Taylors heater

[Slinky Spring]

I would appreciate any opinions, good or bad on Taylors heaters. Are they smelly labour intensive etc. Are they economical? Judging on the amount of problems people seem to have with Eberspacher etc I am thinking a taylors might be less hassle but am interested in the any problems.

 

[Gordonmc]

Depends on whether you are talking about the Diesel or paraffin version. I ripped a paraffin one out of the boat. It was frightening having the thing flame up when lighting. When it did go it was a bind. The seperate pressurised fuel tank took up a lot of locker space.
On the other hand a pontoon neighbour has just fitted a drip-fed diesel model and I am well impressed. It uses an electric pump to drive fuel from the main diesel tank but can take gravity fed fuel with four feet of head pressure. The chimney is wider than the paraffin model and needs heat protection at the deckhead.
Output seems very good and there's even a bit of flame to cheer up the cabin.
They appear expensive to buy, but probably a good deal less than an Eber.

 

[NDG]

We've got a diesel one, fed by a pump, and its v good on a smallish boat. Takes a while to warm up, and there's a bit of a knack to getting it going, but its v good and cheery when you can see the flame burning away. Looks nice on the bulkhead, all polished and shiny, too.

 

[ArgoNot]

My parafin one works fine and warms the saloon up nicely. Not had a 'flame up' when lighting but like the 'primus-stove-in-a-box' that it appears to be, judging the moment to open the tap seems to be the key. Under way, it does seem to work with a slow 'beat' but I don't know if that's mine or common to all.
The parafin tank does take up a lot of space and because parafin is a smelly fuel it effectively renders useless for anything else the locker in which it resides.
You also have to depressurise the tank after use or fuel can seep out.
Mine seems to be reasonably economical. I put a gallon in last season and did not use it all over about six weeks of cruising the West of Scotland, some of it through some quite dismal and wet weather.

 

[HenryB]

I've acquired an old parafin model which I'm testing at the moment, before installing on my boat. It seems to run happily on diesel fuel as well as parafin - just needs a full measure of meths to get it heated before turning on the diesel. I'll be using it abroad where parafin isn't always easy to get so being able to use diesel will be an advantage. So far there have been no smells or flare ups, but having to regularly pump up the pressure at the tank is a chore so I'm working on a way to do this automatically using some pressure switches and a cheap car tyre pump.
It's definitely economical - about 40 hours per gallon at 3/4 heat.

 

[Steve_N]

You're right of course, the kerosene model can run on diesel although Taylors don't advertise this fact, however Force 10 whose kerosene heater uses the same Patria burner does.. You are supposed to change the nipple/jet if wanting to burn diesel regularly though: the nice man at Base Camp should be able to help.

I would expect the burner life to be substantially reduced though as it will clog up with carbon pretty quickly. Diesel burns very dirtily compared to kero.

I find the 079K kero model very reliable. I have one in my workshop down the garden at home and it runs 12 hours a day during cold spells: just the occasional pump required, but minimal maintenance and never a flare-up upon lighting (pre-heating with a gas blowlamp).

 

[trouville]

I use a taylors in my aft cabin,a diesel one i bought new a long time ago, it alway works, when you get the knack of lighting it, its easy it dosent smell and the tank with it lasts for 3 nights,
It heats REALLY well and i like to able to see the flame, very cosy. Every year i remove the hard "tar?" from the burner pot give it a good clean, and it ready for full sevice again. Reflex is far better as it has a carberette,but is much bigger as well!
All in all i would recomend the taylors diesel, and intend to fit one to my new boat!

 

[alahol2]

One word of warning about the paraffin version. Don't turn it to 'low' then leave it alone. I went 'next door' for a drink, when I returned, the burner gallery had split but the paraffin had continued to burn with a yellow smoking flame. EVERYTHING in the boat was covered in a thin film of carbon. It took me 3 days of washing and scrubbing to clean the boat and everything in it...
You are the only person I have ever admitted this to and if ANYONE ever mentions it to me I will know who to blame!

 

[Das_Boot]

I have a taylors stove and heater both work fine but if there is anyone who knows of an automatic pump which would overcome the constant manual pumping I would buy one. Maybe pumping is a safety issue bucause if you are constantly pumping it requires you to allways have an eye on the flame therefore no-one has devised an auto pump.