a stainless steel wall mounted 'Benco' charcoal heater fitted, never seen one before so had a good look at it.

You light it by soaking a 'meths' bowl which heats up the charcoal in the compartment above, the owner said it was very good!

However it does need a chimney and do I want a wall mounted heater full of 'hot charcoal' when I am sailing offshore ???

Maybe ok for running up/down rivers but sorry I will give them a miss for serious sailing.

Mike
 
The downsides:

- charcoal heaters are dirty, both on deck and below
- forget about buying fuel when you actually need it most, you'll have to buy charcoal during the BBQ season
- storage: again dirty and takes lots of space
- can be difficult to start
- cold feet, hot head due to poor air circulation in boats
- CO poisoning and potential fire hazzard. DO NOT underestimate these!
- spend money on improving the flue, poor draft but great at catching sheets
- You'll be carrying two or even three different types of fuel (diesel, gas/paraffin, charcoal and maybe even petrol)

If you still want one try to work out how big your interior is. My Pansy is fine for say Oktober but at 1.5KW/9000BTU won't keep my 30" boat toasty warm in winter (12-14°C if you can live with that). Look for one that'll give you 2.5-3KW*. TBH I'd stick with the Eberspacher in your case.

*
Edit: rule of thumb seems to be 15-20m^3 per KW for buildings. Boats tend to be badly insulated of course so keep that in mind.
 
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2nd_apprentice said:
- storage: again dirty and takes lots of space
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The advice I have been given, and plan to take, is to preload the charcoal into self-seal envelopes, then store these in a waterproof contained on board. Drop 'em in whole, and let the paper burn off. Oh, and always use lumpwood charcoal, not briquettes. We shall see.

I went for charcoal because the heater is 1/4 the price of an Eberspächer, doesn't make any noise, doesn't use electricity and doesn't waft diesel fumes around.
 
2nd_apprentice said:
The downsides:

- charcoal heaters are dirty, both on deck and below not particularly
- forget about buying fuel when you actually need it most, you'll have to buy charcoal during the BBQ season Not that difficult to find (or buy a season's worth).
- storage: again dirty and takes lots of space Not dirty if stored in paper bags. Doesn't take up much space. (How much charcoal are you planning to carry?)
- can be difficult to start Why should it be?
- cold feet, hot head due to poor air circulation in boats Mount heater low and/or have a battery powered fan
- CO poisoning and potential fire hazzard. DO NOT underestimate these! Shouldn't over-estimate them, either!
- spend money on improving the flue, poor draft but great at catching sheets Depends where your chimney is mounted, and whether you have the chimey extension mounted or the flue capped while sailing
- You'll be carrying two or even three different types of fuel (diesel, gas/paraffin, charcoal and maybe even petrol) An additional tupperware box of charcoal doesn't make much difference.

If you still want one try to work out how big your interior is. My Pansy is fine for say Oktober but at 1.5KW/9000BTU won't keep my 30" boat toasty warm in winter (12-14°C if you can live with that). Look for one that'll give you 2.5-3KW*. TBH I'd stick with the Eberspacher in your case. The Pansy is a bit small for your boat. Most charcoal heaters are more powerful than the Pansy.

*
Edit: rule of thumb seems to be 15-20m^3 per KW for buildings. Boats tend to be badly insulated of course so keep that in mind.
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A friend had a domestic sized coal stove mounted in his 38ft boat. Glorious! Just like (IIRC) Denny Desouter wrote - snow on deck and crew below lounging around in their vests.
 
LittleSister said:
The downsides:

- charcoal heaters are dirty, both on deck and below not particularly Enough for me YMMV

- forget about buying fuel when you actually need it most, you'll have to buy charcoal during the BBQ season Not that difficult to find (or buy a season's worth) Couldn't get any lumpwood charcoal within a 10 mile radius at least but then I don't live in Newcastle

- storage: again dirty and takes lots of space Not dirty if stored in paper bags. Doesn't take up much space. (How much charcoal are you planning to carry?) 300 Kg and yes tried the paper bag idea. Messy

- can be difficult to start Why should it be? Ever tried to light a BBQ?

- cold feet, hot head due to poor air circulation in boats Mount heater low and/or have a battery powered fan That would be ideal, space permitting. Never tried using a fan but then again don't have the AH for that

- CO poisoning and potential fire hazzard. DO NOT underestimate these! Shouldn't over-estimate them, either! Life's cheap, yeah

- spend money on improving the flue, poor draft but great at catching sheets Depends where your chimney is mounted, and whether you have the chimey extension mounted or the flue capped while sailing Position may be dictated by bulkhead. Fine when you're sailing but isn't that the advantage of his Ebespacher, no need to worry?

