Choosing Between Various Heaters and Stoves

[Captains Cat]

Hey macmac, thanks for being a part of this forum. As you can see, many of us have your products, many love them and many, well lets say, don't. You can help with that last part, an interactive factory rep means a lot to us.

Keep in touch. BTW, I love my Wallas!

Charlie

[1TUBERIDER]

Hey Joe

What heater would work on the jet ski? javascript:emoticon('')

[Sea Wolf]

[Socrateur]

For your reference, here is a photo of the secondary heater in Sea Skipper. It is Taylor’s pressurized kerosene heater, no electric power required - utilizes 1” flue. Fan mounted aft of flue can be aimed to direct a warm blast of air clear across the forward windows for demisting.

[T.R. Bauer]

I love my Wallas. Surprisingly, even on somewhat cold nights (about 15 degrees) it stays pretty darn warm in my CD22, but a half ways decent sleeping bag is a must. Actually, come to think of it, I've spent a few of them sleeping in it when it is that cold out in the early and late shoulder season. I have tented it before in those temperatures and I would say that the Wallas keeps the cabin in the low 60s. If there is any sun at all, it will even actually get uncomfortably warm in the boat with it running wide open if all the windows are closed and it is in the 20s-30s like it has been for the Homer King Salmon Derby. If the temps are in the high 40s and 50s the stove is normally only on the medium low setting. When it is in the 20s and 30s for winter king fishing I run it wide open or just below while we troll for winter kings. If it is too much colder than the teens, go to the bar and drink something warm

[Dene]

Here are some cheaper options for heat.

Last weekend, I spent the night on my 22' boat, awakening to 35 degrees Sunday morning. I was quite comfortable with my newly purchased $12 12v electric blanket. When I awoke, I used the Coleman ProCat to warm the cabin while I searched the town for coffee. When I got back, the cabin was quite toasty.

I've also used this heater with success while underway. The only problem is that it's wet heat, which is why I'm testing a $30 400/800 watt quartz infared heater on my next outing, using it in conjunction with my new 1500 watt inverter.

Back to the 12v electric blanket. Our trawler has a Aspar diesel heater and a West Marine ceramic heater (if on shore power). The problem with these two systems is the cycling on and off through the night. Staying warm with an electric blanket allows us to enjoy the sweet sound of stillness through the night. I prefer that to a warm cabin. First one up, turns the cabin heat on.

-Greg

[thataway]

I have to caution about using unvented space heaters (even catalytic) in enclosed spaces. Consumer Product safety commission (US government agency) has done a good study on the 3000 BTU catalytic heater. They cite at least one death attributed to this heater.

Basically if the area does not have 150% turn over of the volume of air in the space during each hour, there is risk of CO poisoning. Their studies were done on 100 cu feet enclosure and regular sampling. The CO almost immediately went to 68 PPM (Parts per million). The Oxygen was depleated from 20.9% to 8.8% over the 6.5 hour life of the propane bottle. This means that the CO problem is compoiunded by low oxygen, and there is increased risk of brain damage.

One has to have an adequate CO detector (we use two--one by the head of the skipper and one by the bunk). A good alternative is the Kiddie nighthawk 900-0146 (3 AA batteries with an LCD readout, which begins at 30 PPM). The best is the Aero medix 1070 or most recent model, which reads and alarms at 10 ppm. Any of these need to be replaced on a regular basis--2 to 5 years is the life span. There are test kits available to check the sensitivity.

At 50 PPM this is the maximum level allowed by OSHA for continous work in a marine environment. Household requrements are evacuation of the level is chronicallya above 69 PPM. The carbon monoxide will continue to build up in the blood, and disassociates from the hemoblobin very poorly--it takes many hours. When there are high levels of CO in the hemoglobin, the oxygen levels are lowered.

If (and I wound use any catalytic or open flame heater) you use one, you need to have adequate ventillation; this means that the air is replaced 1.5 x in each our. These heaters are made for tents or shacks which have ventillation--not for enclosed boats--even though they are used there.

Be very careful!

Previous discussions are at: http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=8306

[Dene]

Well said Bob. I have a CO sniffer which went off while I was gone. I vented the cabin and never had a problem again. I'm not worried while underway. There is plenty of unintentional ventilation. Also, we've only used it for short bursts.

Nonetheless, it's one more reason why I'm anxious to try out the 400 watt quartz, quiet heater.

-Greg

[localboy]

The "silent killer" correct, Bob? I've been to only one case in the field and that was due to the homeowner using charcoal to heat a house. But I've heard of other cases where normal home heating systems malfunctioned, killing the resident(s). Spooky. I've used a catalytic heater in our VW camper, but I made sure our screen vents on the poptop were open. We also used it on my brother's sailboat too, but made sure we had adequate ventilation to replace the air.

[Sea Wolf]

If i were going to use a catalytic propane heater in an enclosed cain boat, I'd add two small 12 volt computer fans placed so that the ambient wind outside could not defeat their purpose.

One would be an entry port fan, the other an exit port fan.

You can calculate 1.) the cabin volume and, 2.) the air moved by the fans, to be sure you're in the safe volume/replacement ratio or %age, which are mentioned in the referenced thread by Bob.

Also, of course, the carbon monoxide monitor(s) woud be a must.

The small computer fans take negligible current (.15-.25 amps, or 1.5-2.5 Ah over a 10 hour period), so battery drain would be insignificant.

Joe.

[thataway]

Yes, the silent, and often mysterious killer. Of course I saw the most cases of CO poisoning, when I was working in charity type of hospitals--where we had unknowns off the street or highway. Of course lab tests are much better now than 50 years ago, but often it was a person who was unconscious with no history. In several cases we were able to trace it down to a car with a leaky muffler. CO used to be in vogue for suicide--when I was a teen one of the neighbors died that way in his garage.

[macmac]

Please take great care when considering the use of propane in your boat. If you want to make sure there is sufficient ventilation, that is an excellent plan, but also make sure that any kind of active or powered fans used to aid in ventilation are spark-arrested fans. To the best of our knowledge, computer fans are not required to be spark arrested and therefore may or may not be.

Computer fans are an excellent source for inexpensive, efficient air motion in diesel powered boats not using explosive fuels. They can be very helpful in moving air to keep boats dry and comfortable.

Our opinion is that accidents happen when products designed for use outside the marine industry are pressed into casual use without complete consideration of their interactive problems. Be sure to do what is necessary to handle any fuels and fuel powered products you employ safely, carefully and as their design intended.

[DaveS]