Wallas reminder

B

bridma

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C Dory Year
2009
C Dory Model
22 Cruiser
Vessel Name
Nomad
It's that time of year again. A lot of us in the PNW will be thinking of laying up our boats for the winter about now, and relaunch in Mar/April. That's 5 or 6 months under wraps. If you have a Wallas stove/heater, neglecting it for 6 months is not a good idea. My local dealer says most of the Wallas failures that owner's experience result from the unit being ignored over the winter months. The owner then expects everything to be just perfect come Spring. He advises to run the Wallas for one hour, once a month. It's a case of "use it or lose it".

I am in my third year with mine. Never had a problem, it starts first time every time.

Martin.
 
So what is the recommended procedure for lay up?
My 2001 unit works great and I am always a little confused with the gloomy reports I hear about the Wallis.

Carpy
 
Very good advice, Martin. My Wallas is 8 years old and has never failed or given me any trouble whatsoever. I boat year round, and try to run the stove once a week - I don't think I've ever gone longer than a month. I just leave windows and doors open if it's not cool enough to justify the heat - fuel doesn't store well indefinitely anyway, and is cheap compared to repair bills.
 
bcassal":138lpjff said:
So what is the recommended procedure for lay up?
My 2001 unit works great and I am always a little confused with the gloomy reports I hear about the Wallis.

Carpy
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Hi Carpy,

The only recommended procedure I follow is, to fire it up once a month. I have got into the habit of adding fresh or 'freshish' kerosene on a regular basis, thereby keeping the fuel tank topped up.

Gloomy reports can be experienced on any item that requires some form of maintenance. Fail to carry out basic maintenance, be prepared for item failure.

Do remember that if you have a full wrap or tarp over your boat, make sure the Wallas exaust is not covered up when you switch on, or you will get melt-down.

Martin.
 
Just got my 95D serviced for the winter. I never layup over the winter as we fish year round. Will be nice to be warm a cozy through the blackmouth season.
 
Journey On has a Wallis stove which has been in intermittent use since 2005. Typically, it's only used for 3 months of the year. Except for one problem, unrelated to the heating process it's worked well. Including this summer.

Had some problems with the heater fan, due to corrosion and decided to rebuild it. In retrospect, I can't see how that stove needs winterizing. It consists of a burner, fed air with a fan (buried deep inside,) and fuel from a pump. It's all started by a heating element. On shutdown, the feed lines are purged of fuel, so there is no unburned fuel in the burner. All of this is orchestrated by the electronics.

So, outside of clean fuel, what's to winterize? And I buy filtered kerosene or Clean Heat, never replacing just adding.

I do agree that if one needs to service the stove, send it in to the distributor. Otherwise you're going to learn more than you want to about that stove.

Boris
 
I have used my Wallas irregularly since I have owned my boat. I works every time, and so far without fail. I have used Kleen Heat fuel, start it on high, run it there for a while that way and then always turn it up to high for a while before tuning it off.

Yup, it's not the fastest heat or the most convenient maybe, but it has worked. And it is easy, so far.

Thanks for reminding me I need to use it again next time I get out on the water.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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My 2005 CD lays up 6 mos every year. No problem ever with Wallas heater.
We use clean kero. I leave thermostat on high all the time and always let unit cool down before turning off master switch on the boat. So far, so good
 
I think you're on to something Martin. Like Harvey, I had never had a problem starting up our Wallas after the winter layup...until this past year. It took a couple of tries to get it going this past spring but after that, no problem. So I think it's wise to try to start it up periodically during the winter. BTW, I've been using Kleenheat from the beginning with no issues.

Peter
 
bcassal":3u8kiv09 said:
So what is the recommended procedure for lay up?
My 2001 unit works great and I am always a little confused with the gloomy reports I hear about the Wallis.

Carpy
Click to expand...

Head for the Keys! Fire up the Wallas on the way south!
 
bcassal":1isscbdt said:
My 2001 unit works great and I am always a little confused with the gloomy reports I hear about the Wallis.
Click to expand...

