Rigger Mortice
N/A
Are the catalytic heaters any better then the ordinary radiant heat ones? Or is it six of one, half a dozen of the other?
I quite like the idea of a warm red glow from a radiant heater to make things feel cosy.
Really small heater for 18ft boat
- Thread starter chrisbitz
- Start date
Are the catalytic heaters any better then the ordinary radiant heat ones? Or is it six of one, half a dozen of the other?
I quite like the idea of a warm red glow from a radiant heater to make things feel cosy.
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Well-Known Member
Yes, they are better because they can be used indoors and radiate a lot of red glow heat; I never had any problems with mine and I dont understand why people dont use them; perhaps people think that it is too good to be true. I have attached a picture of my heater on this thread page 8.
Searush
Well-Known Member
Mike,
People are trying to help.
Maybe Vic had had a bad day & you caught the backblast, maybe you trod on his professional toes. It doesn't really matter, but escalating posts are simply annoying to everyone & no-one benefits. Sometimes it is better to just log off for a while & do something interesting . . .
BTW, I expect you will find that patronising, maybe it is, but actually I am a Grand-Patron now.
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Advantages:
- No flame
- Less likelihood of CO being produced
- Doesn't matter if it gets knocked over.
Disadvantages
- Not as hot as a flame
- Catalyst eventually gets poisoned, so they stop working
We had one in the 1960s, and in those days it was a complete pain in the neck getting the unleaded petrol the thing ran on - you couldn't get it in garages in those days! But lead kills the catalyst, so it was essential not to use leaded petrol. Of course, now you can get ones that run on gas, which probably gives fewer problems.
Rigger Mortice
N/A
Sorry, I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm genuinely trying to learn...............
Why are they better inside? Less CO? More heat? Less condensation? More efficient?
I was under the impression that the catalytic heaters were regarded as being safer because there is no naked flame though I'm not sure if that really does make them safer,
Edit...ah, I see we've had the run down from the Antartic. Thanks!!
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Well-Known Member
Sorry, I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm genuinely trying to learn...............
Why are they better inside? Less CO? More heat? Less condensation? More efficient?
I was under the impression that the catalytic heaters were regarded as being safer because there is no naked flame though I'm not sure if that really does make them safer,
Edit...ah, I see we've had the run down from the Antartic. Thanks!!
Catalytic, which means no production of CO2, this is why is suitable for indoors; this is in theory, however, I would never have an open flame heater in a small area like a yacht cabin; it is always advisable to have a small air opening. People here talk about condensation, yes, in theory, however, in practice i have not noticed any; breathing causes condensation anyway. This is our only form of heating in the yacht and we love it, the cabin warms up within 2 minutes even with the hatch opened a couple of inches. This particular heater has an oxygen depletion valve and anti tilt valve. The only other viable alternative is to step up to a heating system with chimney.
lw395
Well-Known Member
You might want to check that.......
lw395
Well-Known Member
Rigger Mortice
N/A
Are you absolutely sure that it really is a catalytic heater?
It looks much the same as the heater you have linked to in the other thread which you have started. That makes no mention of it being catalytic.
Last edited:
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Well-Known Member
I agree and i am not surprised with the results, this is why I always ensure that the hatch is open two inches to allow ventilation, even if the heater is catalytic; safety comes first
SvenH
Well-Known Member
I've been looking in to ways of heating my boat as well, with a simmilar start as OP.
I find the central heating options too expensive, too complex to install, too complex in technology and not suitable for the very few times I'd need it.
The oil burners are getting there but still too expensive. At 900.-- a fridge would be more enjoyable and equally complex.
For around 450.-- you could get a dickinson wood burner but from what I have learned, burning wood relies on body movement to keep you warm: It needs quite a bit of boat cleaning because of the ashes. But yesterday I stumbled upon another kind of wood:
Pellets.
I think it would be a nice challenge to build a pellet burner for simmilar money as the wood stove. This would have the advantage of automatic fuel supply and adjustable heat.
I find the central heating options too expensive, too complex to install, too complex in technology and not suitable for the very few times I'd need it.
The oil burners are getting there but still too expensive. At 900.-- a fridge would be more enjoyable and equally complex.
For around 450.-- you could get a dickinson wood burner but from what I have learned, burning wood relies on body movement to keep you warm: It needs quite a bit of boat cleaning because of the ashes. But yesterday I stumbled upon another kind of wood:
Pellets.
I think it would be a nice challenge to build a pellet burner for simmilar money as the wood stove. This would have the advantage of automatic fuel supply and adjustable heat.
