oldmanofthehills
Well-known member
Same on my old Pentland
Where to fit a eberspacher diesel heater on Westerly Centaur
- Thread starter kevsbox
- Start date
Tillana
Member
I fitted an autoterm heater to my centaur last winter.
I fitted it next to the engine on starboard side. Intake is next to the box at bottom of steps and the hot air goes up over the propshaft fixed to cockpit floor and through port lockers near the water intake and comes out next to the Blake's seacocks. I split a small diameter pipe off which went under the heads and into the forcabin. The exhaust goes alongside the fuel tank and into the stern locker and out next to engine exhaust.
I went for extra fuel tank which sits in the stern locker across and under the locker lid.
I'm so happy with it and boat warms up so quickly.
I fitted it next to the engine on starboard side. Intake is next to the box at bottom of steps and the hot air goes up over the propshaft fixed to cockpit floor and through port lockers near the water intake and comes out next to the Blake's seacocks. I split a small diameter pipe off which went under the heads and into the forcabin. The exhaust goes alongside the fuel tank and into the stern locker and out next to engine exhaust.
I went for extra fuel tank which sits in the stern locker across and under the locker lid.
I'm so happy with it and boat warms up so quickly.
Last edited:
ashtead
Well-known member
Some photos ? As said the exhaust valve needs to be high but just be aware they can melt fenders particularly if some marina muppet comes to close to the stern and rolls the ball fender across the exhaust
Bodach na mara
Well-known member
True. I have melted one of my fenders that way. We usually berthed that boat port side to the pontoon but had to berth starboard side to and I forgot the heater when I positioned the fenders.Some photos ? As said the exhaust valve needs to be high but just be aware they can melt fenders particularly if some marina muppet comes to close to the stern and rolls the ball fender across the exhaust
Refueler
Well-known member
Was admitted to Hospital yesterday ... damaged nerve right side of face ... likely due to being too long out in strong cold winds ...
But anyway - laying in bed thinking about installation. Not much use on a Centaur as its a bilge keeler - but on my fin keeler 38 ... it has crossed my mind whether I can lead the hot air ducting via the keel bilge space .... heater in my engine box - might have to exceed the 2m max exhaust length.... which will simplify both exhaust and hot air piping.
Centaur .... heater in engine box .. exhaust out transom .... hot air venting from front of engine box ? Air in - now the question of outside air or recirc air ?
Would a small fan help get hot air forward with heater venting front of engine box ?
But anyway - laying in bed thinking about installation. Not much use on a Centaur as its a bilge keeler - but on my fin keeler 38 ... it has crossed my mind whether I can lead the hot air ducting via the keel bilge space .... heater in my engine box - might have to exceed the 2m max exhaust length.... which will simplify both exhaust and hot air piping.
Centaur .... heater in engine box .. exhaust out transom .... hot air venting from front of engine box ? Air in - now the question of outside air or recirc air ?
Would a small fan help get hot air forward with heater venting front of engine box ?
Plum
Well-known member
Wishing you a speedy recovery to a warm boat. Regarding "outside air or recirc air", for me it is outside air every time because it makes the cabin so much nicer due to the reduction in water vapour and condensation inside.
oldmanofthehills
Well-known member
Our LM27 has the epi in the stern void, adjacent to rudder shaft, which reduces noise in the saloon, but increases heat loss due to it needing 3m of ducting just to get into the wheelhouse. The fuel and water tanks and welly storage are kept toasty as duct runs past but thats not the aim
I dd consider bringing intake air in from wheelhouse but that would need another 3m run and another nightmare cutting holes in bulkheads feeding duct behind tanks and risking damage to electrics and hoses. As there is slight smell of bunt diesel in the heat outlet, also I wasnt sure about recycling to recycle and wondered if really fresh air better. However as air intake is thus in cockpit, if the cockpit canopy is up as in wet weather the intake air is from part of our extended living space - we havent suffocated or died of CO yet
Refueler
Well-known member
What about a small silent computer fan to 'pull' hot air at end of ducting ??
Rappey
Well-known member
My heater is installed just forward of the main cabin. I used to have a force 10 heater with the chimney going up through the roof so i used that for my diesel heater exhaust which is 32mm stainless tube so better gas flow?
Ive seen a fair few vids now where people are routing their exhaust through domestic radiators and gaining another 20% heat output from the radiator so maybe this max 2m exhaust is not as critical as we are led to believe. ?
Ive seen a fair few vids now where people are routing their exhaust through domestic radiators and gaining another 20% heat output from the radiator so maybe this max 2m exhaust is not as critical as we are led to believe. ?
Refueler
Well-known member
Interesting ... I have water based radiators along the main bunks that were fed from the LPG heater ... but I am sure that the bore is too small for routing my Vevor exhaust through. The backpressure would cause poor combustion in chamber IF it ever actually fired up.
I did consider pumping engine cooling water through it before exhausting out .... but trying to figure out routing was hard....
Tillana
Member
I asked autoterm for advice on fitting and they were very helpful. They recommend intake from the cabin rather than outside. I did ask about the advantage of bringing in fresh air and was told to crack the hatch open if it's too hot.
It's so much quieter than our heaters I've seen. The bracket for holding the exhaust in the stern locker stops anything touching it out even getting close. I'm 150 miles away from the boat so no photos, at least for a while
It's so much quieter than our heaters I've seen. The bracket for holding the exhaust in the stern locker stops anything touching it out even getting close. I'm 150 miles away from the boat so no photos, at least for a while
gaylord694
Member
Absolutely there crap the only place they need to be fitted are to a dustbin
Rappey
Well-known member
Because ?? Hundreds of thousands of us that are more than happy with our heaters would disagree.
gaylord694
Member
Let's agree to disagree then until it catches fire .. ...
Rappey
Well-known member
Are you referring to these types of diesel heater in general or just the Chinese ones?
There have been many debates on this forum about diesel heaters and the results appear to be that there are a fair few that know of german heaters catching fire yet no one could show a case of a chinese one catching fire, even more amazing seeing some of the questionable diy instalations.
With the amount of these heaters now in use for sheds, boats, campervans and buildings the chances of catching fire when properly installed seems very low.
Refueler
Well-known member
Actual examples of fires please.
gaylord694
Member
Van Dracula,s campervan conversion, there's quite a lot Chinese heaters installs in campervans catching fire so there you go... I would say put that in your pipe and smoke it but I don't need to as it will catch fire anyway
gaylord694
Member
All jokes aside I think if anyone wants to fit a Chinese one then fine ,,,,, personally I wouldn't. A very good halfway house is the type the russians used to put in there tanks to keep warm
Refueler
Well-known member
Van Dracula,s campervan conversion, there's quite a lot Chinese heaters installs in campervans catching fire so there you go... I would say put that in your pipe and smoke it but I don't need to as it will catch fire anyway
So one name ... rest ???? Sorry but that's not gonna wash.
Think of it like this ... if you have a brand that sells say a thousand units, lets say one failure ... and a Chinese company comes along and sells 10 thousand units and has 5 failures ... looking at it just as number of failures leads to BS statements ... but look at properly as ratio of failure to number sold and you find its the other way ...
So shall we restock our pipes and try again ??
Oh and the Vevor unit I bought comes highly recc'd by Yard fitters who may know a thing or two about these sort of things.... just follow advice of replacing the exhaust and fuel piping plus clips.
gaylord694
Member
I only named one... To be honest I've better things to do like put fires out on Chinese heaters