- You'll be carrying two or even three different types of fuel (diesel, gas/paraffin, charcoal and maybe even petrol) An additional tupperware box of charcoal doesn't make much difference. tupperware? Err

If you still want one try to work out how big your interior is. My Pansy is fine for say Oktober but at 1.5KW/9000BTU won't keep my 30" boat toasty warm in winter (12-14°C if you can live with that). Look for one that'll give you 2.5-3KW*. TBH I'd stick with the Eberspacher in your case.
The Pansy is a bit small for your boat. Most charcoal heaters are more powerful than the Pansy. Agree about the Pansy being on the small side. Same goes for the Benco and Little Cod though. Most bulkhead mounted heaters will throw out about 1.5-2 KW AFAIK.

*
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I'm not against charcoal at all but I'd rather have an Eberspacher if I could afford to run it.
 
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There is some info in my ad in the For Sale section, which would give further hints as to the pros and cons of daily use in winter. Cheers Jerry. edited to add,in answer to the above points,mine was definitely safe to use when sailing and heeled!
 
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Thanks for the advice so far, I understand that they tend to divide opinion a bit but I am going to fit one, if anyone wants to swap ne for me eberspacher.......
 
JeffBoath said:
Hi, I currently have a Eberpacher heater on my Elizabethan 31, however I would like to replace it with a bulkhead mounted charcoal burner, mainly as I have no means of maintaining battery charge to run the Eberspacher. I'm a bit old fashioned so really like the idea of the charcoal burners, does anyone know of the best ones to buy and what to avoid? Are there any pitfalls that I need to know about? Thanks, Jeff.
Click to expand...

I have had two Bengco charcoal heaters (not on the same boat!) and they are easy to light. Just soak the wick with meths, light, fit. With the draft fully open it will start. Keep the lumpwood charcoal (no other type) in a screw top rubber sealed container, I used an old flare container (yellow with red top) and had a sugar scoop to load the charcoal. There is very little ash as it burns away to almost nothing! One important point is to insist they send you a made-to-measure inside flue. This is so you can mount the unit as low as possible. (a fan will work as well) We had a well insulated 32footer and it was toasty. A CO alarm is a must, but remember your cooker produces lots. Enjoy
 
You already have diesel onboard, have you considered a diesel stove?
This is my Sigmar 100 available from Kuranda. No electrics required, in my case it's gravity fed from the main tank.
Sigmar100.jpg

In addition, for instant heat I have a Webasto 2000 which uses very little electricity.
 
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Lovely stoves,but £700 seems incredibly steep for a few bits of stainless knocked together. You could get the materials, a BOC gas contract and a nice TIG welder for the money!
 
jerrytug said:
Lovely stoves,but £700 seems incredibly steep for a few bits of stainless knocked together. You could get the materials, a BOC gas contract and a nice TIG welder for the money!
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You get what you are prepared to pay for. Canadian made, a great heater.
 
A diesel heater would be ok I think, but do they smell? The smell of charcoal burning isn't bad particularly ( I'm a Fire \officer so understand fully the implications of bad ventilation and CO2 ).
 
jerrytug said:
Lovely stoves,but £700 seems incredibly steep for a few bits of stainless knocked together. You could get the materials, a BOC gas contract and a nice TIG welder for the money!
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The Hampshire Heaters stove costs fifty quid less than that. Yes, it's quite expensive, but it's also quite complicated: inner firebox, outer casing, removable top and bottom, flue, through deck fitting, chimney/cowl. I certainly couldn't make anything nearly as nice.

OP, others I looked at were the Bengco (seems nice, but a bit angular for my boat's feel), the Pascall Atkey Pansy (very traditional, if you want a small brass marine toilet with a chimney) and the delightful small stoves made by Davey.
 
JumbleDuck said:
The Hampshire Heaters stove costs fifty quid less than that. Yes, it's quite expensive, but it's also quite complicated: inner firebox, outer casing, removable top and bottom, flue, through deck fitting, chimney/cowl. I certainly couldn't make anything nearly as nice.

OP, others I looked at were the Bengco (seems nice, but a bit angular for my boat's feel), the Pascall Atkey Pansy (very traditional, if you want a small brass marine toilet with a chimney) and the delightful small stoves made by Davey.
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Pansy heaters were copper,then chromed copper (like mine) then stainless,the latter not so good,I saw a couple of stainless ones which had rotted away. I haven't seen a brass one yet, if they exist it would look nice. Another one to look at might be the Taylor's, I believe there are different ones for diesel and paraffin? Also expensive though for what they are.
I have a tiny wood stove not much bigger than these types of heaters but the flue is too wide (and sooty) for my small yacht, otherwise it's ideal. All these heaters smell a bit, I suppose the charcoal smell is ok compared to paraffin. Anyway that's enough rambling about boat heaters,Jerry
 
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