Contest1
Well-Known Member
Usually half a dozen nite lights, I set them in the grill pan of my cooker and place the V foil sheets across the top of the pan. I picked up the grill sheets in my local supermarket near the summer disposable barbeque items, they are also serrated which I think helps with the heat convection. The sheets get quite hot and you can see the air above them shimmer.
dylanwinter
Well-Known Member
gonn try the mark 2
I am going to try the mark 2 you suggest
shimmering heat sounds good to me
Dylan
I am going to try the mark 2 you suggest
shimmering heat sounds good to me
Dylan
VicS
Well-Known Member
You can get rechargeable LED tea lights. They'd be much safer than the conventional type..
http://www.coopersofstortford.co.uk/coopers-of-stortford-rechargeable-tea-lights-x4-prodst08825i/
Mirror Painter
Well-Known Member
Thrift tip:
Packs of 30 tea light candles available form the pound shop for, um, £1. More than 4 times that in Sainsburys.
Packs of 30 tea light candles available form the pound shop for, um, £1. More than 4 times that in Sainsburys.
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Apologies for belated arrival here.
Been away, in slightly warmer climes, where Google's writ didn't often run...
...but...isn't this thread (I just read all of it
) almost exactly like another one here, six or seven weeks ago?
Same problem, same question, same analysis, same answers. I'm not doubting the sincerity or accuracy of respondents, and there are really good thoughts here...like the value of a winter-weight sleeping bag, cleverly localising the overnight heating requirement...
...but apart from the earnest, sensible recommendation that even small boats adopt flued systems, we're inevitably (and a bit tediously) up against the water-vapour/fire/deadly gases problems, which leave us either draughty, damp, dead, justifiably nervous or cold.
I'm in definite doubt that the best answers to small-boat heating have yet been written.
I expect the problem has been solved, but for some reason, boat-owners haven't adopted the benefit. Surely it isn't impossible to transfer heat, created by burning gas, some distance from its point of combustion - which could be up in the breeze on deck?
If heat of combustion is transfered to a clean air source (through a sort of manifold or heat-exchanger), then the exhaust blows away in the night, while the DRY, clean, heated air (or boiled water, piped to under-floor panels?) feeds warmth to the cabin, hatches closed.
The only chap who replied when I said this in September, thought the idea would consume too much LPG. Really?
I'm not ready to drop the idea on that judgement. If the heater-unit comprised a burner plus boiler or manifold, all heavily insulated, with a pump to move the heated air or water and a duct to vent the burner, then heat loss needn't be unsustainable...
...the expenditure of heat at the cabin end might seem profligate, but if the boat is intelligently insulated, and as no hatches need to be open, the warmth will remain in the cabin some time, for the crew's comfort.
Begging the collective's pardon, most of the solutions here so far, seem to have a whiff of early-man warming his cave, about them. And while I believe I'll never order one of those mega-bucks cabin heaters (said to be hatefully noisy), I don't plan to be cold either.
In the same way those inexpensive, very small, square camping stoves are the norm in every picnic-hamper and campsite now, I visualise a very compact hot-air blower (or water-boiler) which can work from outside, efficiently supplying heat to the sealed cabin.
That's this weekend in the garage with the camping stove, then...
Been away, in slightly warmer climes, where Google's writ didn't often run...
...but...isn't this thread (I just read all of it
) almost exactly like another one here, six or seven weeks ago?Same problem, same question, same analysis, same answers. I'm not doubting the sincerity or accuracy of respondents, and there are really good thoughts here...like the value of a winter-weight sleeping bag, cleverly localising the overnight heating requirement...
...but apart from the earnest, sensible recommendation that even small boats adopt flued systems, we're inevitably (and a bit tediously) up against the water-vapour/fire/deadly gases problems, which leave us either draughty, damp, dead, justifiably nervous or cold.
I'm in definite doubt that the best answers to small-boat heating have yet been written.
I expect the problem has been solved, but for some reason, boat-owners haven't adopted the benefit. Surely it isn't impossible to transfer heat, created by burning gas, some distance from its point of combustion - which could be up in the breeze on deck?
If heat of combustion is transfered to a clean air source (through a sort of manifold or heat-exchanger), then the exhaust blows away in the night, while the DRY, clean, heated air (or boiled water, piped to under-floor panels?) feeds warmth to the cabin, hatches closed.
The only chap who replied when I said this in September, thought the idea would consume too much LPG. Really?
I'm not ready to drop the idea on that judgement. If the heater-unit comprised a burner plus boiler or manifold, all heavily insulated, with a pump to move the heated air or water and a duct to vent the burner, then heat loss needn't be unsustainable...
