Do you have a heater in your boat?

[haydude]

I have installed mine last November. It took a lot of work with 4 outlets, but it was really worth it. It transformed my yacht in a second home.

 

[wotayottie]

yes. Mikuni and its maintenance free, or at least it doesnt get any ans still works OK.

 

[TonyBuckley]

have a Eberspacher for quick blast and a taylors 049d diesel heater for night use of when it is very cold

My prospective new boat has a 079d (assume that's what you mean?) and I have read a lot about the excitement of lighting one... meths, blow back, how quickly or slowly to put the nut on, how to regulate the diesel drip etc. Sounds fun!

How hot can it get?

 

[charles_reed]

Unreliable ??? Guess you dont do you own servicing then. Absolutely nothing wrong with Spachers if you look after them they look after you. I have a D1L 1800w in situ for ready use plus another one services and ready to install should situ one go duff.
Bought two defective ones on fleabay cheapo just to build up a stock of spares.
Use lecky fan heaters in marina only if it works out lecky cheaper than using dieso in the Spacher.
Failing that we have a propane bulkhead mounted catalytic gas heater in the saloon and a blower which runs off the donk
should all else fail. Should we ever have to run the donk for heating then it would also feed a rad in the forepeak and one in our aft cabin.
I dont believe in being cold

Interesting you have all those spare Eberspachers if you really believe they're so reliable?
Still we all have our little illusions.

 

[V1701]

Oil rads when in marina & Vapalux paraffin pressure lamp when not...

 

[pvb]

Unreliable ??? Guess you dont do you own servicing then. Absolutely nothing wrong with Spachers if you look after them they look after you.

Correct installation is also vital if the heater is to be reliable. The biggest problem with Eberspachers is that people buy old ones on eBay, don't install them properly, and then grumble that they're unreliable!

 

[pvb]

Eber 4kw, lovely thing if a little clicky at night...

Is your fuel pump mounted in a rubber insulating mount? Worth having, or alternatively you can wrap the pump in foam rubber to deaden the clicking noise.

 

[capnsensible]

Best days work was taking out the eberspacher and chucking it the bin.

Got a fan heater and oil filled radiators on both boats. The one we live on has the heater on a timer so its warm in the mornings.

Got dehumidifiers too, fab kit.

 

[pvb]

Interesting you have all those spare Eberspachers if you really believe they're so reliable?
Still we all have our little illusions.

Not necessarily an illusion. Spares for older Eberspachers are not as easy to find these days, so having a few bits and pieces around in case may not be a bad idea, and of course they're much cheaper bought as part of a defective heater than buying new. My D3L is 22 years old and has only had a glowplug and a relay replaced in the last 17 years since I've owned the boat, but it is used regularly and was very professionally installed.

 

[Conachair]

Reflks diesel. Great, toasty warm dry boat with a pot of soup on the hotplate. No power needed. 'Cept need a new inside bit so fan heater at the mo

 

[Daydream believer]

A 25 year old blonde can be warming
Quite expensive running costs though

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

I use a portable catalytic gas cartridge heater, the cabin get very warm quickly.

 

[Playtime]

Just installed a 5KW hydronic unit (Eberspacher) running 3 fan matrix units. Plan to add radiator/towel rail and calorifier connection at some point. So far it works very well with no problems. It has a much lower current draw than a 5KW airtronic but was more time consuming to install!

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Eberspacher D2. 5 years pretty much trouble free, except for occasional problems priming it.

 

[prv]

No heating on the old boat, just a paraffin lamp and beer!

New boat has an eberspacher, haven't tried it yet.

Pete

 

[maby]

We have a Webasto 3500 which does a good job of keeping a 33 footer nice and warm in the coldest weather. It has been reliable, but it's still less than 18 months old, so it really should be.

It's turned on in October and stays on pretty much all the time till March - when we leave the boat, we turn the thermostat to minimum and it keeps the interior above 5 degrees to protect the pipes.

 

[Storyline]

We have a Webasto AirTop 3500. It works well, but to be honest, output is a bit weedy with 5 outlets.
If we change it, we would go to the Hydronic system, and up output to 5 kw.

I have read several posts saying how good a Hydronic system is.
I like the idea of them as I would not have to cut large holes throughout the boat for hot air ducting.

I have not had any heating in 25 years of sailing so do not want to make a mistake so I have the following questions .....

are they as 'instant' heat as a hot air system ?

are they as easy/hard to self install as a hot air system ?

any other comments/pros cons would be gratefully received.

 

[Playtime]

The 'instant heat' depends on the quantity of water in the system that needs to be heated. With my D5 system and only 3 matrix units currently installed, it is getting hot within 5 minutes - much the same as a previous boat with D3 airtronic. If you have large radiators and a calorifier then it will obviously take longer to heat up. I have connected the matrix fans to the relay provided with the D5 kit and they only turn on when the water reaches a preset temperature (maybe 40C - I must check) so you are not blowing cold air around initially, which is good.

Having installed a D3 airtronic system 13 years ago and just finished the D5 hydronic there is no doubt the hydronic is more time consuming. That does not mean more difficult though. Setting up the boiler/heat exchanger, the exhaust, the diesel connection and the electric feed are very similar between the 2 types of unit. What takes time is the plumbing - working out the best runs, buying all the right bits, fitting the necessary pipe clips and the rubber tails to feed the matrix units all takes time. However, if you've done any plumbing with modern push fit plastic stuff then it's no problem - just not as quick as shoving a 4" tube around the boat.

If you have the time, and enjoy DIY, then you should have no problem and a hydronic system does have lots more flexibility in how to use the heat available.

 

[pvb]

I have read several posts saying how good a Hydronic system is.
I like the idea of them as I would not have to cut large holes throughout the boat for hot air ducting.

I have not had any heating in 25 years of sailing so do not want to make a mistake so I have the following questions .....

are they as 'instant' heat as a hot air system ?

are they as easy/hard to self install as a hot air system ?

any other comments/pros cons would be gratefully received.

It isn't as instant as a hot air system, because the mass of water in the system has to be heated up first.

Installation difficulty is similar for both systems.

Hydronic systems need to use matrix heaters to transfer the heat from the water to the air; these matrix heaters have fans, so there's an electrical requirement. Depending on which matrix heaters you use, the overall power consumption could easily be more than for a simple air heater. It's also likely that the Hydronic system would be noisier than an air heater. However, the Hydronic system can be plumbed so that it also heats domestic water.

 

[Lodesman77]

Three - Propex hot air 1.6kW; Catalytic heater about 1.5kW; Vapalux M320 about 1.5 kW

28ft boat, generally use only one but any two will keep the boat warm in freezing temperatures...