Wallas or not?

THE WALLAS WONDER REVISITED


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:idea :lips :idea :lips :idea :lips :idea :lips :idea :lips :idea :lips :idea :lips

:love :unlove :love :unlove :love :unlove :love :unlove :love :unlove :love :unlove :love :unlove

:smile :sad :smile :sad :smile :sad :smile :sad :smile :sad :smile :sad :smile :sad

(with apologies to Rube Goldberg)
 
The Wallas stoves must have personalities--The one we had--probably about 2001 vintage--worked extremely well, with nary a problem. Haven't run the new one yet....Almost afraid to now! I suspect that fuel, voltage and air supply are all very important...
 
Da Nag":3hyruya1 said:
That's one thing I can't stand about the Wallas. I find the fan noise, even on low, difficult to sleep with.
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I think Aiviq was the one who stumbled upon the "Ecofan" available from Cabelas. We bought the small one and it is dead silent, yet circulates the hot air from our Wallas all night long. I don't know how them thangs work, but they're worth every penny IMHO.
Al
 
dogon dory":o570ua1o said:
Then you've got the loveable version :teeth :love :rainbow :thup

Jokes aside, like most things nowadays, the easiest way for me to get information if I don't have the paperwork on something it to go to the manufacturer's website.
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Have you seen their website? Pretty worthless if you ask me. And I do have the paperwork but I doubt it will say "you have the new version of this stove". Anyway I can sit pans on mine when it's closed just fine so based off that I'm assuming I have the older version.
 
OK, I'll be the "turd in the punchbowl" on this subject or more accurately, the Wallas Stove is.
I like "personality" in my dog, not a piece of equipment that will make or break a trip out with the girls. Get your Girl(s) wet, cold and hungry and see where "finicky and personality" gets you! The Finlanders may have built it but who's gonna have some "splainin" to do?
Guys, if your Dory was this reliable, would you take it out farther than you were willing to row it back?
I'm not advocating any one system, just one that works...every time. I personally have gone with propane stove and Force 10 heater (sniffer and CO detector too) and am very happy but if there is now a better diesel heater, and it lifts her skirts, go for it, but it has got to be more reliable than a prom night promise.
The threads on this site should be enough for the average consumer to declare this stove/heater an Edsel.

OK, so I've had a few...
Bill
 
Billy":3cw69ymg said:
if there is now a better diesel heater, and it lifts her skirts, go for it.
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Logic like that should make all of us converts.... :smilep

P.S. In anticipation of further comments, I said "CONverts". :wink
 
Geez, John started / restarted a good thread here. Thanks to all for their responses....so far. I'm sort of leaning towards a Webasto AT2000 (great pictures and info) for heat and a yet to be determined propane / butane fired built in stove. Most of our cruising will be in the northwest and heat is mandatory for comfort here, it would be nice to have a propane / butane stove as a backup, just to take off the morning chill, if our primary diesel heat source failed. It would be interesting to see how a poll would turn out. Thanks again...
 
Russ.... a note about propane/butane differences: My understanding of butane is that it works OK in warm climates, such as Mexico, since it is vaporized at a higer temperature than propane. Propane could be relied upon to start and burn hot and fast anywhere, but Butane would be slow, less efficient, or not even light at all in really cold situations because of it's low vapor pressure.

I know propane sounds scary on a boat, but my old houseboat had all propane fireplace, oven, stove, fridge and the detector never went off once in over 12 years. So, it is possible to contain it.

Russ, are you thinking the factory will install whatever furnace you want? Or is it the dealer that would put in the Webasco furnace? What brand furnace are they talking about on the spec sheet for the C-Ranger 25 tugs?

I am wondering, if you have the generator, why an ordinary electric heater or two would work. John
 
John,
I am thinking I will go with a propane stove as I've had pretty good experience with propane stoves, furness, fridge, etc. and they have neat little 2 1/2 lb. aluminum cylinders available that don't take up alot of space. We are getting our R-25 from the factory so I'll have to e-mail Jeff to see if they will do the installation of the Webasto, I think they will. I think they only offer the Wallas diesel stove / heater on the spec sheet as of now.
I'm not starting out with a generator but have opted for the 2500 watt inverter and extra batteries, I'm not familiar with inverters so I don't know if an electric heater would draw too much power over an extended period or not, say... if you were at anchor for a few days?
 
It certainly is personal preferences.
My Wallas has worked perfectly. Two different fuels aboard is enough for me. I really don't want to have to worry about gas for the boat, diesel for the heater and propane or butane to cook.
I would bet if there were an espar, or webasto heater forum, you'd find people who had good experiences and some who had nothing but trouble as well.
Ron
 
That's a good point, Ron. There must be hundreds of C-Dories with Wallas' unit, so less than a half dozen problem stories would be a small percentage. John
 
drjohn,

I don't think anyone will ever get a true statistic (which may in itself be an oxymoron) from adding up postings. You will not get all the positives or all the negatives, and frankly I don't think it matters. Being one of the unhappy ones, I have taken the necessary steps to get the manufacturer to give me the same product as those that are happy. I do not ask more than to be converted to the fold of "believers". There are bad apples in every barrel.
For me, the true value of such a forum is that we get a variety of viewpoints and helpful advice and I think that even the equipment manufacturers get value out of it as they get key inputs for produc timprovement. In this case Wallas seem to have taken several of these criticisms seriously in the 2006 design.
I will be really happy if they fix my Wallas and I will certainly post the results.
 
Russ & John - maybe we should take this part of the discussion to the a C-Ranger thread, but this is really important. We too have a C-Ranger 25 on order with an escape clause. Assuming the C-Ranger passes Patty's inspection, and we waive the escape clause, we need to know with a fair degree of certainty what Dave Livingston can / is willing to do at the factory for people who don't want a Wallas, which is definitely me. I WANT a Webasto heater and a propane stove, but I have no idea how that would be accommodated . I would think we would want to all be in on the conversation, no?


drjohn71a":y0x91smw said:
Russ, are you thinking the factory will install whatever furnace you want? Or is it the dealer that would put in the Webasco furnace? What brand furnace are they talking about on the spec sheet for the C-Ranger 25 tugs?
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