Understanding Boat Diesel Heaters: A Comprehensive Guide

Keeping a boat warm, especially during colder months, is essential for comfort and safety. Diesel heaters, both air and liquid types, offer efficient and reliable solutions for marine environments. This comprehensive guide explores how diesel heaters function. It describes their heat distribution systems, including warm air blower heater matrixes. The guide also covers the role of calorifiers in providing domestic hot water via diesel liquid heater systems.

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Diesel Air Heaters

How They Work

Diesel air heaters are compact units designed to burn diesel fuel to produce heat. A fan and duct system then distributes this heat through the boat’s interior. These heaters are known for their efficiency, simplicity, and relatively straightforward installation.

Components and Operation

1. Combustion Chamber: Diesel fuel is ignited in a combustion chamber, which generates heat as the fuel burns.
2. Heat Exchanger: The heat generated in the combustion chamber warms a heat exchanger. The function of the heat exchanger is to transfer the heat from the combustion process to the air.
3. Air Circulation: A fan or blower forces air over the heat exchanger. As the air passes over the exchanger, it picks up the heat.
4. Ductwork: The heated air is then pushed through ducts to different parts of the boat. The ductwork ensures that the warm air is distributed evenly throughout the vessel.

Advantages of Diesel Air Heaters

• Quick Heating: Diesel air heaters can quickly warm up space because the heat is immediately distributed.
• Fuel Efficiency: Modern diesel air heaters are highly efficient, optimizing fuel consumption to provide maximum heat with minimal waste.
• Compact Size: Diesel air heaters are relatively small. They can be installed in a variety of locations. This makes them versatile options for different boat sizes and layouts.
• Uncomplicated Set Up: Diesel air heater installations are straightforward and uncomplicated systems compared to central heating. There is no pipework to run. You don’t need to fit radiators. The overall installation process is much simpler. This makes it an efficient choice for heating.

Considerations for Diesel Air Heaters

While diesel air heaters have numerous advantages, there are a few considerations to keep in mind:

• Installation: Proper installation is crucial to ensure optimal performance and safety. This includes venting exhaust gases out of the boat.
• Maintenance: Regular maintenance is necessary to keep the heater in good working condition. This includes cleaning the combustion chamber and checking the fuel lines.
• Noise: Some models may produce noise from the fan and combustion process. Selecting a quieter model, like Wallas with ducting silencers, or soundproofing the installation area can help mitigate this issue.
• No Water Heating: Unlike diesel liquid heaters, air heaters are not suitable for heating domestic hot water on boats.

Diesel Liquid Heaters

How They Work

Diesel liquid heaters operate by burning diesel fuel to heat a liquid, typically a mixture of water and antifreeze. This heated liquid circulates through a central heating system to provide warmth to the boat’s interior. Diesel liquid heaters are versatile, as they can also be used to heat domestic hot water.

Components and Operation

1. Combustion: Diesel fuel is burned in a combustion chamber to heat the liquid within a heat exchanger. The heated liquid is a coolant mixture, usually consisting of water and antifreeze.
2. Circulation Pump: A pump circulates the heated liquid through pipes and hoses. These are connected to various radiators or blower boxes distributed throughout the boat.
3. Warm Air Blower Heater Matrixes: Some diesel liquid heating systems include warm air blower boxes or heater matrixes. We will go into more detail about these below.

Advantages of Diesel Liquid Heaters

• Even Heat Distribution: Diesel liquid heating systems provide more uniform heat distribution, eliminating hot and cold spots within the boat.
• Versatility: These heaters can warm the boat’s interior. They also produce domestic hot water via a calorifier. This makes them a multifunctional heating solution. More details on calorifiers can be found towards the bottom of this page.
• Integration with Engine: Diesel liquid heaters can be integrated with the boat’s engine cooling system. This allows the system to utilize surplus engine heat to heat water.
• Silent Operation: Diesel liquid heaters are quieter than air heaters, as the heat is transferred through liquid circulation rather than forced air.

Considerations for Diesel Liquid Heaters

• Complex Installation: Diesel liquid heaters require more complex installation compared to air heaters. Proper installation includes setting up pipes, pumps, and heat exchangers.
• Space Requirements: These systems may require more space for components such as pipework and radiators.
• Maintenance: Regular maintenance is essential to ensure the system operates efficiently. This includes checking for leaks, ensuring the pump is functioning correctly, and replacing the coolant mixture as necessary.

Warm Air Blower Heater Matrixes

Understanding Warm Air Blower Heater Matrixes

Warm air blowers and heater matrixes are fitted to systems supplied by diesel liquid heaters. These blowers enhance the heat distribution system by using fans to blow air over a hot liquid-filled heat exchanger. They effectively convert the liquid’s heat into warm air and distribute it throughout the boat.

Operation

1. Heated Liquid Supply: The heated liquid from the diesel liquid heater or engine flows through the blower heat exchanger.
2. Heat Transfer: The heat exchanger, which is designed to maximize the surface area for heat transfer, becomes hot.
3. Air Circulation: Fans blow air over the heat exchanger, picking up the heat.
4. Warm Air Distribution: The warm air is then blown directly into the boat’s spaces.