The feeling I got, based on reading all I could find when I first got my boat, is that some folks have a great experience with the Wallas stove/heater, and others don't. I'm sure some of the problems stem from not following instructions, but it looked to me as though some of the folks doing "everything right" still had problems. That's got to be aggravating. To the good, Scan Marine is very helpful and a great ally.

My boat came with a basically unused Wallas 95, and because of the age and lack of use, I immediately removed it and sent it off to Scan for a go-through. Then I thought about whether to reinstall it or not. I could see a lot of things in the "pro" column, but ultimately I decided I just couldn't stand the tension of wondering if it was going to work or not. I can see all the good points, but I want heat/cooking devices to be simpler. It's just a personal quirk that I would keep thinking about it. Also, I do a lot of quick/short cooking, and it doesn't seem to be idea for that.

From what I know, the C-Brat who bought the Wallas from my boat has had nothing but good service from it, so I probably would have had a great experience (but I still would have felt the tension!).

Anyway, I think that's why it's inconsistent: Some units work perfectly for years, and some seem to be more problematic, for one reason or another. I can see why folks would really like the function, and having Scan for service is great.
 
No tension--the Wallas works perfectly, and we have cooked over 90 meals on it. Even heated the cabin a couple of times. I am one of those who has had good experience with the Wallas.

As any prudent mariner, I carry a back up--a simple single burner which fits on top of the same propane bottles I use in the Magna Grill. There can be other uses of these propane bottles, even including the use of a torch when necessary.
 
thataway":18epow0g said:
No tension--the Wallas works perfectly, and we have cooked over 90 meals on it. Even heated the cabin a couple of times. I am one of those who has had good experience with the Wallas.
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That's great to hear :thup

I just meant that I, personally, would feel tension around it. But that's just me, and I realize others likely wouldn't feel the same - it's just a personal quirk. The Wallas certainly has a lot going for it.
 
When we bought our boat, it had sit for some time un-used. The seller was upfront about it, telling us the wallas will not turn on and probably needs to be serviced at Scan Marine.

It would not turn on for me when i got it home, but after charging the house battery and letting it cycle a couple of times it came to life. That was a couple of years ago and although a service wouldnt hurt, I think frequent use has kept it in operation for us. We have had absolutely no problems with it. The rear rear burner is a little bit less hot than the forward one, but to me that a benefit so i can boil some coffee on full blast and not burn the eggs.
 
PaulNBriannaLynn":3d7r5w4r said:
The rear rear burner is a little bit less hot than the forward one, but to me that a benefit so i can boil some coffee on full blast and not burn the eggs.
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I remember that in one of Flagold's C-Dory videos, he mentioned that by design one of the Wallas 95's burners always runs 50% as hot as the other one.
 
The so called two burner Wallas stoves only have one burner....the exhaust gases from the one burner are routed under the second "burner"...which is why it produces less heat value.
 
If you take care of your Wallas, this won't happen to you!!

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SounderSolutions":2apmdcsz said:
Just got my 95D serviced for the winter. I never layup over the winter as we fish year round. Will be nice to be warm a cozy through the blackmouth season.
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I got the stove back from SM. Holding off on the re-installation until I know which sealant I should use under the lip. The sealant is white and non-permanent but took some prying with shims to get it up. Any idea or sugestions? 4200 maybe?
 
Or do you want to use any sealant? I did not use a sealant under the lips of the Wallas, but I did seal the cutout with epoxy. There is no way to completely seal the stove in place all around. I would want it easy to remove if one needed to service it.

I have never done any "winterizing" of the Wallas--I agree that running it every few months would be a good idea.
 
thataway":2lw8lngk said:
Or do you want to use any sealant? I did not use a sealant under the lips of the Wallas, but I did seal the cutout with epoxy. There is no way to completely seal the stove in place all around. I would want it easy to remove if one needed to service it.
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Yes, that...lol what kind of epoxy are we talking about?
 
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