Refleks - Sigmar or Dickinson?

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swanny

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Need heat and lots of it for early and late Baltic season. I want to fit one of the three heaters mentioned but can't decide which! Will have to lose 'L' shape of port seating area and ability to convert to a double but not sooo bad. Thing is, feel refleks is best but the size of the 4.2kw 2000k heater with 90mm flue is putting me off. I feel the 90mm flue which will have to have two 45 degree bends in it will dominate the saloon and be easy to fall into in a blow (whether it's on or off) A smaller flue which can be fitted a little closer to the bulckhead may be safer. Dunno. Dickinson give out same heat but they claim all their heaters give out same heat for same fuel consumption irrespective of size?!?! Sigmar are again smaller for same heat output. Lady at Hamburg boatshow at Toplicht stand told me refleks is best and safest to leave alone while running. Confused and cold. Boat is 36ft centre cockpit, walk through aft cabin, uninsulated. Any experiences with these heaters? Any opinions?
 
I have both a Signmar 100 and a Kabola Old Dutch.
Old Dutch gets lit ( is easy to light) in November and left on 24/7 has a clean at Christmas and then relit til March. Never suffers downdraft always burns clean.
Sigmar 100 is a pain to light and I wont leave it on when not on board as it can be blown out by a down draft, is quite hard to set up as there are two adjustments not one as on the Kabola.
One thing that any stove must have is one of these
http://controls.tedcon.com/catalog.php?itm=KBB&n=KBB+Fire+Valve
to shut off the diesel in event that the fire takes off, I dont think that any of the stoves have them fitted as standard.

Julian
 
We have a Refleks - not sure which model, it was already on board whenh we got the boat. It doesn't have a water jacket. These things aren't small, so you need to make a "feature" of them, including the flue. Ours has two 45 degree bends; yes its very visible, but it looks nice in polished stainles steel. Maybe you could fit a sturdy grab-handle near it so that in a sea-way if lost your balance, you would grab this and not the flue!

Cheers, Jerry
 
Hi Jerry, how tall is your flue? and is the top in clear space away from draughts from the sail? Do you ever get problems with downdrafts? The Dickinson has a fan underneath it as standard I think which when lighting helps with up draught or on windy days. I like the sound of that as long as I can turn it off when not needed. Keep the comments coming!
 
You are quite correct, there is a fan underneath. This can be adjusted from off to what sounds like gale force at its highest setting. It is extremely useful on gusty days when down draughts are possible.
 
The "above-deck" section of the flue must be about 3 - 4 foot long. The top is then above the level of the wheelhouse roof. Can't use it when sailing as it would be in the way of the boom, but would be OK when motoring. I could have it modified I guess so that we could sail with it. Have to say that we have only used it so far when not under way. I installed an Eberspacher Hydronic 5 system for "programmable heat" and the Refleks is only really used if we get a very cold snap or we need to conserve power. It is also fiddly to get going in comparison to the "press the button" Eber!

It is also very strange how, although the cabin temperature may be the same, the heat produced by the silent Refleks feels more "cosy" than the noisy heat produced by the Eber!

Cheers, Jerry
 
I have a refleks 62m fitted to my 33ft centre cockpit barbary ketch , the heater is installed with in a lounge seating locker so when its not in use the wooden locker lid plus seat cushion gose back over and is returned to seating, the seat locker is stainless steel lined never gets hot as heat comes out from to top of heater. its all ways worked fine , chucks out loads of quite heat, some times get a back draft noise in strong winds . two 45 deg bends in flue. plus agree with jerrys comments.
 
I have the Dickinson. Exstremely pleased with the heater. Been using it since 2003. Lighting it is no problem. Washing up bottle full of meths. Quick squirt. Light with gas lighter, turn the combustion fan on and the oil valve to full. 5 mins later turn the fan off. Loads os dry heat, no noise and no power use. We boil a kettle on top for regular supply of tea!
 
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I have the Dickinson. Exstremely pleased with the heater. Been using it since 2003. Lighting it is no problem. Washing up bottle full of meths. Quick squirt. Light with gas lighter, turn the combustion fan on and the oil valve to full. 5 mins later turn the fan off. Loads os dry heat, no noise and no power use. We boil a kettle on top for regular supply of tea!

[/ QUOTE ]

Now that sounds like a plan! I've always followed the destructions. Lost count of the number of times I've burnt my fingers trying to drop bits of lighted kitchen past the superheater and into the diesel.

Thanks,

Colin
 
Thanks for starting this thread.
It prompted me to email Sigmar re the problems I was having with the stove. After emails back and forward and Don taking me through the factory set up we discovered that the valve was mounted 8mm lower than it should have been.
I have now rectified this and the stove is now working fine and has been on for 72hours without a hitch.

So excellent customer service from Don Parry at Sigmarine and I now have two heaters that work well.

Julian
 
I have 2 Dickinson, an Atlantic and an Antarctic models. They are both running 24h/24. The construction is extremely simple (too much?), maybe a little rough: far away from an "Italian finish". I did cut myself twice with some stainless parts mechanicaly cut. No finishing polish to break corners. Can be messy and dirty to lite up, not realy an user friendly design. They are good looking rough heater. Very strong construction missing of a more friendly finish.
Refleks seems more civilized but I don't have any experience with them.
You can see some pics at www.auroramagnetica.com
 
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