Advantages and Considerations

• Enhanced Heat Distribution: Warm air blower heaters improve the overall heat distribution, ensuring that the boat’s interior is evenly warmed.
• Efficiency: By using the heated liquid efficiently, these blowers contribute to the overall energy efficiency of the heating system.
• Space Requirement: Integrating blower heater matrixes could require additional space for installation.
• Quiet Operation: Warm air blower boxes and fan heater matrixes operate much quieter than traditional air heaters. This makes them more suitable for a domestic environment and sleeping cabins

Calorifiers for Domestic Hot Water

Function of Calorifiers

Calorifiers are water heaters. They use heat from a diesel liquid heating system and/or engine. This heat is used to produce domestic hot water. This system uses indirect heating. The heating liquid does not mix with the domestic water. Instead, it transfers heat through a coil inside the calorifier.

Components and Operation

1. Heating Coil: The heated liquid from the diesel liquid heater flows through a coil inside the calorifier tank. The coil acts as a heat exchanger.
2. Indirect Heating: The coil transfers heat to the domestic water stored in the calorifier tank without mixing the two liquids.
3. Hot Water Supply: The calorifier provides a steady supply of hot water. This is used in showers, sinks, and other domestic applications on the boat.

Advantages of Calorifiers

• Efficiency: Using the heat from the existing diesel liquid heating system or engine to produce hot water improves the system’s efficiency. This method enhances the overall efficiency.
• Reliable Supply: Calorifiers ensure a reliable supply of hot water, improving the comfort and convenience of life onboard. They are usually fitted with a 1kw immersion heater which can be used as a backup.
• Efficiency: Calorifiers seamlessly integrate with the diesel liquid heating system, maximizing the utility of the heat produced. The integrated immersion heater can heat the water with surplus solar energy in the summer. It can also heat the water when plugged into a shoreline supply.

Considerations for Calorifiers

• Space Requirement: Installing a calorifier requires space for the storage tank and additional piping.
• Professional Installation: Thecorrect installation of calorifiers is crucial to ensure optimal performance and safe operation. If in doubt please contact us for professional advice.

Summary

Diesel Air Heaters

• Pros: Quick installation, rapid heating, independent operation, compact size.
• Cons: No provision for hot water production and potential noise issues.

Diesel Liquid Heaters

• Pros: Even heating and versatile use. Integration with engine cooling systems. Quieter operation because operating noise is kept away from living quarters through installation in the engine bay.
• Cons: More complex and space-consuming installation, dependency on a correct setup of circulation components, more involved maintenance routines.

Practical Tips for Boat Owners

1. Assess Your Needs: Consider the size of your boat and typical weather conditions. Evaluate your specific heating and hot water requirements before choosing a heating system.
2. Professional Installation: DIY installation is possible. However, hiring a professional ensures that the system is installed correctly. This leads to optimal performance and safety. Webasto and Autoterm offer extended warranties for installation by certified engineers. Contact us for details.
3. Regular Maintenance: Adhere to regular maintenance schedules to keep the system functioning efficiently. This includes cleaning combustion chambers, checking fuel lines, and inspecting circulation components for leaks.
4. Noise Considerations: If noise is a concern, choose quieter models or soundproof the areas where the heater is installed.
5. Space Optimization: Plan the installation to use space efficiently, especially for components like calorifiers and circulation pipes.

Our Thoughts On Cheap Chinese Diesel Heaters

Choosing cheap Chinese diesel heaters can lead to significant issues in both safety and reliability. These heaters are often manufactured without adherence to acceptable safety standards, making them a risky option for any domestic environment. The components are typically subpar; thin wires and non-waterproof plugs expose users to potential electrical hazards, breakdowns and fires. Additionally, the pumps and fans used in these systems are prone to frequent breakdowns, leading to inconvenience and costly repairs. These heaters may serve as a temporary heating solution for minimally regulated spaces like garages. However, they lack durability, safety, and consistent performance. This makes them ill-suited for reliable residential use. Investing in higher-quality heating systems is crucial for ensuring safety and dependable warmth, particularly in domestic settings.

Conclusion

Choosing the right heating system for your boat is crucial for ensuring safety, comfort, and convenience in cold weather. Diesel air heaters offer quick and direct heating. Diesel liquid heaters provide versatile and quiet operation with even heat distribution. Warm air blower heater matrixes increase the efficiency and reach of liquid heating systems. Calorifiers provide the added advantage of domestic hot water production.

By understanding the workings, components, and advantages of these systems, boat owners can make informed decisions. This knowledge helps them choose what best meets their needs and conditions. Whether you prioritize rapid heating, quiet operation, or the multifunctional benefits of liquid heating, a diesel heater system will provide warmth. It will keep your boat habitable all year round.

For quotes and bookings, call 274 926 or [ protected]

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Just watched a video where a cheap (under $200 Chinese Copy) is compared to an Espar Diesel heater.

