Cabin Heater

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David M

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Going to winterize the boat on Friday.

I have a ceramic heater for the cabin. Would I be better off with an oil filled radiator type? They are on sale at HF. Just need it to keep the chill knocked off. Based on record low temps last winter I am not leaving anything to chance. I am blowing out the reverse cycle HVAC with LP air, shutting it down and covering the exit through hull with Duck Tape to keep out the critters.

TIA
 
I liek the oil filled heaters but would want the best quality you can buy. Harbor Freight and quality do not go hand in hand in my opinion.

Kenwood, Delonghi, Honeywell would be on my list to look at. I have a Kenwood that I bought at home depot and it works well.

I also use a small fan with them to blow the heat out and away for the unit to circulate the air better.
 
Not sure about oil filled I use 2 small electric with adjustable heat and fan settings. I only use them when onboard doing winter projects
 
David,

Do you leave your boat in the water or haul it out on the dry?
 
Oil-filled radiator type doesn't offer the danger of any sparks. But, they shut off if they fall over, so be sure to secure it with wires or something so that it can't fall over.

I concur with the suggested brand names.
 
quote:
Originally posted by mixman

David,

Do you leave your boat in the water or haul it out on the dry?

Click to expand...


I'm in the water. I wanted to put her beside the house and work on her this winter...therapy...but thing$ are $lightly $parce thi$ year.
 
I use two oil-filled heaters, one in the galley, the other in the salon, plus an air drier fan unit to circulate the air. The heaters are lower profile than the taller ones plus I mounted them onto plywood bases to prevent them from tipping over. Worked great last winter. Boat stays in the water. I check it every few days. The oil-filled heaters do produce a spark when the thermostat kicks in. You can see it when the lights are off.
 
all heaters are limited to less that 15 Amps by the size of the common electrical outlet. Watts are watts, so oil filled. ceramic, hot wire it doesn’t mean much from a heat standpoint. Some may be safer but I don’t think any are rated explosion proof. I suspect that they all have a switch that sparks.
I always used the forced air hot wire type because the heat up fast.
 
I agree with Bruce, they all spark. I've got some oil filled heaters at my office and I've seen the thermostats spark when they cycle. Are you going to leave this on when you're not on the boat? I think you could use either type if you're going to only use when you're onboard. But do not leave them plugged in. Here's why:

A few years ago a friend of mine returned from a trip out of town to his house off the Chesapeake and thought to himself: "Where's my boat? Why's my pier black?" The insurance company sent a diver. My friend had an oil filled heater onboard he only plugged in and used when he was working on the boat. The diver found that right away and told him he was lucky it was unplugged, otherwise the underwriter would have said "use of non-marine grade non-USCG approved heater caused the fire and we're not going to pay". It was actually the shore power inlet on his Formula Express Cruiser had shorted out.

If you want to keep the chill out of the cabin and stay USGC approved, use an engine room heater. I've got one that Xtreme heaters built for me for this pupose and it keeps my cabin around 50 all winter using much less power than I would have thought.
 
quote:
Originally posted by mixman

I agree with Bruce, they all spark. I've got some oil filled heaters at my office and I've seen the thermostats spark when they cycle. .............

If you want to keep the chill out of the cabin and stay USGC approved, use an engine room heater. I've got one that Xtreme heaters built for me for this pupose and it keeps my cabin around 50 all winter using much less power than I would have thought.
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For a gasoline powered boat, an ignition protected heater is the only thing that should be used.

Other heaters have thermostats and switches that can spark.
 
quote:
Originally posted by mixman

............ I've got one that Xtreme heaters built for me for this pupose and it keeps my cabin around 50 all winter using much less power than I would have thought.

Click to expand...
Did they custom build it for you? My stock Xtreme heater doesn't turn on until the temperature drops below 40 degrees, possibly 36 degrees.

It was OK for my trailered boat but wouldn't do much for a cabin heater.
 
quote:
Originally posted by rawidman

quote:
Originally posted by mixman

............ I've got one that Xtreme heaters built for me for this pupose and it keeps my cabin around 50 all winter using much less power than I would have thought.

Click to expand...
Did they custom build it for you? My stock Xtreme heater doesn't turn on until the temperature drops below 40 degrees, possibly 36 degrees.

It was OK for my trailered boat but wouldn't do much for a cabin heater.

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+1

I have an Xtreme for the ER but never heard of one for the cabin.
 
I thought and please corect me if I am wrong ignition protection only applies to areas like the bilge where your gas tank is and the engine room.
Bill
 
quote:
Originally posted by rawidman
Did they custom build it for you? My stock Xtreme heater doesn't turn on until the temperature drops below 40 degrees, possibly 36 degrees.

It was OK for my trailered boat but wouldn't do much for a cabin heater.

Click to expand...


Yes, you can call Steve at Xtreme and he can custom build such things. The one I have for my cabin has a beefed up output and a different thermostat. My other unit is more stock to keep my waste systems above freezing.
 
Oil filled heaters rock, after the thermostat clicks off, the oil and metal fins continue to radiate heat. The thermostat in the ones I have repaired are nothing but a bimetallic strip with contact points, plenty of spark. As for a non marine heater causing a fire, (cabin) and the insurance company refusing to pay. What if your microwave malfunctioned, or a lamp, or electric blanket, TV, Coffee maker, toaster, electric fry pan, coffee grinder, curling iron, blow dryer . . . . .
 
I have the lg. boatsafe heater between the engines, and with the ER hatch open to the salon, It keeps the chill off the boat.
 
I would not use a HF heater in the boat or within 50' of the boat. HF items are not what I consider quality. I bought a 12 volt stainless steel water pump from them so I could pull water from the river to wash the boat, clean the bildge, etc. The pump is small and I can place it by the water along with a battery and a water hose. I had the hose in the engine room bilge washing out some sand that was in there. After about 5 minutes the water pressure was getting weak. I get out the engine room to see the the wires from the pump to the battery on fire. After that, the previous thought of mounting the pump on the boat was never going to happen.
When it comes to electric heaters, the cost to operate them is going to be the same. The only cost savings is that an oil filled will not have a fan and the fan draws very little power. For me the type of electric heater would come down to which is safest. I would also use 2 heaters both set on low with one of them to come on at a temperature several degrees lower than the other. I would also consider using a fan to circulate the air. The fan should help eliminate cold pockets in the boat.
 
Oil filled is the way to go.

I have used both, the Caframo and oil filled. What we are talking about is hot air heat compared to radiant heat. Radiant heat (oil filled) cost me half the amount in electricity than the Caframo. If you are staying on the boat in the winter than the Caframo is better because it can warm the cabin very quickly.

Walter
 
Oil filled heaters are not radiant heaters, they are convection heaters unless the thing is glowing red which would not be safe on a boat. Heat transfers in one of 3 ways; conduction, convection, and radiant. Electric heat is extremely efficient. Purchase 1 Kw of electric and you will get 1Kw of heat. I did not say that electric heat was inexpensive. It does not matter if you use a oil filled heater, a ceramic heater, an old fashioned electric heater, a toaster, or a hair dryer; the cost will be the almost the same. The only real difference is the cost to spin the fan which will also yeild some heat.
 
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