Reliable Boat Heater

[TiggerToo]

Maybe this is a difficult question to answer: what is the most reliable boat heater?
I would like to restrict the answers to "blow heaters" (as opposed to solid fuel or "drip" heaters) and to opinions supported by data, rather than simple preference.

Does anyone know?

 

[pvb]

Properly installed, a Webasto or Eberspacher will give reliable service for years.

 

[TiggerToo]

Properly installed, a Webasto or Eberspacher will give reliable service for years.

I think ours was properly installed. The first one lasted about 19 years (with occasional faults), in the second one the fan motor seems to have given up its ghost after 2 years. For no obvious or apparent reason.

 

[CLB]

I would say that Wallas may be the very best of the bunch. Following up behind are Eberspachers and Webasto which are much the same. Then you have the Russian Planar heaters and finally the cheap Chinese copies.

Where does your budget fall?

Having owned Two Ebers, one Webasto and one Chinese heater, and have run boats that used all of the above bar Planar. I would go Chinese every time now. The savings are so huge that it doesn't make sense not to. The only caveat to that being that you get no backup and, if you re unlucky, you might get a dodgy one. At around £75 each, you can afford to carry a spare.

 

[Boater Sam]

A comely 20 year old?

 

[Gary Fox]

Drip feed diesel, if it fits your boat. Similar price to a new Eber installation, but you will never need a 12v supply, or to call an agent with diagnostic equipment to press a button and rape your debit card.
Dickinsons and Refleks are both good makes.

 

[Bristolfashion]

I have noticed a few installation posts here and there which put the Chinese heater at around £250 +/- once you've bought some extra bits to make it "marine" standard. Still cheap as chips - and you'd only pay £80/£100 if you had to replace the main unit.

Strangely, however, the adverts for the Chinese ones do seem to show flames shooting out of them - mere advertising I'm sure!

 

[jdc]

I'll put in a word for Mikuni, which is just a Japanese version of the same thing as Webasto and Eberspacher. Mine has proved reliable, but I have no comparative data, and in fact suspect that none of us do have.

What I believe is that the installation is the single most important factor, followed by maintenance and fuel supply, not necessarily in that order. The brand is probably not nearly as important!

However opaque fault-codes and occasional hard-to-diagnose "shan't, won't , don't want to play..." incidents and a lack of published service instructions has given Eberspacher in particular a bad name with some (including me) which in terms of pure reliability it probably doesn't deserve.

 

[PaulRainbow]

Drip feed diesel, if it fits your boat. Similar price to a new Eber installation, but you will never need a 12v supply, or to call an agent with diagnostic equipment to press a button and rape your debit card.
Dickinsons and Refleks are both good makes.

But the OP said "I would like to restrict the answers to "blow heaters" (as opposed to solid fuel or "drip" heaters) "

 

[PaulRainbow]

I've fitted some of the Russian Planar heaters and not any problems with them. Much cheaper than Eber or Webasto. I personally would not fit a cheap Chinese heater, my insurance company wouldn't be impressed if one burnt an expensive yacht to the waterline.

 

[duncan99210]

My Ebers is now 11 years old and has never given any problems. Only ever used by turning it on at max, leaving one for an hour or two then turning it off rather than running at lower temps. Remains to be seen how it coped with 18 months out of use due to Covid and no visits to Greece.

 

[CJU]

I'll put in a word for Mikuni, which is just a Japanese version of the same thing as Webasto and Eberspacher. Mine has proved reliable, but I have no comparative data, and in fact suspect that none of us do have.

What I believe is that the installation is the single most important factor, followed by maintenance and fuel supply, not necessarily in that order. The brand is probably not nearly as important!

However opaque fault-codes and occasional hard-to-diagnose "shan't, won't , don't want to play..." incidents and a lack of published service instructions has given Eberspacher in particular a bad name with some (including me) which in terms of pure reliability it probably doesn't deserve.

My Mikuni is 12 years old and has so far been free of trouble, so I would also recommend them.

 

[pvb]

Are Mikuni heaters still available?

 

[jdc]

Are Mikuni heaters still available?

Well I'm not entirely sure, at least in the UK. The UK importer and distributor has morphed into MV (MV Heating – Heating for boats, vehicles, cranes, narrow boats) who still provide the mikuni range of matrix heaters and spares and manuals for the old Mikuni heaters, but brand their latest diesel blown-air heaters as MV. However I imagine they aren't actually made in Southampton by MV, so a phone call to establish where they're made and the history of the brand would be an idea if one was contemplating purchase. The style (and price) looks like Mikuni!

 

[pvb]

Well I'm not entirely sure, at least in the UK. The UK importer and distributor has morphed into MV (MV Heating – Heating for boats, vehicles, cranes, narrow boats) who still provide the mikuni range of matrix heaters and spares and manuals for the old Mikuni heaters, but brand their latest diesel blown-air heaters as MV. However I imagine they aren't actually made in Southampton by MV, so a phone call to establish where they're made and the history of the brand would be an idea if one was contemplating purchase. The style (and price) looks like Mikuni!

I thought the MV heaters resembled the Chinese heaters...

 

[Blue Sunray]

Are Mikuni heaters still available?

I don't think so. I have a MY30 which has worked reasonably well. I have a second one at home which I got off ebay for spares.

 

[Rappey]

what is the most reliable boat heater?

Very hard to answer as the chinese ones have not been around long enough to notch up lots of years, yet!
Would be interesting to know how many have been sold in the uk as they are being put in boats, vans and even outbuildings.. but not reading lots of news stories about deaths and fires caused by them .
I had a taylors and whilst it was faultless for some 25 years running on kerosene i always got cold feet as it couldnt heat the floor area.
now i have toasty feet and a much warmer boat with my china heater .

 

[johnalison]

My Webasto has been in use for twenty years. During this time it has needed a couple of fairly expensive services and a replacement circuit board, if that’s what it was. Nevertheless, it is quiet and I basically like it.

 

[Plum]

Maybe this is a difficult question to answer: what is the most reliable boat heater?
I would like to restrict the answers to "blow heaters" (as opposed to solid fuel or "drip" heaters) and to opinions supported by data, rather than simple preference.

Does anyone know?

Impossible to obtain an accurate answer from surveying here without knowing how many hours they have been used and exactly how they have been installed as I believe many faults are due to the installation. However, to add to your collection of statistics: my Eberspacher is 5 years old, an estimated 250 hours, and has worked perfectly no matter whether run it max or at minimum eg. for 22hours nonstop on minimum as used last weekend.

Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk

 

[pvb]

Impossible to obtain an accurate answer from surveying here without knowing how many hours they have been used and exactly how they have been installed as I believe many faults are due to the installation. However, to add to your collection of statistics: my Eberspacher is 5 years old, an estimated 250 hours, and has worked perfectly no matter whether run it max or at minimum eg. for 22hours nonstop on minimum as used last weekend.

The Eberspacher on my last boat was installed new by Hallberg-Rassy and was 24 years old and working fine when I sold the boat. I think I had it professionally serviced once.