...the expenditure of heat at the cabin end might seem profligate, but if the boat is intelligently insulated, and as no hatches need to be open, the warmth will remain in the cabin some time, for the crew's comfort.
Begging the collective's pardon, most of the solutions here so far, seem to have a whiff of early-man warming his cave, about them. And while I believe I'll never order one of those mega-bucks cabin heaters (said to be hatefully noisy), I don't plan to be cold either.
In the same way those inexpensive, very small, square camping stoves are the norm in every picnic-hamper and campsite now, I visualise a very compact hot-air blower (or water-boiler) which can work from outside, efficiently supplying heat to the sealed cabin.
That's this weekend in the garage with the camping stove, then...
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Been away, in slightly warmer climes, where Google's writ didn't often run...
...but...isn't this thread (I just read all of it
Same problem, same question, same analysis, same answers. I'm not doubting the sincerity or accuracy of respondents, and there are really good thoughts here...like the value of a winter-weight sleeping bag, cleverly localising the overnight heating requirement...
...but apart from the earnest, sensible recommendation that even small boats adopt flued systems, we're inevitably (and a bit tediously) up against the water-vapour/fire/deadly gases problems, which leave us either draughty, damp, dead, justifiably nervous or cold.
I'm in definite doubt that the best answers to small-boat heating have yet been written.
I expect the problem has been solved, but for some reason, boat-owners haven't adopted the benefit. Surely it isn't impossible to transfer heat, created by burning gas, some distance from its point of combustion - which could be up in the breeze on deck?
If heat of combustion is transfered to a clean air source (through a sort of manifold or heat-exchanger), then the exhaust blows away in the night, while the DRY, clean, heated air (or boiled water, piped to under-floor panels?) feeds warmth to the cabin, hatches closed.
The only chap who replied when I said this in September, thought the idea would consume too much LPG. Really?
I'm not ready to drop the idea on that judgement. If the heater-unit comprised a burner plus boiler or manifold, all heavily insulated, with a pump to move the heated air or water and a duct to vent the burner, then heat loss needn't be unsustainable...
...the expenditure of heat at the cabin end might seem profligate, but if the boat is intelligently insulated, and as no hatches need to be open, the warmth will remain in the cabin some time, for the crew's comfort.
Begging the collective's pardon, most of the solutions here so far, seem to have a whiff of early-man warming his cave, about them. And while I believe I'll never order one of those mega-bucks cabin heaters (said to be hatefully noisy), I don't plan to be cold either.
In the same way those inexpensive, very small, square camping stoves are the norm in every picnic-hamper and campsite now, I visualise a very compact hot-air blower (or water-boiler) which can work from outside, efficiently supplying heat to the sealed cabin.
That's this weekend in the garage with the camping stove, then...
You're describing exactly what an Eberspacher or Webasto diesel heater does!
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Indeed? Then, why are they priced around thrice what I intend my next boat to cost?
Surely their use of the science - which must be very simple if I've the least grasp on it - can be downsized to run off a dinky propane cylinder, & draw just enough amps from a sub-20-footer's battery (or integral cell) to blow steady heat into a cabin the size of a tent?
The names Eberspacher and Webasto seem often to ring bells of wishfulness, downcast humility, furious dissatisfaction and copious sheer envy, because they're so costly...but is the action they perform so impossible to replicate cheaply, given a little technical understanding?
chrisbitz
Well-Known Member
No-one's denying that those heaters are the pinnacle of cockpit heating, but the issue is that nobody's going to pay £2500 for a heater for a boat that's worth £2000.
Equally, on an 18ft boat, where would you put the chimney? There's not much space on a small deck that isn't likely to be walked on, is there? By the mast would be a potential idea, but on an 18ft boat, the mast is often removable for trailering, so you don't need additional hardware too close around it, I expect?
Where would you put the heater for that matter too?
oldbilbo
...
Equally, on an 18ft boat, where would you put the chimney? There's not much space on a small deck that isn't likely to be walked on, is there?
Where would you put the heater for that matter too?
I'm interested in a viable and economic solution to this problem, and am tending towards resurrecting the Optimus lamp hiding in a dark corner of my loft. As one who has been nearly 'deaded' by a defective Taylor's heater ( forums passim ), the question remains of adequate ventilation.... I will now ALWAYS have a good CO meter/alarm on board, in plain sight.
With a bit of clever thinking, couldn't something be done with existing yacht ventilators, perhaps like this one..... ?
