Drip feed heater - which one?

[jollysailor17]

Thinking of fitting a drip feed cabin heater, but which one. I like the look of the Taylor's 079D with its own header tank. Refleks make some nice looking stoves and offer H style caps which might prevent down draught at sea? Dickenson's are a market leader also.
Anyone with practical experience of the above or any useful comments to make?

 

[FWB]

I have a Sigmar 100 supplied by Kuranda and made in Canada.
It is diesel, gravity fed from main tank. No electrics required.
There is a float chamber like in a carburettor and the flame is visible.
I would not describe it as drip feed, the fuel is regulated and emerges upwards into the burner.
It's compact and bulkhead mounted. It provides a lot of heat with variable setting.
It's been in the boat for ten years now and gets a lot of use.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I like the look of that. They are expensive but compared with the maintenance cost of an Eberspacher probably work out cheaper over a period of years. Can you run it while sailing though?

 

[FWB]

I like the look of that. They are expensive but compared with the maintenance cost of an Eberspacher probably work out cheaper over a period of years. Can you run it while sailing though?

It can be used in light airs whilst sailing, but a lot depends upon the position of the chimney relative to the downdraft from the mainsail. An answer would be to fit a balanced flue or maybe a fan as per Dickenson.
I only use it at anchor, I have a Webasto as well. The Sigmar is very cosy at anchor but the Webasto is best for a quick blast of heat.
Sitting by the fire looking at the flame makes for a cosy evening.

 

[David2452]

The Sigmar is indeed a high quality piece of kit, but not happy when heeled.

 

[FWB]

The Sigmar is indeed a high quality piece of kit, but not happy when heeled.

I imagine that repositioning the fuel control fore and aft may cure that problem.
I have a gaffer, it doesn't heel much unless I have too much sail up !

 

[Malish]

The size of the ducting up to the chimney put me off the Dickinson - 3" diameter as I recall

 

[FWB]

The size of the ducting up to the chimney put me off the Dickinson - 3" diameter as I recall

The Sigmar is similar if not larger. There is an attractive stainless guard on the flue which acts as a heat exchanger. The body of the heater is mounted low down so as to give maximum heat in the cabin. There can be snow on the deck and I'm down to my briefs inside

 

[Orla]

We opted for a Refleks with a water jacket.
We use a choice of flue's an H type and a single barrel type, still playing about with them.
We have a 50ltr header tank behind the bulkhead, which is filled via a fuel transfer pump from one of our main tanks.
Still to plumb in the central heating and a branch to our hot water tank.
V-Berth has a 400mm x 500mm radiator and the aft cabin has a 1000mm x 300mm radiator.

 

[FWB]

Refleks excellent. My boat too small for one with a visible flame

 

[stuey_two]

There's a Refleks on eBay as we speak. I like the lack of noise compared to Eberspacher.

 

[Orla]

Refleks excellent. My boat too small for one with a visible flame

We really struggled finding space for ours, ended up ripping out a two drawer unit and shortening the stb saloon seat, but no regrets at all, really impressed with it..

 

[Orla]

There's a Refleks on eBay as we speak. I like the lack of noise compared to Eberspacher.

No noise & no electrics........ well a little for the fuel transfer pump once every couple of weeks and if central heating fitted, a wee circulation pump....

 

[FWB]

Lord Mac,
If you fitted a flue guard
http://www.kuranda.co.uk/chandlery/flue-guard-4.html?keyword=Flu+guard
You would get more heat and reduce the chance of accidentally touching the hot flue.

 

[Orla]

Lord Mac,
If you fitted a flue guard
http://www.kuranda.co.uk/chandlery/flue-guard-4.html?keyword=Flu+guard
You would get more heat and reduce the chance of accidentally touching the hot flue.

This is something we are considering, fitting the guard would give us less access to the door on the right.
Whats the thinking behind getting more heat from fitting one? We have never had the thing above tickover, so amount of heat isnt really an issue.
We are fitting a 1" tubular guard around the stove once we have connected up the central heating.

Thanks for the link to the Kuranda site, found the circulation pump that we need.

 

[FWB]

I think that the flue guard traps the air between it and the flue and it acts as a heat exchanger. You can safely touch the guard. I'm sure that in my installation I get a lot of convective heat this way.

 

[HermanD]

Problem with drip feed burner?

Is there one, drip feed burner, in the world that
does not make your (white) deck, black whit shoot?

If have not yet seen one unfortunately.
The idea of elektrik free heating is great.
Perhaps some one knows a better type, that does n't.

 

[FWB]

Is there one, drip feed burner, in the world that
does not make your (white) deck, black whit shoot?

If have not yet seen one unfortunately.
The idea of elektrik free heating is great.
Perhaps some one knows a better type, that does n't.

My decks are teak. No evidence of soot.

 

[Orla]

Is there one, drip feed burner, in the world that
does not make your (white) deck, black whit shoot?

If have not yet seen one unfortunately.
The idea of elektrik free heating is great.
Perhaps some one knows a better type, that does n't.

Not noticed any soot from our chimney on anything, sailcovers, deck.........

 

[christhefish]

reflek brilliant but make sure you have H section and flue is long enough ,,,,we had a seperate 12 gallon tank made but it also does diesel hob ......reflek is quiet ,economical,and nothing to go wrong,we kept a steady 70 through last winter during the snow and frosts 24/7 for nearly 3 months it also takes a lot of condensation out well worth the money I wouldnt buy another boat unless I could fit one in ,,,,,