Heaters for over the winter etc

Bassplayer

Bassplayer

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What does the panel think about electric heaters? I want to use the boat over the winter so thought either tubular heaters or small oil filled radiators in the engine compartment, saloon and aft cabin. Now the tubular ones will be on continuously at about 120W each or the oil filled rads at about 700W each but on thermostats. Sooo, the big question is which would be the most effective in stopping freezing and which is the best for economy? The boat keeps pretty warm anyway being wood.... run the Eber for 5 mins and the whole thing is toasty.
 
I have used fan heaters for 3 years now.

The 1st one lasted 3 months, the 2nd lasted almost 1 year (it got a soaking overboard when I was clearing out... it was not plugged in at the time!!!), and I am currently on my 3rd which is in it's second 'winter'.

I use the fan-type, but you do have to keep an eye on them as the motors for the fans do burn out!!!!!

The oil filled type are brilliant, but take up a bit of space.

The tube type are useless in my opinion - just don't generate any real heat!
 
Fan heaters are very quick to warm the air, but they use a lot of power to turn the fan itself, which for long term heating is a waste. Tubes are efficient, but less heat, fragile and difficult to store.

Of course it does depend on the size of the boat, and whether you pay for the power as well, but we have found that the best heaters pound for pound are the Dimplex 500 heaters.

They are quite small, but are powerful and are thermostatically controlled. I leave 2 running all winter and the boat is as warm as a centrally heated house. They can be placed upright or lying on their backs, so are safe even if it is rough sea, and are fully enclosed so less concern about things falling on them.
 
So my experience, not liveaboard, has been
- mild winter ashore with no heaters - lots of frost damage
- very cold winter afloat with tubular heaters - no problem

I use two tubular heaters through the winter. The heaters are on a thermostat plug so can be set to come in below a set temperature - i use around 8C.

I suspect that ashore the boat is subject to much higher ind chill factor, but afloat the water temperature acts as a bit of a stabiliser on short term heat variations - though last winter was sub zero for many weeks
 
you only need to keep the thing from freezing a small oil filled or a tube or 2 on a thermostat should be plenty.

You dont need to keep the yach a 30C all winter just in case you pop down:)

How much are you charged for elec?
And what is you max power draw? Some marina are quite low per boat.
 
Dehumidifiers...

If you just want to avoid frost damage, I might recommend buying a good dehumidifier, as most models ALSO warm the boat as well as remove moisture. I had my boat on the hard last year, and put a large-ish dehumidifier on her, and had no damage or problems with anything. I went down to work on her sporadically, and used a fan/quartz heater when I was actually in the boat. Depending upon your boat layout, the fan heaters have the advantage of being able to blast a heated stream of air to the forecabin to remove the chill before bedtime, which the oil filled struggle with if they are in the main cabin. But the electric bill is huge, and they are not safe to leave unattended.

The recent threads on here about diesel heaters have me really wondering if it is simply worth it to do a DIY install for £1300 and be done with it...
 
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The reason I use the fan type is to warm the fore-cabin.

Also, from experience, boats are warmer in the water than on land. My water tanks were frozen solid last winter when I was on land - and so was the bilge water!
 
Freshbreeze said:
The reason I use the fan type is to warm the fore-cabin.

Also, from experience, boats are warmer in the water than on land. My water tanks were frozen solid last winter when I was on land - and so was the bilge water!
Click to expand...

If you are on the hard, you should have drained your tanks, all pipes, and bilge. Use a bilge snake to get the last remnants of the water and oil from the deepest bits (critical if you have a wineglass hull like mine). Rather than drain, some people like to put in an anti-freeze mixture of water and vodka into their tanks and pipes, which I suppose works and makes for a hell of a party come launch...
:D:D:D:D:D
 
Electric heaters

Electric heaters of any sort are by their nature 100% efficient. However fan heaters can blast hot air straight onto a person so will feel warmer quicker when first turned on. They do have an element operating at a very high temp so do have a little more fire risk. The thermostat should turn it off/down if fan dies.
Oil filled radiator type heaters have a large area for conduction of heat this meas the temp gradient is small so nothing is at really high temperature so they are safer for children if touched. Much less fire risk.
Tube heaters are low power so also safe with low temp operation.
The higher the power of the heater the more demands on mains supply cord etc. However high power means that it will more quickly warm the boat if you arrive to live on board. The thermostat should mean that total electricity used is still the same regardless of power of the heater.
So take your pick. The tube type are obviously made for long term use so should be safer if left unattended. olewill
 
I

Stick a couple of tube heaters in the engine bay on thermostatic plugs that switch them on when the temperature drops below what ever level you want to set

Worked for for me last winter and boat was on the water for the duration
 
Freshbreeze said:
The reason I use the fan type is to warm the fore-cabin.

Also, from experience, boats are warmer in the water than on land. My water tanks were frozen solid last winter when I was on land - and so was the bilge water!
Click to expand...

i wouldnt leave a fan heater unattended for extended periods as its only the fan that cools the red wire element.Fan fails element runs RED HOT until something burns out
 
When we were in the UK (Chatham Maritime), we used the boat all year (including overnight). In winter, we kept 80w tube heaters on 24/7 in fore and aft cabins and augmented that with a fan or halogen heater in the saloon. In the light of experience, I think I might have had an oil filled rad for the galley/dinette/saloon too. Just didn't think about it.
 
I bought two 120W tubes a few years back for a 27 footer. The difference it made was about +2-3 DegC over ambient if left on over a long period. But she was an old boat with not much insulation. They did seem to take the chill off when going below, but I expected a bit more.
 
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Assuming you are talking about being left unattended I would go for the small tube heaters, I used one on a 28 footer and it was toasty all winter. I'm sure a bigger one on a thermostat would be fine but it seems like over kill and will take up a lot of space. I have seen small flat panel ones mounted on caravan walls to take the chill off that might be an option. I dont think the previous poster was talking about leaving a fan heater unattended, at least I hope not :eek:
 
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