Low wattage heater

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sfellows

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We’ve moved our boat from the South Coast to Bangor NI In anticipation of doing the Scottish Islands next season (supposed to do them this year - it’s a long story of heat exchanger and autopilot failures). Rather than drain the raw water side I’m inclined to put a low wattage heater in the engine room with a digital switch (I’ve already got a digital switch for the temperature). Any suggestions for a low wattage heater for when the temperature goes below 5C?
 
500 watt, oil heater from b&q served me well on the hard all last winter. Kept the damp away as well as stopping the frost..
Only had 1 in the saloon on a 40’ beneteau..
 
Here we have winters drop into the -20c range at times .... actually recorded -32c here few years back ...

But anyway ... my MoBo with 6cyl Volvo 170HP has a bathroom towel rail mounted one side of the insulated engine bay ... it has an ON-OFF switch and thermostat that stops it from just heating up and up ... not adjustable though. Even when -20C - the remote temp sensor I placed in there and a display on my desk - never went below +5C

Towel heater.jpg

rail fitted a.jpg

For other boats - I use the Frost Protector low wattage heaters designed for attics / greenhouses etc. I have stand-up versions from 200 to 500W ... I have tube heaters from 40 to 80W ...

In fact I am considering not fitting the diesel heater to my 38 - but to fit tube heaters along the bunk bases as usually when not sailing - boat is to a pontoon ..... and such heaters would not be too much trouble for solar / domestic bank to power for the odd night.
 
sfellows said:
We’ve moved our boat from the South Coast to Bangor NI In anticipation of doing the Scottish Islands next season (supposed to do them this year - it’s a long story of heat exchanger and autopilot failures). Rather than drain the raw water side I’m inclined to put a low wattage heater in the engine room with a digital switch (I’ve already got a digital switch for the temperature). Any suggestions for a low wattage heater for when the temperature goes below 5C?
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Take your pick .. TLC Tubular Heaters

Dimplex used to sell a 500W and 1kW model called the Coldwatcher but they seem to be unavailable now.

dimplex.png
 
Depending on how low wattage you want, in electrical cabinets it was a regular thing to just use a incandescent light bulb as a heater to prevent condensation. Big advantage was that it was really cheap and it doubled as a nice little light source when working in said cabinets. All in you may spend 10 euros on a fitting, temperature controller for switching on and off automatically and a 100 watt bulb.

Nowadays din rail mounted heating elements are more common and cost about the same for a heater and controller combo. Downside, if that emits light one could read that as a error indicator requiring further attention.
 
wonkywinch said:
Take your pick .. TLC Tubular Heaters

Dimplex used to sell a 500W and 1kW model called the Coldwatcher but they seem to be unavailable now.

View attachment 199335
Click to expand...
Watching cold sounds quite a bit worse than watching paint dry.

I dont think Dimplex should be allowed to purloin such an enhancement to the language, but admittedly posession is 9/10ths of the law.
 
As I say - I have the Dimplex Coldwatcher and it is a very good unit.

I also have two smaller 500W heaters from B&Q ... and like the Dimplex have thermostat adjustable setting.

Because I have a Winter Mobile Home unit from UK as a Guest house .... I am in process of increasing its winterisation to cover the colder winters here. In the local Plumbers Merchants - they have a 240v cable based heating system for winding round pipework ... designed to keep garden water pipes from freezing. Length of the heating element from 1/2 to 10m long ...
Thoughts of wrapping pipework on board ?
 
Refueler said:
As I say - I have the Dimplex Coldwatcher and it is a very good unit.

I also have two smaller 500W heaters from B&Q ... and like the Dimplex have thermostat adjustable setting.

Because I have a Winter Mobile Home unit from UK as a Guest house .... I am in process of increasing its winterisation to cover the colder winters here. In the local Plumbers Merchants - they have a 240v cable based heating system for winding round pipework ... designed to keep garden water pipes from freezing. Length of the heating element from 1/2 to 10m long ...
Thoughts of wrapping pipework on board ?
Click to expand...
This works very well and is very common on cargo vessels. There they call it heat tracing.
 
sfellows said:
We’ve moved our boat from the South Coast to Bangor NI In anticipation of doing the Scottish Islands next season (supposed to do them this year - it’s a long story of heat exchanger and autopilot failures). Rather than drain the raw water side I’m inclined to put a low wattage heater in the engine room with a digital switch (I’ve already got a digital switch for the temperature). Any suggestions for a low wattage heater for when the temperature goes below 5C?
Click to expand...

I have used a tube type 80w greenhouse heaters controlled by a thermo switch. One in the engine, one in the generator and one in the galley. 7 years now, never a problem as long as the shore supply remains connected.

Say hallo to Victoria and Kevin in the office for me. Mention Jarrow Lily.

Enjoy Bangor, its lovely.
 
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