mikuni heaters

[phillifam]

Does anyone have experience of these blown air heaters. Contemplating buying the MY30c model which has been offered at a good discount. Are they as good as Eberspacher?
Any info gratefully received.

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[2_rollocks]

Do a search, several recent threads about Mikuni.

I have one and would thouroughly recommend it.

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[Talbot]

Welcome to the forum.
I chose the Eberspacher over the Mikuni purely because the new Eber have more fan speed settings, thus use less power than the Mikuni. You will find a lot of posts on both types if you do a search through the forums - however most of them are about fitting ex post office eberspachers purchased over Ebay! These tend to be much older machines and thus of no real advantage.
Do you intend to fit yourself if so send me a message telling me what size/type boat and how many outlets you plan, and I will give you a few tips. (saved me over £500 by self-fit)

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[davel]

I've had one fitted for 5 years now with no problem (I do hope that remark doesn't come back to haunt me).

<hr width=100% size=1>Dave L.

 

[Becky]

I have one I have just taken off my boat. There was nothing wrong with it, it was very efficient andkept the saloon really cosy, but the previous owner had fitted it at the top edge of the cockpit locker, where everything put into and out of the locker was likely to hit it, and the ducts were put in the middle of the saloon under-berth locker which became unuseable. And as I wanted a shower I changed to hot water heating. So my experience of them is that they are very good, efficient and don't drain your batteries, but they have to be well and sensibly installed. Mine is the smallest type with two outlets, interested? It's going cheap.

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[BigLes]

How much? What does it comprise of?

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[phillifam]

Thanks for all the advice. I will be fitting the heater (myself) into a 12m steel sloop from a New Zealand designer. Arguably the prettiest boat in The World but I do not want to be contentious on my second post to the forum. Three outlets planned, any tips reinstallation gratefully received.

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[Talbot]

I will try to keep my comments suitable for all fits as each one will have individual problems:

Plan your fit so that the outlets provide a good circulation of air.

The final outlet needs to be always open, and the others closable in order to balance the air flow.

The maximum length of the exhaust pipe should be 2m, and it should have a good swans neck on the end to minimise possibility of water getting up the exhaust pipe.

The combustion air intake needs to be outside of the living areas, but protected so that the air gets a chance to shed some of the salt before going through the heater.

Measure all the diameters of the pipes etc before the fit, and get high quality bi-metal hole saws suitable for the pipes, outlets, exhaust , exhaust outlet etc. Ensure that you can get an electric drill in place to use the hole saw ( rt angle drives are available)

The layout of the pipes should be as straight as possible otherwise it will generate noise, and reduce the final pressure at the outlets.

The position of the inlet air is important to get the circulation right. Preferably from within the area being heated.

The exhaust and heated air tubes will get very hot when in use, this will impact on what you can store adjacent to these pipes. Alternatively you can lag the pipes with thinsulate <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ketogroup.com/3m/thermaduct.htm>http://www.ketogroup.com/3m/thermaduct.htm</A>.

it is a good idea to mount the pump on a anti-vibration mounting to stop the transmission of noise through the boats structure. The fuel pump is another source of irritating noise, but is quite useful during the start cycle to help you recognise that the machine is actually starting.

The size of the fuel pipe demands that the fuel should be clean otherwise it will quickly block. I pre-filter all my fuel in my main tank during filling. Take a look at the initial fuel filter to your engine, if you are getting crud there then either clean out your fuel tank and filter when filling and use fuel set or soltran (Fuel set is the only one recommended by Eberspacher, but Solly is supposed to be better), or install a dedicated fuel tank that you can prefilter . The dedicated fuel tank allows an occasional flush with parrafin, which is supposed to be beneficial.

Hope this helps - dont hesitate to ask if you have any further queries.

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[phillifam]

Very kind of you to take the time for such a detailed reply. Could you explain why the combustion air intake needs to positioned outside the living areas? I was planning to mount the heater under a quarterberth with the combustion air inlet near it.
Thanks again, Mike Roberts

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[Talbot]

I dont know the full reason, but this was emphasised very clearly by the company I bought mine from. It was a pain in the derriere for me, requiring a long pipe going through several bends, and quite a lot of work to install. The benefit of moving it outside is that it is a very noisy inlet and you would get very p*ssed off with it inside the cabin.

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