Two Dog Nights: Cabin Heat In Winter

[Lynx]

Get a 2000W gen and run a 1500 electric watt heater.

The only other way is to get a heater that needs outside air to heat and a heating element with a fan on it and an outside vent. The O2 usage is far to risky on a small boat.

[newt]

I have a setup like Link states, other than sounding like a jet engine (which it really is) and upsetting the neighbors it works well. I plan on going to a hydronic setup eventually, I just feel that you can't be too careful with heating the interior of a boat.

[JWalker]

has anyone used a petromax/britelyt kerosene lanter for cabin heat?

http://www.britelyt.com/prod1.htm

quote: "BriteLyt lanterns can be used as a heating unit only.
Use with or without mantle.
(500CP Lantern output in BTU's approx: 9,500 to 11,000 per hour Lantern, without heating adapter will heat a 20' x 20' area) with our
heating unit only.   Lantern, with heating adapter, will heat a 20' x 20' area - output of 9,500 to approx. 20,500 btu's per hour."

there is also a gimbled mount you can purchase and attach to a bulkhead.


looks like one would cost around $200 with the heater unit.

[Captain Smollett]

That looks pretty interesting...my worry would be providing adequate ventilation.

[Chattcatdaddy]

Interesting product. My solution is to just head further south. ;D Looked real pretty in the ad, and ventilation is a concern. Would that much heat be safe near a bulkhead?

[JWalker]

Ventilation is  a concern with virtually any heater on a small boat, we leave one of the port lights open currently and use lava rocks on a veggie grill tray on the propane stove (a different take on the clay flower pot). We also have a carbon monoxide detector in the salon, and have had it go off once. Also our companionway hatches do not seal very well so there is air flow from that, so far in light use it has not been a big problem for us. We will see.

How much ventilation would a 4" nicro solar vent add?


ChattCat, we were supposed to be out Oct 1st, but got delayed....so I am leaving from Watts Bar tomorrow, Nov 1st and going down the river to mobile. Its going to be 36 tonight. While not horrible.....it makes me think I want a nice heater setup while I get further south!!!  ;D 

As far as heat near the bulkhead, I don't know about it radiating all the way around but many of the bulkhead heaters I've seen are 9k btu.....I think there is a shield that britelyt has that would shield one side of the lamp.

I'd love to hear from someone who has experience with one.

[Captain Smollett]

Ventilation is  a concern with virtually any heater on a small boat

The positive ventilation heaters are nice in this regard, but require two holes (one for intake and one for the chimney) in the deck.

The CO alarm is a big plus, but just one point: it won't warn you of O2 depletion (the other big danger of inadequate ventilation).  A flame hot enough to put out 9000 BTU is burning O2 quickly enough...

All the Taylors and Dickinson kerosene and diesel bulkhead heaters have (or at least recommend) using a heat shield.  Some of them are in the 15,000 BTU range, iirc.

[marujo_sortudo]

I have a Taylors Diesel heater that was installed about 20 years ago and is probably at least a 40 year old heater.  Not sure how much service it saw before ending up in my boat, but I don't expect it sat on a shelf all those years.  I tried to fire it up for the first time this year and unfortunately the mag valve had failed and started leaking.  Fortunately, a replacement is still available.  Everything else seems to be in good working order, but I'll have to confirm once I replace the mag valve.  These Taylors have a reputation for lasting forever and judging by the the condition mine is still in (despite the one failed part,) I doubt I'll need to replace it (though I do plan on stocking up on spares for extended cruising as losing heat in the upper latitudes is not high on my list and parts can take a while to get.) Also, the PO exclusively burnt kero in this heater, so they seem to be multi-fuel capable even if not advertised as such (theoretically, this one could have been converted, but I doubt it.)

My charlie noble is installed on the port side just forward of the mast, at the cabin edge.  I have once or twice got the staysail sheet caught on it when the staysail boom was flailing around and had to go forward to remove it, but other than that the location seems very sensible and is rarely in the way.  Taking the charlie noble off the pipe and capping it would probably have prevented any catching and also served to block any water ingress in a knockdown.  The heater itself is mounted to the bulkhead with a fuel line feeding down the opposite side of the bulkhead, across the bilge, and up to a hand pump pressurized tank beside the head.  Fuel flow can be cut off by closing the valve at the heater, at a shut-off valve in the bilge, or by releasing the tank cap and depressurizing the system.  With the failed mag valve, I appreciated the shut-off valve as an extra way to cut off fuel flow, even though it was not needed in this circumstance as I unscrewed the tank cap instead.  The Taylors manuals are well written and fairly straightforward.

