Control diesel heater remotely from phone?

[Hunterlees]

I am going to change out an MV Airo 5kw heater (which has an ECU problem and will cost nearly £300 in parts alone to fix), probably to the newer HCalory chinese heater.
What Iwould like to be able to do is to remotely switch the new heater on and off via my phone, from home.
I can currently do this via sending an SMS to a 4g gate opening switch which triggers the Airo on in temperature mode.

The only way i can think of for a new heater is to hack into the small remote control and trigger the on/off button. from the 4g box.
Has anyone been successful in achieving remote control of chinese heaters, if so how?

 

[dunedin]

Is it safe to fire up a diesel heater from home with nobody on board? If there was a problem, would the insurers consider this not normal practice (hacked control) and decline to pay up?
Wouldnt electric tube heaters or similar on thermostatic plug be better for an unattended boat?

 

[snowbird30ds]

On eberspacher its a yellow wire from the controller you just put 12v to and it runs normal and does a proper cool down when the 12v goes, can't say for chinaspacher.

 

[Hunterlees]

Many of the boats in the marina have diesel heaters running on timers whilst unattended, so dont see this as a real issue.

 

[Hunterlees]

On eberspacher its a yellow wire from the controller you just put 12v to and it runs normal and does a proper cool down when the 12v goes, can't say for chinaspacher.

That is effectively how my existing heater works. The chinaspachers have an lcd and a small keyfob, so there must be a way of activating.

 

[saab96]

Is it safe to fire up a diesel heater from home with nobody on board? If there was a problem, would the insurers consider this not normal practice (hacked control) and decline to pay up?
Wouldnt electric tube heaters or similar on thermostatic plug be better for an unattended boat?

If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. Fire on your own boat is bad enough. Fire on a neighbour’s boat in a marina is especially distressing since it had a diminishingly low probability but is now very clearly coming your way.

Why is it so important to warm the boat before you get on board?

For years I had an efficient, problem free drip feed diesel heater. One evening I turned it down low and rowed to the pub. On my way back I saw flashes of red light from my boat. Turning down the heater had caused its parts to cool. The fuel delivery pipe and nozzle had contracted so that the drips slowed and fuel was delivered with a longer interval. The flame went out. Then a build-up of diesel rushed onto the still red hot metal burners and exploded. The thing cycled from out to an explosive flame. I don’t know how long it would have been before the timber of the boat or the paper of my books ignited. I wished I had not left the heater running.

My second mistake that day was to throw a fire blanket over the fire after I had turned the fuel off. Now I had what looked like a red hot gas mantle and horrible fumes. I sat in the cockpit with a fire extinguisher hoping not to use it.

What ignites the diesel in your heater? Does your remote turn off the diesel flow instantly? Do you have a camera to tell you that the boat is on fire while you are still on route?

 

[Hunterlees]

The idea is not to warm it before i get onboard, but to keep it dry in very cold weather.
You are suggesting that all of the owners who run diesel heaters in absentia have a disaster about to happen, but I don't think we agree with you.

 

[dunedin]

The idea is not to warm it before i get onboard, but to keep it dry in very cold weather.
You are suggesting that all of the owners who run diesel heaters in absentia have a disaster about to happen, but I don't think we agree with you.

Might be worth checking if marina and insurers are happy. I would certainly report to the marina if a boat diesel heater was running on an unattended boat - as sometimes it is accidental and can run down batteries (or worse).

 

[Greg2]

The idea is not to warm it before i get onboard, but to keep it dry in very cold weather.
You are suggesting that all of the owners who run diesel heaters in absentia have a disaster about to happen, but I don't think we agree with you.

I must admit that I would be wary of running the heater when not aboard. Perhaps okay if we are on our way down but I probably wouldn't do it to keep it dry. A de-humidifier is probably a far better option for this purpose and is what most people use. They are not without risk - probably very low likelihood but there are tales of them setting fire to themselves.

 

[Bigplumbs]

Comments are building up but very few answering the OP's Question

 

[Greg2]

Comments are building up but very few answering the OP's Question

Whereas you have provided a helpful response to the OP…..
.

 

[Fire99]

I am going to change out an MV Airo 5kw heater (which has an ECU problem and will cost nearly £300 in parts alone to fix), probably to the newer HCalory chinese heater.
What Iwould like to be able to do is to remotely switch the new heater on and off via my phone, from home.
I can currently do this via sending an SMS to a 4g gate opening switch which triggers the Airo on in temperature mode.

The only way i can think of for a new heater is to hack into the small remote control and trigger the on/off button. from the 4g box.
Has anyone been successful in achieving remote control of chinese heaters, if so how?

Good question.. I have one of the (slightly) larger than standard HCalory '6-8.5kw' heaters with the bluetooth app, waiting to install and try out. I'll see if I can find out a way and report back. (If you haven't solved it already by then of course). It's a handy feature. My boat takes a fair while to warm up so for me it would be handy if I were on the way to the boat to be able to give the heating a bit of a 'head start'.

 

[Nauti Fox]

Ray Jones has developed a controller called the "Afterburner" which enables you to do this and a lot more, although it does depend on which motherboard your heater has so it can be done.
You may be able to pick up some info from him as he actively supports people who also build their own.
Features

 

[PaulRainbow]

There is a modem available for Autoterm (Planar) heaters, which does this.

As for leaving the heater on, we sleep with ours on, if it's really cold, and if we're going to the shops or out for a drink/meal we leave it on too.

Does everyone turn the central heating off at home when they go out ?

 

[Fire99]

As for leaving the heater on, we sleep with ours on, if it's really cold, and if we're going to the shops or out for a drink/meal we leave it on too.

Does everyone turn the central heating off at home when they go out ?

Good point. I think that's done by many..

Also if we're leaving the boat (and it's of a size to have a number of home comforts) do we leave the fridge on or other electrical devices on? I wonder how many boat fires are due to diesel heaters and how many are down to more generalised electrical faults? Does make you think..

 

[Alicatt]

The Webasto I had in the Merc Sprinter vans had a 7 day timer and you could program it to come on and off, mainly it was to heat the pneumatic mast for the CCTV cameras as the condensate from the compressed air would freeze in the mast and prevent it from being able to be raised. Never had any problems with them even after 5 years of use.

 

[BruceK]

 

[Hunterlees]

There is a modem available for Autoterm (Planar) heaters, which does this.

As for leaving the heater on, we sleep with ours on, if it's really cold, and if we're going to the shops or out for a drink/meal we leave it on too.

Does everyone turn the central heating off at home when they go out ?

The Autoterm modem is exactly what I am trying to achieve, on a chinaspacher. Given that Autoterm are regarded as one of the best heaters, and they provide this option, then perhaps it is not as risky as some would perceive.

 

[Hunterlees]

That is exactly how my existing setup works in my workshop. On the boat with the Airo, linking two wires together via the 4g switch triggers the heater on, breaking the link goes into shutdown. Would be nice if i can work it with the newer style heater rotary controller which comes with the HCalory heaters.