Fitting a Diesel Heater

Many of us have had these diesel powered heaters for years, I believe its similar stuff as used on buses and commercial vehicles. I have one of theses systems now. What are the latest options now beyond diesel heaters, is there anything new on the market as I have never been keen but it's always been the defacto standard
 
Make sure that you have an outlet in the cockpit Dennis. Makes it usable whatever the temperature outside and essential on a smaller boat to keep all space in play. :)
 
paul salliss said:
Many of us have had these diesel powered heaters for years, I believe its similar stuff as used on buses and commercial vehicles. I have one of theses systems now. What are the latest options now beyond diesel heaters, is there anything new on the market as I have never been keen but it's always been the defacto standard
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Yes the plan was an outlet in the cockpit, One in the main cabin and maybe one in the sleeping area. I am not bothered about the toilet, If necessary I could just leave the door open

There is another S24 in the marina with one fitted so I will look how his is installed

Dennis
 
matthewriches said:
Easy enough job for an accessible boat. Arse of a job for a boat with lots of bulkheads and no room to move!

We normally get the "hard" ones :( lol
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Hmmm, I was going to say pretty much the same thing! They are simple things in concept and you could have one up and running in half an hour on the bench - any difficulty is the result of trying to fit it round the immovable bits of a boat! We've had blown air heaters in our previous two boats - nothing fitted yet in the new one. I'm seriously considering a hot water based system for this one - the pipes are far easier to thread through and it has the advantage of also providing hot water while at anchor.
 
We replaced all of the ducting on our 25fter last winter and despite the small pipe runs it was still a bit of a pain to work on.

We have one outlet in the cockpit which is closeable and one outlet in the cabin.

If one of us is getting shower onboard we just open the shower room door for half an hour and it heats the room up nicely. We also find that the midships berth stays nice and warm without an outlet in there as the heater outlet for the cabin is positioned under the entrance to the berth as some of the heat rises it must make it'w way into there.
 
I will be installing a diesel heater next week to my boat. Do you recommend that I cover the ducting hoses with thermal insulation sleeve? Have you done it at your installations?
 
Eren said:
I will be installing a diesel heater next week to my boat. Do you recommend that I cover the ducting hoses with thermal insulation sleeve? Have you done it at your installations?
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hi Eren, all good ?
in which boat will you install that heater ? the AZ in PM, or the SS ? is it that cold over there ?
don't you have airco that can work in reverse mode ?
in occasional situations we use a electric heater...
 
BartW said:
hi Eren, all good ?
in which boat will you install that heater ? the AZ in PM, or the SS ? is it that cold over there ?
don't you have airco that can work in reverse mode ?
in occasional situations we use a electric heater...
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Hi Bart,

All good, thanks, I hope the same for you.

I am installing to SS. She has reverse mode airco but I want quieter and more cost effective system. I like to use my boat in winter as well and I believe that such a comfort will extend my use in winter. Another reason is, I don’t like to sleep while heavy duty systems such as genset and AC are on. I think I will feel OK with diesel heater.

I am installing 2 x 5,5 kW heaters. Total ducting will be around 40 meters. I am not very sure if I should use thermal insulators with the ducting, which increases the my material cost around 50%. That is why I wanted to take the opinion of forumites.

By the way my Azi at PM is sold now, after seven lovely years together :nonchalance:. SS will be on the way to PM in June, so I am trying to finalize all projects in my mind before she leaves from here. Shall we see you at PM with the refitted BA?
 
matthewriches said:
If you've got the option then it is worth doing!
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I’ve got the option, but with significant increase at material cost. I have doubts about ROI. It will be OK not to do it if it will decrease the efficiency "just a bit". But it will not be OK if the system will not be able to heat the boat. So I wonder if most users here do the ducting with thermal insulation or without.
 
matthewriches said:
If you've got the option then it is worth doing!
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Wow, I haven’t seen your footer. Good to have the opinion of a professional. Thanks!

May I ask what percentage of your installations are done with thermal installation? That would also be a data for me.

By the way, I should say that the boat will be used in Med, with usual air temp in winter will be around 6-8 degrees celcius.
 
Yes and yes. Recommend you insulate well all ducting not in the cabin you are heating. If you don't use the heater manufacturer's own then make sure you use insulation that will withstand the max temperature quoted by the heater manufacturer.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
 
I would recommend installing isulation on the ducting. I had a boat in which the heater would not really cut it (38 ft - 2 KW heater). Insulating the tube seemed to add 50% more heat and made it work perfectly. I used Armaflex then industrial pipe insulation. When installing the heater on my current boat I could not source this so use regular heating pipe insulation & tie wraps which seems to work fine if not a little thin. I would insulate every bit with a bit a space at the heater to avoid it melting.
 
Eren said:
... SS will be on the way to PM in June, so I am trying to finalize all projects in my mind before she leaves from here. Shall we see you at PM with the refitted BA?
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have you reserved a berth for the SS? which quay ?
haven't they changed their strategy with pricing (increase 8...10% every year ? ) or have you been able to haggle a good deal ?
we won't come back to PM in the near future, 2018..2019 we will stay in Italy, not sure about summer 2019 yet..

sorry no experience / advice on diesel heating.
cheers
Bart
 
I have had 2 quotes for fitting in my Sealine S24 £2000 and £2700 At theses prices I will deffo be ding the job myself I recon I can do the whole job for under £1000

Dennis
 
Bigplumbs said:
I have had 2 quotes for fitting in my Sealine S24 £2000 and £2700 At theses prices I will deffo be ding the job myself I recon I can do the whole job for under £1000

Dennis
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Make sure you buy the proper marine kit.

We use Butler Technik for all of our heater parts.

The Webasto 2000 marine kit is over £1k.

https://www.butlertechnik.com/marin...p-2000-stc-marine-heater-kit-12v-4111181a-p41

I know that several people on the forum have fitted the Planar heaters recently with some success. They are a lot cheaper then the Webasto and Ebersplutter versions. Probably a bit early to find out how reliable they are yet though.

ETA: It is definitely worth fitting a timer or remote control. Nothing worse then arriving to a cold boat!
 
Dennis if you’re not phased by drilling holes in your boat and fuel tank theres no problem . Attention to routing and insulation is the main issue. If you use one of the established manufacturers their tech back up will be very helpful.
 
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