Has anyone installed a diesel forced air furnace? Happy with it? What was your duct routing?
Thanks,
-Tim (SV Skookum)
Tim,
I have an Espar forced air unit and love it. I believe it is an Airtronic 4. I purchased it when I was working on the boat and mounted it in a plywood companionway board. When I arrived at the boat for the weekend, I slipped the board in place, dropped the fuel hose in a 5 gallon tank of diesel fuel, connected the battery leads and away it went. The exhaust simply went to the atmosphere outside the boat and the heated air blew into the boat.
There were times when I would arrive at the boat and it would be in the teen's. With in 4 or 5 hours it was semi comfortable. Once all of the interior stuff heated up the unit would speed up or slow down as required. There were weekends when it was blowing 20 and never got above 35 degrees and it was T-shirt weather below. Keep in mind the boat was on the hard and fully exposed. On a cold weekend it would burn on average 3 gallons to keep the boat in the 70's. Once the boat was warm, the unit would even cycle off.
It is quiet, proved very reliable even though mine was a temporary installation and made heat like a champ. My unit is currently mounted at the base of the icebox (my interior is a bit custom). The inlet air is in the galley and the warm exhaust air blows forward all the way to the V-berth. Installing ductwork is expensive and tough to do on a 365. I would flood the main cabin with heat and distribute it with a small fan if needed forward or in the head. I haven't used the unit since the boat arrived in Buffalo as we have to be out of the water by Oct. 15th and the water temp around that time is still in the 60's so the boat does not get that cold. If it does, I have a small ceramic heater that I run dockside as power is non metered to take the edge off.
Even though I don't use it I wouldn't even think of selling it. I found the unit new on E-Bay for $600 and it owes me nothing. Someday I may head to colder climates or need more heat to warm my cold bones. Hey, this summer was a hot one but the next could be cold and rainy. Nothing beats a warm boat, the glow of a bunk light and a good book.
Dale
Thanks, Dale. Good feedback.
-Tim
Well, it is cold (ok, not NE or Midwest cold, but we got constant wet up here in the winter), so to keep the Admiral on board, I blew the bank on a Wallas Dt40. Tried a loaner Dt30 but it is just a little underpowered with duct running from unit in the aft stbd lazarette (with inside installation, it would probably be enough). Exhaust out transom. Mind the clearance to the steering gear when tapping into the diesel tank vent fitting. I can still crawl into the stbd lazarette for maintenance fun without removing any heating ductwork.
I ran duct to V-berth and head under center-stbd of cabin sole, to outlets in the panels beneath stbd V-berth locker and locker beneath sink. Tight fit to route duct into these spots from beneath, but it can be done. Measure 4-5 times, shine a drop light from every angle to gauge the space, then hold breath and drill once. Insulated the undersole duct with closed-cell foam.
Routed the saloon duct through the back part of the stbd foulies locker (maybe it would work for munchkins), under back of the nav station desk, and into the stbd cabinetry (above the berth but below the cabinets). A wye behind the seatback storage feeds an outlet below the cabinet fwd of nav station and one in the bulkhead inboard of the waste through-hull access.
What was cold feet and loud space heaters is now toast.