PROPEX heaters

[JimC]

I was quite impressed by these when I saw them being demonstrated at the sbs. They are considerably cheaper to buy than Eberspacher or Webasto and seemed simpler in operation and maintenance requirements. Does anyone have any experience of them?

 

[Matt341]

We had one fitted on our previous boat and it was a good bit of kit, it never let us down and was fairly quiet so could run through the night.

There was only one problem and that was that we had to leave the gas on when it was in use, this isnt ideal but then neither is freezing lol

Hope this helps
Ian

 

[daveyw]

Yep, can't fault them. Main advantage is less electrical drain on batteries, no smelly exhaust, miminal to zero maintenance required. Main disadvantages are that a gas installation should only be worked on by a gas man, probably need a larger gas cylinder if using it on a regular basis.

 

[WoodyP]

Fitted one last winter and although we have hardly used it this year, it seems to do the job. Many are wary of having another gas fuelled item in the boat, but my rationilasation is that it is on the same system as the stove so why should it be any more dangerous?

Mind you, I did fit an Alde bubble tester in the system which I religiously check everytime I go to the boat and turn on the gas, so I suspect that I am not really comfortable with it as opposed to an Ebberasto whatever.

 

[LadyInBed]

Does anyone have any experience of them?

Mine was on the boat when I bought it nine years ago, I don't use it often but it fires up ok when I do and heats two cabins.
It was installed with a separate gas isolation tap so it is turned off when it's not in use.

 

[srm]

One came with my last boat - at first it would run for about 15 minutes then stop. When I tried it again some months later it would start and shut down almost immediately. Had my local gas engineers come to look at it - they removed it, opened it up, looked inside and said they could not recognise anything - so it went to the tip (sorry recycling centre).

 

[jason -and the arguenauts]

bought one, installed it myself and used it without problem. must be said that the output of the one I had wasnt very big ie well short of the 3kw of a diesel heater

 

[oldharry]

One came with my last boat - at first it would run for about 15 minutes then stop. When I tried it again some months later it would start and shut down almost immediately. Had my local gas engineers come to look at it - they removed it, opened it up, looked inside and said they could not recognise anything - so it went to the tip (sorry recycling centre).

Pity: thats usually caused by the flame sensor - a simple cheap repair. Maybe only needed a wipe clean?

 

[Sans Bateau]

Bought one, fitted it to boat, gas would not evaporate fast enough so in cold weather it shut down and so would not work, changed to propane (?) (red bottle) had the same problem. As the heater draws gas from the cylinder the gas has to evaporate from liquid, the evaporation drops the temp of the bottle, at lower temp the gas wont evaporate quick enough. They work very well unless its very cold.

Oh, got rid of mine, fitted an Ebber, lovely!

 

[srm]

changed to propane (?) (red bottle) had the same problem. As the heater draws gas from the cylinder the gas has to evaporate from liquid, the evaporation drops the temp of the bottle, at lower temp the gas wont evaporate quick enough. They work very well unless its very cold.

Oh, got rid of mine, fitted an Ebber, lovely!

Where were you, Arctic Norway?
You are correct about the need for gas to evaporate in the cylinder and butane will stop working at around 0 degree C, but propane keeps going to much lower temperatures - you can see red propane cylinders outside houses all over the Scottish Highlands and they work all year round.

 

[Trundlebug]

Bought one, fitted it to boat, gas would not evaporate fast enough so in cold weather it shut down and so would not work, changed to propane (?) (red bottle) had the same problem. As the heater draws gas from the cylinder the gas has to evaporate from liquid, the evaporation drops the temp of the bottle, at lower temp the gas wont evaporate quick enough. They work very well unless its very cold.

Oh, got rid of mine, fitted an Ebber, lovely!

It must have been seriously cold if Propane wouldn't evaporate!
It's well known that this happens with Butane (blue) cylinders below 5 degrees, but Propane boils at minus 42 degrees C !!

Where are you, the antarctic? Something tells me it may have been the regulator, or some other problem..

 

[Sans Bateau]

It must have been seriously cold if Propane wouldn't evaporate!
It's well known that this happens with Butane (blue) cylinders below 5 degrees, but Propane boils at minus 42 degrees C !!

Where are you, the antarctic? Something tells me it may have been the regulator, or some other problem..

The winter I was trying to use it the temp was about zero.

How many regulators do you want, I bought a few!! LOL

The heater had seveal trips back to the manufacturer, nothing was found to be wrong in their workshop.

 

[Stemar]

The winter I was trying to use it the temp was about zero.

[Speculation]
Maybe there was a dip in the pipe that had collected some condensation and it was that freezing that caused the problem. It probably wouldb't show up when cooking 'cos you aren't drawing as much gas, so it doesn't get quite a cold.
[/Speculation]

 

[daveyw]

Bought one, fitted it to boat, gas would not evaporate fast enough so in cold weather it shut down and so would not work, changed to propane (?) (red bottle) had the same problem. As the heater draws gas from the cylinder the gas has to evaporate from liquid, the evaporation drops the temp of the bottle, at lower temp the gas wont evaporate quick enough. They work very well unless its very cold.

Oh, got rid of mine, fitted an Ebber, lovely!

Depends what size cylinder you were using but even a small 3.9kg propane cylinder allows an offtake rate of about 7kW. If you exceed this rate you will see frosting on the outside of the cylinder and the output pressure will reduce

 

[Grehan]

OurPropex on Grehan #1 worked just fine, although if not used for a while did tend to want resetting - remove cover, press red button inside. [well, it was something like that - memory fade ].

 

[Avocet]

We've had the smaller (1.6kW) unit for years and it has been trouble-free (other than not working as the temperature gets towards freezing because of the already mentioned problem of the Butane not evaporating). Have never bothered converting it to run on Propane though as we don't use it much!