Generator/Inverter Combination

[martinmullen]

After a very chilly night on the yacht earlier this month, I am considering some form of heating (other than the condensation producing gas cooker) and thought about buying a halogen heater.
Without shore power I thought a wind generator and an inverter would do the trick. However, when I try to research the subject I get bogged down by technical details. (Types/sizes/power requirements/batteries etc.)
Is there anyone out there who has this combination and successfully runs an electrical heater. If so, I'd like to know what size/power etc of equipment is required (without being too technical)!!
I have a 29' Sadler.
Thanks

Martin.

Martin Mullen

 

[dickhicks]

Your best bet is to fit either a diesel or butane/propane gas heater - gas is cheaper to install but diesel is cheaper to run, however a good battery is required to start the diesel units. Propex for gas, Eberbacher, Wallis or Webasto for diesel. Gas from about £550 and diesel from about £1100.
Sailing Today did an article on these a few months back(October 2002)
If only for occasional use then the gas powered ones would be best - but you should use Propane instead of Butane as Butane won't work when the temperature gets low... - you'll have to convert your cooker to propane a s well, but usually just a new set of jets and of course a new regulator

 

[rickwat]

I'd think you would need at least 2000 watts for heating. On a 240V mains this would be 8.3 Amps but at 12V this becomes a staggering 166Amps. An inverter will not be 100% efficient so you may be drawing near to 200A. Clearly this is not sustainable for more than a short period from batteries and so there isn't really a choice but to use gas, diesel or pariffin for heating apart from using a large generator to power a 240v heater but then you'd be shoving diesel into the generator which somehow defeats the object.

 

[lazeyjack]

iT is quite simple really
your boat is simply to small to have a inverter /charger and batt. bank to run heating, evan a small 1000watt heater running for a few hours would need a 750 amp hour batt bank(900lbs weight, an inverter of say 120 lbs weight and a method of cranking up those batts, say 6 kw alternator
for those that are serious about inverter / charger etc. See the trace range, pure sinewave poer, run pc,s etc, I have had one on my boat running all the ac through a batt bank, the genset never runs direct
nope you need an oil fired canin heater, kero, or diesel

 

[martinmullen]

I got this idea from a display at the Southampton boat show. There displayed was one of these new oscilating halogen heaters (which I think they said cost < 25p an hour to run) connected to an inverter and two batteries. Unfortunately I didn't enquire as to the specifications at the time.
Did anyone else see this display and if so, can you recall what the specs were?

Martin.

Martin Mullen

 

[ccscott49]

I saw it, didn't take much notice, looked efficient, was bloody hot, but you would still need a power generator or shore power to keep up with battery charging, you get nowt for nowt!
Just do the sums, if it was using say 500 watts, thats watts over volts, gives you 41.6 amps at 12 volts, thats at 100% efficiency of the invertor, which they won't supply so, lets say 50 amps, your batteries are not going to last long at that rate of discharge and take a while to charge. Solar or wind, I don't think so. The most efficient and easy way of heating is either, solid fuel, (messy) Diesel fired hot air, diesel fired hot water, diesel fired open, gas, gas hot air, parafin Or shore powered fan heaters. Take your pick.

 

[snowleopard]

was it...

standing on a counter somewhere around the electronics area? if so, i seem to recall overhearing the stand operator telling someone it was running off the mains. can't imagine it running off batteries unless there was a big charger hooked up to the mains under the table.

 

[wishbone]

Has anybody ever used a second hand diesel heater from a scraped lorry?
If so what price?

Wishbone

 

[ccscott49]

There's been numerous posts on this very subject, try a search.

 

[wishbone]

Should have got brain in gear, stupid boy!

Wishbone

 

[Trevethan]

I bought a webasto from a place near Manchester. cost me 80 quid. also needed servicing... another 80 quid.... so cost me £160.. plus the bits to connect it - exhaust ducting, skin fitting...

If had to do it again I'd buy a new mikuni and save myself a lot of messing around or a reconned unit from harrytheheat

She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like the sound a dog makes just before it throws up

 

[wishbone]

Thanks for that info as I will be based on the Humber in the cold north, me coming from the warm London, Methinks I need warmth!

Wishbone