Diesel Heaters

What rating of heater do you have onboard?

  • Total voters
    54
Bear in mind that you will see adverts for 8kw heaters. That’s b******s as there is only enough calorific value in the fuel they burn (typically 0.5ltr per hour on max) for around 4kw of useable output.

I have MV Airo 5kw on the boat, and a chinese heater in the garage. The chinese one starts up much more quickly.

+ i have just configured a gsm remote control on the boat so can activate the heating from my phone.
 


You may have already seen this, however I found it very informative . I fitted a 2kw on a 27ft boat , just one outlet , I have recently purchased a bobil water heater also ( fits onto the hot air outlet of the so I will be installing this soon ) may have to upgrade to a 5kw. Always handy to have a spare as I do use it to heat the garden man shed
 
I fitted a 5kw Chinaspacher heater in my 33' boat with 4 outlets. Rear cabin, saloon, heads and forecabin. I upgraded wiring, exhaust & exhaust pipe, better ss hose clips, hot air tubing etc. Allow at least double the initial cost of a Chinaspacher- Altogether I spent about £350, much cheaper than the Eber or Webasto. Mine runs on road diesel from the boat fuel tank.
 
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If you want to assess if 2 kw is enough a lot of electric fan heaters are 2kw plug one in and see if its man enough. We find our 3/4 kw gas heater does our 26 ft Centaur but we dont cruise in freezing winter conditions ,It would struggle tonight I think :-)
 
Whichever you get, if it’s a ‘chinaspacher’, buy two. One to use, one for spares. My friend just purchased a 2kw - turned out to be a rebadged 5kw, which is very common. Actual 2kw ones are hard to find apparently.
 
fredrussell said:
Whichever you get, if it’s a ‘chinaspacher’, buy two. One to use, one for spares. My friend just purchased a 2kw - turned out to be a rebadged 5kw, which is very common. Actual 2kw ones are hard to find apparently.
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You can get 2kw heaters, from memory they have a 60mm diameter heat outlet and the 5kw have 75mm diameter outlet. The main body is also smaller. Check the dimensions.
 
Have just purchased a Chinaspacher to help fit on a friends small Peche Promenade.
Also purchased a skin fitting , upgraded silencer, lagging tube and some decent exhaust pipe.
Total cost was under £150.00.
The heater has little label on the side it states heater output 1K - 8K. ?
There now rumours of a little after market gadget which will boost the output of a basic 2K heater, praps it increases the fuel pump pulse rate ????
 
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Refueler said:
Not actually the source I had ... but same 'event'.

Just to be clear - I was not knocking Chinese or any other, in fact I am very happy with most Chinese items - just pointing out the news item. I think matters like this - if leads to saving life / property - worth posting. Better safe than sorry.
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Chinese whispers is such dangerous game. Just a case of missing chinglish instructions which are only useful for those in touch with their feminine side who always RTFM!

mmmmmmmmmm.
 
I couldn't complete the survey as my ancient Ebersplutter is neither 2kw nor 5kw, but 3kw. I find that more than enough heat output for my reasonably roomy 27 footer with a wheelhouse.

I'm currently considering replacing the Eber with a 2kW Autoterm (formerly 'Planar') heater (they also have 4kw and 8kw models). These are the originally 'Russian' heaters, though actually now made in Latvia, which by most accounts are better built and better quality controlled, to ISO standards, than the Chinese ones, and are fully CE marked, etc. (Possibly what the recently impounded Chinese heaters lacked?) www.autoterm.store

I was impressed that Autoterm UK have fully dimensioned and specced drawings; installation, operating and fault-finding instructions etc. in English downloadable from their website, so I would know exactly what I was getting and how it would fit with my existing mounting space, bracket, ducting and hull exhaust outlet, etc. (Unlike the Chinese ones on Ebay which have no dimensions and people reporting getting 5kw or other heaters when they'd ordered 2kw). They also have a series of videos on some of the products and on installation.

There's also proper contact details, guarantee, spares & advice back up if needed, and various UK Autoterm suppliers will actually do the installation on your boat if you want that. Autoterm are dearer than the Chinese ones (though the difference is not as great as first appears, when you start having to throw away and replace the rubbish Chinese exhaust, etc. parts), though still way cheaper than Eberspacher and Webasto. (I have no connection with company other than as a prospective customer.)

(Of course purchasers will have their own ethical standards and compromises to apply in choosing between the Russian connection with Autoterm, the Chinese origin and dodgy supply chain of the Chinese ones, and the price fixing that Eberspacher and Webasto were caught doing.)
 
LittleSister said:
I couldn't complete the survey as my ancient Ebersplutter is neither 2kw nor 5kw, but 3kw. I find that more than enough heat output for my reasonably roomy 27 footer with a wheelhouse.
I'm currently considering replacing the Eber with a 2kW Autoterm (formerly 'Planar') heater (they also have 4kw and 8kw models). These are the originally 'Russian' heaters, though actually now made in Latvia, which by most accounts are better built and better quality controlled, to ISO standards, than the
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Fitted one of these to a previous boat , a Princess 35 several years ago, the 2KW version.
It was the only budget alternative to the W/Eber at the time , other than a secondhand ex GPO unit.
Did consider getting the old ebar repaired,however the repair was going to cost virtually the price of brand new Planar !
The Planar kit cost less than half the price of the W/Eber in the UK and the seller had a reputation for providing help and back up for the stuff he sold.
Was installed with the supplied silencer, fiddly bit was sourching a reducer to mate the warm air output of the russiaspacher to existing ducting.
Later these reducers appeared on the market in droves.
The importer of the Planar did get some flack from the die hard " OnlyEber" safe tendency and you are all going to die. :)
Did contact him twice regards my total inability to get the heater going after installation.
He pointed out what I was doing wrong and "Please just follow the instructions and WAIT," the heater promptly started , was still going strong when the boat was sold four years later.
In hindsight should have gone for the more powerful unit, the 2 kw did keep the boat warmish but not exactly hot.
The Chinaspacher had only just surfaced not commonly available or a known quantity at the time.
During the following years virtually everybody I know has bought a chinaspacher of some flavour to replace an ailing W/Eber or in one case an old ARDIC.
From their experiences over the years had no reservations (with the usual caveats) of helping to install a chinaspacher in friends boat, he is well aware of the pro and cons of all the knock off heaters.
Am aware of two boat owners who have paid for Webasto heaters to fitted by a local dealer.
You pays your money.............
 
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Quite a lot of guys at our club have fitted these Chinese heaters, best get the 5kw and turn the heat down.

From experience if you are using it on a boat you need to chuck all the supplied ducting and exhaust away and replace it with after market stuff from eBay. I think it adds around £150 on top of the original purchase price.

I can't remember the supplier but there are lots of videos on YouTube giving good advice
 
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