Convector heater - permanently fitted. Boat safety issues ???

Loggo

Loggo

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My wife would like me to fit a 500w convector heater to a quiet corner of the boat for use in the winter months when we mostly stay in the marina and use Hedley as a weekend cottage. Would this be acceptable to the Boat safety certification process - will I need to make further mods, perhaps a "do not cover" sticker or some backing between the heater and the wooden panel it will be fitted to ?
TIA
 
Why not just plug it in when you need it, and stow it away at other times? Most heaters will have instructions about leaving surrounding gaps, this will tell you how close to the panel you can mount it. I have a small 450w oil filled heater which will be used as necessary.
 
Hi Rafiki - I see the old girl is up for sale again - I understand all you say but to avoid tripping over heaters etc. I would like to screw everything down - just wondered if it would all need removing at certification time
 
Is she? I hadn't heard.
I don't think you will have a problem with the BSS with an electric heater. They will be much more interested in gas or liquid fuel and carbon monoxide. Worth checking the BSS website.
 
I fitted a kitchen plinth fan heater to a Maxum that we had a few years ago, similar to this one here

I used the base of a small locker, so it was close to the floor and it didn't take up much room at all. The remote control was an added bonus when you were lying in bed and wanted to take the morning chill up before leaping out of bed!
 
Thanks for the response. The use of a convector rather than an oil filled is down to the available width at just over 43 cm. and no more than 8 cm deep. Simply could not find an oil filled this small.
 
Loggo said:
Thanks for the response. The use of a convector rather than an oil filled is down to the available width at just over 43 cm. and no more than 8 cm deep. Simply could not find an oil filled this small.
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its not a stainless steel greenhouse heater you are thinking of is it ?
I bought one a few years ago for our boat but had to remove it.

Very small, very smart but far too hot to fit in a boat, thick element glows red hot.

Can you post a picture of the one you are thinking about ?


Wall mounted heaters are generally designed to be fastened to brick.
 
DAKA said:
Wall mounted heaters are generally designed to be fastened to brick.
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I have a couple of electric wall mounted panel heaters on my boat. One in the cabin and one in the aft berth, both just fitted to the covered fibreglass, so not sure why they would particularly need to be fastened to brick.

They have individual on/off switches, but are connected to a common timer/thermostat. As far as I'm aware there are no boat safety scheme issues, they've been there at least for the 15 years I've had the boat and no BSS inspector has ever mentioned them.
 
over 10 years ago I bought a Fairline in a poor condition off a Frenchman, he had fitted wall mounted 220v convection heaters on the wooden bulkheads, these had open wire elements and although being about 50mm from the bulkhead had scorched the wood. They went in the skip along with a lot of other " improvements" the Frenchman had undertaken.

The tube heaters do get very hot as well and need to be mounted on a board so they don't touch anything.

I now use oil filled electric radiators about 15inch high made by Delonghii about £40 each and they have a stat. I see these as the barest minimum fire risk, I use these with a dehumidifier in the winter and a fan heater or Eberspacher for colder nights on board. In the summer dehumidifier only. Works well not a spot of mildew and keeps the boat dry and as warm as you want.
 
abraxus said:
I have a couple of electric wall mounted panel heaters on my boat. One in the cabin and one in the aft berth, both just fitted to the covered fibreglass, so not sure why they would particularly need to be fastened to brick.

.
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The 500w convector heater is a totally different animal (comes in stainless steel and painted white).

I dont know how your panel heater is heated.

The 2000kW convectors tend to have thin heating wires that only produce a small amount of red radiant heat with lots of hot air rising.
As Bandit says these can also produce problems.

The 500W convector has an element the thickness of a kettle element and glows red hot, there is a huge amount of red radiant heat that heats up the heater housing and anything it touches.

I tired using cork to insulate between the heater fastening screw and the fibreglass (used on space craft for re entry) but the cork burnt through in no time !


Talk about panel heaters by all means and the pros and cons of attaching them in a boat but please dont assume because you havent had problems with a panel heater then a 500w mini convector will be alright.
 
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Mine are 600 or 650w panels. To be honest DAKA I have no idea what the elements are like inside them or what they're made of, they're just flat white panels probably about a couple of inches thick.

Not sure how they compare with what the OP is looking at without seeing pictures, and he would have to see how hot his got and where best to fit it, and was commenting more on the fact that they didn't seem to be something that the BSS inspectors bothered about.
 
Loggo said:
Thanks for the response. The use of a convector rather than an oil filled is down to the available width at just over 43 cm. and no more than 8 cm deep. Simply could not find an oil filled this small.
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I have used a few of the temperature controlled oil filled Dimplex range for marina based liveaboards when install time and price was an issue and found them really effective. The OFX750 would fit the width and depth you mentioned nicely (741 x 70) , can't speak for height though as you don't specify.
The BSS will not be affected if fitted as directed and wood panel mounting has prved fine.
 
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Thanks David 2452

The OFX750 would fit the width and depth you mentioned nicely (741 x 70) , can't speak for height though as you don't specify.
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But at 741mm (74.1cm) the Dimplex is 30 cm just too wide (height not an issue )

I cannot find an oil filled rad that is small enough to fit (and below 8cm in depth)

I did have one a few years ago but no longer manufactured)
 
might be worth checking the size of an upright electric oil heated towel rail but it will cost a lot more than a greenhouse heater.
 
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