Safe Heater

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GonzoF1

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Jun 29, 2009
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31468
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As winter looms here in NC, I'm told it doesn't get cold enough to do a full winterization and that a space heater will prevent freezing on the coldest days. That said, I understand there are specialty engine room heaters, that... of course... are more expensive than regular heaters. No thanks. What I want to know is what constitutes a "safe" onboard heater? I'm sure the ones with exposed coils are clearly not a good choice... Duh. But what do I want to look for in a heater to prevent hard freezes? Ceramic, oil, alcohol (don't think I want to use oil as the fuel, but I don't know what circulated in the sealed fins of a radiator type electric heater)... Digital thermostat, timer, will a dial timer like you use for lamps when on vacation work? I don't want to waste a ton of power either. What makes the engine heaters so special because I am planning on using a small room heater with an engine cover open to prevent freezing.

Thanks y'all.
 
Wolverine oil pan heaters. If you keep the engines warm the heat will travel as well.
I use a 250 watt on each diesel, no smoke on startup. dry engine room.
 
I have same as Gary.... Heats the motors to about 60 on avg ... so u have two giant radiators!

Rob
 
It depends. If you are running diesels, then you are OK with Wolverine oil pan heaters. HOWEVER, I don't believe they are certified for use in a gas engine room.

There was a post here some time ago where a boat sunk at the dock. I can't recall if there was a fire or not. When the insurance sent an adjuster to look at the boat, they found an oil filled heater in the ER. It was just stored in there. The adjuster told the owner he was fortunate it wasn't plugged in. If it was the claim would have automatically been denied for having a non-approved ER heating device in the ER. The claim was paid.

If you are running gas, I would recommend for safety sake a Boatsafe or Xtreme bilge heater. In the big scheme of things you are talking a couple to three hundred dollars. Yes a lot of money, but small compared to replacing the boat out of pocket should something happen.

My 2 cents.
 
I'm a single Perkins diesel.

Interesting idea. Never seen those Wolverine heaters before.

But I think you're missing the point. I want to use a space heater in the salon, using the safest method possible, with one of the covers off of the ER to just raise the temp above freezing on those few days or weeks of the most severe cold.
 
quote:
Originally posted by GonzoF1

I'm a single Perkins diesel.

Interesting idea. Never seen those Wolverine heaters before.

But I think you're missing the point. I want to use a space heater in the salon, using the safest method possible, with one of the covers off of the ER to just raise the temp above freezing on those few days or weeks of the most severe cold.

Click to expand...


Agree with The Other Gary. Use a Wolverine on the engine. Heat rises.

It may get warm enough in there that you may not even need to crack open the ER hatch to let some of the ER heat escape to the cabin. If it did not, you may want to consider a Caframo 9208 in the cabin. Nice little unit for about $70. That should give you no humididy problems throughout the boat. I would definitely go the pad heater route. Simple and I have heard nothing but good about them. I would be leary of cracking the ER hatch for an extended period. If their are any smells in the ER will permeate the furniture. Plus with the pad heater, the cold start is eliminated.

HTH
 
I can't imagine a) getting one of those things up under the pan. It's a tight squeeze... b) getting it to attach to the pan. If you know what they say about Perkins: "If it's not leaking oil... It's out of oil."
 
quote:
Originally posted by GonzoF1

......But I think you're missing the point. I want to use a space heater in the salon, using the safest method possible, with one of the covers off of the ER to just raise the temp above freezing on those few days or weeks of the most severe cold.

Click to expand...


Heat Rises.....opening an engine hatch in the salon won't let the salon heat into the ER.

I also have Wolverine pan heaters on my diesel motors.....in that case, opening the ER hatch would let the heat in the ER escape to your salon.
 
Caframo is what I use for supplementary heat in the cabin. I have owned them for over 30 years and had as much as 20 years service from one.
They are also available under the WM brand They have three heat settings and two fan speeds plus a freeze setting.
 
How hot do those things get? Having trouble understanding how what looks like an electric heat pad can heat the engine by just heating the oil and have that eat be enough to warm the ER up to above freezing. But that's just me.
 
I don't know how warm they get. I just know they work. As long as the oil is hotter than the surrounding iron and continues to get heat from an independent source, the cold iron will continue to absorb the heat. The heated iron will give off the absorbed heat and the cycle continues.

Let's say for the sake of argument the pad heats to 70*F. Through the absorption and dispersion of heat, the ER will in theory reach 70*F at which time the pad will turn off if attached to a thermostat.
 
