Which Wallas?

[Porthandbuoy]

I'm looking at Wallas heaters for my Nic 26 and have more or less decided on one of the Wallas hot air heaters, but which one? The diesel fired heater would be perfect but is considerably more expensive than the paraffin model (the difference would buy a few winter's worth of paraffin).
Anyone got any experience of either the Wallas 1300 or 30D?

 

[aquaplane]

I have a Wallas 1800 paraffin heater on order for my Centaur. My dad has a 2400 paraffin heater on his 34 footer and it's only been looked at once in 25 years as far as I know.

They are much quieter than an Eber (on the outside anyway) and draw less than half the amps once running, on heatup I think they all draw a similar amount.

 

[earlybird]

I have a Wallas 1800 paraffin heater, I'm very pleased with it, quiet, starts easily even on lowish volts, has very little battery drain, and no need for lagged exhausts etc. Unless I'm staying aboard overnight in cold conditions, it's on "low" most of the time, so I'd expect the 1300 would be ample for the main cabin of a 26 footer, but you only have one outlet.
Wallas specify premium grade paraffin, which is now difficult to get other than pre-packs at ~£6 for 4 litres, but that will give 30 or more hours running.
The agents tell me that central heating kerosene is OK, possibly leading to slightly more frequent burner servicing which isn't very often anyway. If you can get hold of this it's about 35-40p/litre.
Re start-up, the paraffin heaters take 5 amps for 2 minutes.

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Anybody got a link?

 

[earlybird]

[QUOTE Anybody got a link? [/QUOTE]

Do you mean to Kuranda? www.kuranda.co.uk/chandlery/wallas-heating-and-cooking.html

 

[Trundlebug]

I have a 30D diesel fired. Very good, I would recommend it.

As said above, it's quieter and more sociable to other boaters than noisy ebers, and uses minimal current when running.

A generally accepted principle for all kinds of diesel heaters for maximum reliability is not to over-spec your heater then run it on half power all the time. This can cause the heater to coke up and fail.

Best to slightly under-spec it and work it hard - it stays hot and burns off any coke.

I would go for the diesel fired version, much easier to obtain than paraffin, you can get it anywhere, and for this application at the rebated rate.

 

[charles_reed]

I'm looking at Wallas heaters for my Nic 26 and have more or less decided on one of the Wallas hot air heaters, but which one? The diesel fired heater would be perfect but is considerably more expensive than the paraffin model (the difference would buy a few winter's worth of paraffin).
Anyone got any experience of either the Wallas 1300 or 30D?

The reason for the price difference is that the two diesel heaters have a very much larger heat output than the paraffin ones.

Here's the manufacturer's link

http://www.wallas.fi/default.asp?id=0rkyi9ksu0a

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Wallas Heaters

I have a Wallas 1800 paraffin heater, I'm very pleased with it, quiet, starts easily even on lowish volts, has very little battery drain, and no need for lagged exhausts etc. Unless I'm staying aboard overnight in cold conditions, it's on "low" most of the time, so I'd expect the 1300 would be ample for the main cabin of a 26 footer, but you only have one outlet.
Wallas specify premium grade paraffin, which is now difficult to get other than pre-packs at ~£6 for 4 litres, but that will give 30 or more hours running.
The agents tell me that central heating kerosene is OK, possibly leading to slightly more frequent burner servicing which isn't very often anyway. If you can get hold of this it's about 35-40p/litre.
Re start-up, the paraffin heaters take 5 amps for 2 minutes.

I knew it was okay to run the paraffin model on central heating kerosene. A good tip though as it reduces the running costs significantly.
If I bought the 3kw diesel job I suspect I would end up running it on low power for most of the time. As mentioned, I always suspected this could/would lead to coking and increased burner maintenance.

Now leaning more in favour of the paraffin model running flat out on an Esso Blue/heating oil blend.

 

[Billjratt]

I fitted a paraffin one several boats ago (shipman28) and have nothing but good to report.
If there's a questionmark over premium paraffin etc, would it be worth while investing in a fuel filter ? (as fitted to your engine) or is there a chemical limit somewhere..