I've included some pics that show my install (note that the charlie noble has a canvas cover on in some of the pics.)

https://picasaweb.google.com/sarscolin/TaylorCabinHeaterCharlieNoble

[skylark]

What is a mag valve?

[marujo_sortudo]

A mag valve is a very simple and cool little valve, that is a special kind of solenoid, I guess.  Basically, the mag valve is in the fuel line, has a button on it and connects to a thermocouple in the heater itself.  As you preheat the heater with methylated spirits (aka denatured alcohol), the thermocouple starts to convert some of the heat into electricity.  Once the heater is preheated, you hold down the button on the mag valve for a little bit too open the main fuel flow and the trickle of electricity from the thermocouple will hold the mag valve open after you release the button as long as it is still hot and burning in the heater.  If the flame becomes extinguished, the temperature will drop causing the thermocouple to produce less electricity and the mag valve to shut, thereby preventing an extinguished heater from filling up with or spilling very much fuel.

[skylark]

Sounds like a good piece of safety equipment.

Where did you get a replacement?

[marujo_sortudo]

Strangely enough, St Brendan's Isle mail forwarding service is a (the?) US rep for Taylors.  You can order parts, etc. through them.  Call and talk to Scott, he seems like a great guy.  I'm heavily considering using their mail service to support my nomadic lifestyle when I set off.

[Captain Smollett]

Sounds like a good piece of safety equipment.

I'm pretty sure that that or something very similar is on most of the propane/natural gas equipment I've seen (home and boat).  I thought it was "standard" these days....

[ntica]

I have a kerosene heater, Wallas 1300. was allready installed in my new boat. It has a good reputaion in Sweden, reliable and cheap. with good capabillity.
I checked it up yesterday... poha. expensive 1200USD :o got a minor chock.

[JWalker]

Those wallas heaters look really nice.

I e-mailed britelyt and they said that the 500cp is to much for a boat cabin, and that they recommend the 150cp for heating a sailboat, but that they are out of stock till some time in december.

a little more internet research turned up a company in chattanooga called mill and mine that had imported a very similar (or identical depending on which internet fight you want to read) 150cp all brass lantern...they are selling them out for $35.

We docked in chattanooga and I rode my bike over to mill and mine and got one with some extra mantles and an extra globe.

I'm pretty happy with it! We have been leaving the lower hatch board out while running it, but we have been very comfortable with it, and it has cut the condensation inside the boat way down. Nice light also! 

We have used it for three days, I'll update when we have used it more.

[Captain Smollett]

We have been leaving the lower hatch board out while running it, but we have been very comfortable with it

How cold has it been that you've been running with the hatch board out?

We have week-long stretches here in winter where we run low to mid teens at night and don't get above low to mid 20's during the day...and often accompanied by a 20-30 knot wind.

I cannot imagine leaving the hatch board out.

For milder conditions, though, sounds hard to beat a $35 dollar heater.  Looking forward to hearing more about it (fuel consumption rate would be good to hear).

[SeaHusky]

Here is a "KISS" heater which is  simply a heat exchanger and a computer cooling fan placed on top of the boatstove and connected to a simple chimney. Simple enough for DIY.

http://www.pan2000.se/english/index.html

[JWalker]

That pan2000 is interesting.


the coldest it was so far was 38, winds not over 10.

will be 32 the end of this week, we are now in alabama.

last night we tried it with just one portlight open (6x9) and didnt notice any lack of o2.

we also added a kerosene additive that is supposed to make it burn cleaner....and did take away what little kero smell there was.

We have not been burning while sleeping....just evenings to warm the cabin.

[CharlieJ]

Over 35 years ago I stopped using kerosene in my stoves. Kerosene today is not nearly as highly refined as it once was. Used to be water clear- now it's a yellowish color. Tends to foul burners, soot up pots and smell.

I switched to 100% mineral spirits in my stoves and lamps. Not nearly as much soot- pots stay
Much cleaner, and no smell. That's all I ever use aboard Tehani.

Oh- and often it's cheaper.

[ntica]

here's my heater installed