Propane or Diesel Heat?

[KevinT]

I'm doing some research on heat for our 40 steel sailboat. Does anyone have any suggestions regarding propane vs diesel?
Pros and cons of each?
Safety is of stellar importance as I will be carrying children on board all the time.

Thanks!


Kevin

[FAST FRED]

Propane is not allowed aboard USCG inspected boats that carry Pax for hire, for good reason

BOOM!!!

Private vessels do use it but with great care , solenoids to secure it , vented self draining lockers , doubble walled feed supply ect.

Diesel is really the only option both from a safty and a fuel use , resuply point of view.

There are converted truck & bus heaters like Webasto and Espar , but I prefer units MADE for the marine enviroment to start with.

For the non electric folks the Dickinson will do a great job all winter , if you can gravity feed the fuel.

The other systems are far more complex and require gobs of electric to ignite and move the heat via water or air.

What are your heating requirements , besides not getting killed?

FAST FRED

[cyclops]

Go with closed cooling system and the boat will have all the hot water heating you will need. Just like a automobiles heat control, except it is " upscaled" with a thermostat and a fan in each area. No abilities are needed and extremely safe.

[yipster]

special small diesel marine heaters do that and more also

[FAST FRED]

Vancover never really gets cold , but my first choice would be a Hurricane Heating system.

These are made with the components matching the out put needed , so the batterys last longer.

With a suficent size system you could do real (Alaska) cold but the fuel consumption 2 -6 gallons a day would tax the tankage of most 40 ft boats , with very short endurance.

FAST FRED

[KevinT]

Originally Posted by FAST FRED

Propane is not allowed aboard USCG inspected boats that carry Pax for hire, for good reason

BOOM!!!

Private vessels do use it but with great care , solenoids to secure it , vented self draining lockers , doubble walled feed supply ect.

Diesel is really the only option both from a safty and a fuel use , resuply point of view.

There are converted truck & bus heaters like Webasto and Espar , but I prefer units MADE for the marine enviroment to start with.

For the non electric folks the Dickinson will do a great job all winter , if you can gravity feed the fuel.

The other systems are far more complex and require gobs of electric to ignite and move the heat via water or air.

What are your heating requirements , besides not getting killed?

FAST FRED

Well, as you put it "BOOM" is not something that really interests me. I'm on the east coast of Vancouver Island, where, you're right, it doesn't get what you'd call extremely cold. If you're familiar with our weather here, I'm concerned that with the hull being steel it's going to be slightly harder to heat. At present, there is actually a small wood stove in the boat which is comming out. I'm not sure if it was in the boat when it was on the water, or if it had been put in after and used as a guest house. Can't tell with this thing. I would like to have my bases covered and have a system that *could* take the cold should it be required. I have intentions of doing an extended cruise to Alaska in 2 years, and would like to know that we'll be warm enough.

The forced air system that was mentioned I imagine runs from engine heat. I want the ability to be warm and with any luck, be under sail most of the time. I don't want to have the motor running to stay warm.

So the long and short of it is that propane is not the way to go then and I should purchase a diesel heater of adequate size?

Thanks for all the information everyone..

[yipster]

there are small heaters that run water around the boat as central heating, directional blowers in radiators, warm your drinking water boiler and use very little diesel and electricity. webasto, kobala, and a dozen other systems do cost a few grand but are really good. some diesel cookers also work as heater but cost again. staying aboard in the wintertime you also may consider insulation, 3 inches of foam stops 95% of the cold or something like that.

[cyclops]

You are going to burn something to get the BTU's needed. Might as well be one of the main engines. Anything else is going to take more room and a seperate fuel tank? Plus tearing the walls or floor or ceiling off. If you pull the boards off everywhere , put in closed insulation there. Reduce the heat load and big drafts. A 40' X 20+' boat is a good 700 sq. ft. to heat with loose windows and doors in Alaska. Do you want to sleep in PJ's or sleeping bags on a bed? Call a few Alaska heating companies for the BTU's per hour. It may shock you.