It's funny that in one breath people say it does not get cold enough to winterize, but then immediately note they need a space heater to keep from freezing. That my friend is the definition of needing to winterize.

If you open a hatch to the engine room, its not some kind of technicality where a space heater in the salon no longer needs to be safe and ignition protected. Pretty much none of the space heaters are safe around areas that have the potential for gas fumes. That's why the expensive ones are expensive. They are ignition protected. The block heaters are not a bad idea. Many ARE ignition protected (but not all), but only when hard wired. If you have a cord extension down in the engine room, you have a problem.

It's pretty easy actually. Either your device is ignition protected or it isn't.

The other problem you will face is that a heater strong enough to keep something from freezing will be pulling a bit of juice and won't protect you when the power fails. The greatest source of fire on boats is the shore power connection and when running heaters, is when you pull enough juice when you are not there to catch a shore connection overheating.

I have block heaters on my cats but never get to run them. They pull too much current and I can't run both at once on a 30 amp cable. Get the lower wattage ones that warm up over a longer period of time.

Heaters to prevent freezing is just foolish. That's why god invented antifreeze.
 
Ghost:

Spot on. NO sane boater wants to crack a block, however IMO, most are overly precautious. I am in Central VA. I run a couple of golden rods to preclude condensation and only blow out the raw side of the Horizon engines. It very seldom gets lower than 35* in this area. I shall be installing an Xtreme heater this year because I am further from the boat than last year. Even when I had my first boat many years ago in R.I. I drained everything and blew out the raw system with a home vacuum hose on the exhaust side of Mom's home vac (she wasn't too happy about that!) and let the winter happen. The boat fired up every spring with no mishaps for the 3 years I owned it.
 
Brett, I winterize my engines as well as having the block heaters.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Ghost

It's funny that in one breath people say it does not get cold enough to winterize, but then immediately note they need a space heater to keep from freezing. That my friend is the definition of needing to winterize.
Click to expand...

For the most part I agree. If you're in an area where the temps are cold enough for a long enough period of time, then winterizing makes sense. The problem with heaters is that something can go wrong: loss of power, thermostat not kicking on, heating coil goes bad, breaker tripped, etc. If the weather seldom dips into the 20's and only for a few hours and you are at the boat to check up on it during these conditions, a heater may be ok. If you can't check up on the boat or do not have monitors, then winterize it. Either pay a little now or a lot later.
 
I have a bunch of the Caframo heaters- they do a great job for the living areas.
A block heater is the way to go as well and if your Perkins block is the same as the common tractor blocks there are dozens of Frost Plug Engine Block Heaters on the web for less than $30.
 
I second the block heater. I have them on my Detroits; open the engine room door and nice radiant heat permeates the the lower level and a good part of the rest of the boat. The PO used to keep his boat in the water up in Solomons MD during the winter and these really did the trick. You should get something to you can cover the engine room vents with too. Here is an example of what Andy was talking about; I bet someone there in Northwest Creek has something like this, ask Bud.

http://www.warehouseautoparts.com/S...K4N_SERIES_Engine_Block_Frost_Plug_heater.htm

George
Hatteras 56MY
Boston Whaler Sport 130
 
quote:
Originally posted by KiDa

There was a post here some time ago where a boat sunk at the dock. I can't recall if there was a fire or not. When the insurance sent an adjuster to look at the boat, they found an oil filled heater in the ER. It was just stored in there. The adjuster told the owner he was fortunate it wasn't plugged in. If it was the claim would have automatically been denied for having a non-approved ER heating device in the ER. The claim was paid.
Click to expand...


David, I think that was me. My friend's Formula went down at his home and the insurance company sent a diver to inspect. He had the oil filled heater onboard for when he was inside tinkering. Otherwise it was unplugged. The diver and the agent said the "unplugged" part was the only reason he got the money for the boat (otherwise, the claim could have been denied).

I've used Xtreme heaters on my boat for the past 3 years with no issues . Heck, if you hit their website ( http://www.xtremeheaters.com ), once my boat comes online, you'll be able to watch my temps all winter as Steve (the owner) posts my onboard monitoring system to prove how well his products work.

Heat those engine rooms with approved heaters and extend your season. Life is too short not to (I post this from the boat right now!)
 
The oil pan heater, if it is a magnetic one like those that I am familiar with won't stick to the Perkins oil pan, oil or no oil, as a 6 cylinder Perk 354 has an aluminum pan.
 
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