[KevinT]

Originally Posted by cyclops

You are going to burn something to get the BTU's needed. Might as well be one of the main engines. Anything else is going to take more room and a seperate fuel tank? Plus tearing the walls or floor or ceiling off. If you pull the boards off everywhere , put in closed insulation there. Reduce the heat load and big drafts. A 40' X 20+' boat is a good 700 sq. ft. to heat with loose windows and doors in Alaska. Do you want to sleep in PJ's or sleeping bags on a bed? Call a few Alaska heating companies for the BTU's per hour. It may shock you.

I agree thats it going to be cold up there in the winter, do doubt whatsoever. I have some piece of mind in the fact that the boat is nearly done the teardown stage, and now sits an empty shell with the exception of the diesel engine. So I can pretty much install anything with a minimum of headaches. No obstructions to deal with, and the joinery can be built to suit should it come to that. I'm just not really keen on having to run the motor all the time.

Ideally it would be nice if we did go off for an afternoon, there was some way to keep the boat warm while we were gone. I don't have any experience with the diesel heaters other than what I've read, but I'm assuming that you can set the temp control on them and go to bed. Is this correct?

But I'm all in favour of Pj's and a blanket to snowmobile gear and an alpine sleeping bag!

[cyclops]

Calling ALL Alaska boat builders. He wants his home heating thermostat comfort in Alaska in a steel boat. ---------Give him a copy of the arrival dates of the EXXON Valdez in his area.

[KevinT]

Originally Posted by cyclops

Calling ALL Alaska boat builders. He wants his home heating thermostat comfort in Alaska in a steel boat. ---------Give him a copy of the arrival dates of the EXXON Valdez in his area.

Not quite. I was under the impression though that the heaters had a low medium and high setting on them, which meant that upon retiring for the evening, I wouldn't have to get up 10 times to start the engine to warm the cabin up - something I'd like to avoid if possible.

[yipster]

Originally Posted by cyclops

Calling ALL Alaska boat builders. He wants his home heating thermostat comfort in Alaska in a steel boat. ---------Give him a copy of the arrival dates of the EXXON Valdez in his area.

very funny but not thrue. cant complain about my small, L 12-11/16” x W 5-1/8” x H 4-13/16, webasto AT2000D silent comfort. (never swith of the main power after having the heater at full couse its computer wants a minute to cool it down.) fuel consumption 0.1-0.2 liter/h, heat output 2 kW, power consumption 9-22 W, heat flow 70 cubic meter hr. never had a empty dieseltank or battery. compleet with a central heating memory, date, time, temp and more box that can also hook up to a cell phone system control to your boats heater remote. offcourse its wise to have the perfect marina or a good alarm system together with stuff like this...

maybe alaska is diffrerent but handy are forexample old pc coolers to regulate hot air flow. are diy but use very low power.
with some creative work and good advice from a major marine store you can get it as comfortable as you want without to much help from EXXON

[D'ARTOIS]

The biggest horror I had on my boat was a Swedish or Finnish made heater, that worked partly on lampoil, partly on electricty.
When I lived for a while on my Standfast, partly in wintertime, I needed a little comfort in the cabin and fired now and then this **********heater.
Within a few hours, my batteries were fully unloaded and in a furious mood, I throw the whole unit overboard somewhere between Holland and England.
Alas, away with it.

De Rietpol has a fantastic solution: a small diesel stove that works only on the gasoil you have already on board and without the support of electricity.

That is the best solution for heating up a sailing yacht that has no powersources to speak of.

If you think, it is the only logic solution - all the others are just nightmares!!

[cyclops]

By the way, how are you going to sleep without being suffocated in your sleep by a shift in wind direction? Nothing worse than dead and being cold. Are your beds above the main deck?

[D'ARTOIS]

Hallo, hallo, Cyclops, you know better than that!
Do you mean Co2 suffocation? Tribes should be dead by now, only didn't heard of such catastrophy lately...
Hundreds of units are sold per year,; only when gases can enter the cabin you might arrive into a problem... with the correct connections, nothing to worry about. ( As I believe)