The Espar is about $ US compared to the Chinese copy about $130 US

I have 3 Chinese diesel heaters. I have had only one problem with one of them and that was a poorly made fuel tank, not the heater itself. I never have any odors of any kind whatsoever from any of them except maybe on initial startup and it’s rare and very slight if at all.

They have been 100% reliable and kept me comfortable on some cold winter nights. I found that my 5Kw unit is too much for my small van even on low. So I also have a 2Kw unit that seems about perfect even though I still keep a window open slightly on nights down to 10F because it puts out plenty of heat even on low. I do have custom made window insulation covers and that helps as well.

My (opinion) is that if you have trouble with your Chinese diesel heater you either got a bad one and should have returned it early on, or you just don’t quite know how to use it. I also have buddy heaters and they are good for their purpose but I much prefer the diesel heater in the van for a number of reasons.

If the Chinese had not made affordable copies, I would likely have never owned a diesel heater.
The only thing that could make them better for me is if they were made in America for not too much more.

Greetings!

The biggest problem I see with most of these heaters is that they require power. For many years, I’ve been using unvented heaters that require only fuel & no power. Then I add a heat powered woodstove fan to have power free fan forced heat, without any modifications to my rig.

My theory is that since we need constant ventilation anyway, we don’t need to cut a hole to have a heater. Since we can have dry heat without it being vented, I prefer that.

I spent the winter in Northern Minnesota, and while I have been using wick type kerosene heaters, sometimes using diesel, this last winter kerosene was hard to find & expensive, and the diesel wasn’t burning well in my heaters/cookers. Maybe some different formula on the diesel, not sure…

So I went to the dollar store and bought everything to make a vintage style 36 wick kerosene/diesel/cooking oil heater/cooker. Total cost was $5 or $6. Just needed a cookie tin, a string mop for a lifetime supply of wicks, a piece of craft foam, aluminum foil, and a cake cooling rack for a cooking grill. It might have taken me 20 minutes to assemble it. I bought a gallon of cooking oil at Walmart for $4.50, cheaper than either kerosene or diesel in the area, and filled it up and lit about 10 of the 36 available wicks. I then placed my woodstove fan on top, and had great fan forced, electricity free heat for under $10, that kept me toasty warm & dry eveen at temperatures as low as -40°F. That gallon of cooking oil would provide all my heating & cooking needs for a whole month. I have since built 3 more for myself, so I could have up to 4 cooking burners. The heat is adjusted according to how many wicks are lit.

Fast, easy, cheap, simple, & reliable. We had used store bought versions of these when I was a kid in the late 40’s & early 50’s. Very impressive, & fuel efficient. I also built some for friends whose RV heaters weren’t keeping up with frigid temperatures, and they love them as much as I do. They’re small, 8"x8"x3" tall, but they really pack a punch, and they provide dry odorless heat. If you add a heat powered woodstove fan, they are really fantastic. They’re totally silent & require no external power source.

I’m not posting this to discourage anybody from making their own choices, but as a helpful tip in case you ever find yourself in need. It never hurts to know how to make a cheap reliable heater from easily available parts when you need one.

Cheers!

"Be the reason someone smiles today!" ~ Van_Dweller

Greetings!

I don’t have pictures, or even a camera, but perhaps I can describe it well enough so you can get a picture in your mind.

Mine is an 8"x8" square cookie tin that is about 3" high, but these could be built in round ones too. The key is that you want the wicks placed at least 1" from the outside edge, and at least 1" from each other.

Craft foam floats, and it is the wick holder, cut just slightly smaller than the inside of the container. We wrap it in a double layer of aluminum foil to protect it from the flames. Then we cut x’s through the aluminum foil & craft foam spaced as above. We cut out wicks from a dollar store string mop, leaving them as long as possible. Then we feed a wick through each one of those x’s, with 1/8"-1/4 " sticking up. Any longer and they will smoke like crazy until they burn down.

Fill the cookie tin with water first to check for leaks. If it leaks, we’ll need to line it with plastic. I just cut a piece out of a plastic garbage bag and place it inside and wrap it around the top and down past where the lid will go on.

Okay, now we can put a couple of inches of cooking oil in it instead of water, and put the wicks in it. It will need to rest for a bit so the wicks can soak up the cooking oil. Then it is ready for use. You regulate the heat output according to how many wicks you light. It might smoke a little at first if the wicks are too long, but they should self shorten themselves as they burn.

Then I use a cake cooling grill on top to hold either a pan, or my woodstove fan. When not in use, I just put the lid on it and stick it in a drawer, I have 4 and all 4 will fit in a single drawer, 2 high and 2 deep with room left over.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Liquid Diesel Heater. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

These allow me everything from a fast boil & tons of heat, all the way down to single candle power to keep food warm. Even though I have 36 wicks in mine, I don’t think I’ve ever lit more than 10 or 12, even keeping me warm and toasty at -40°F with the heat powered woodstove fan to circulate the heat. All with no shore power or batteries required. They are also very fuel efficient. A single gallon of cooking oil would last me a little over a month. That’s $4.50 a month for all my heating, cooking, & hot water needs in the frozen Northern Minnesota winter. A win/win in my book.

I only use one for a heater, the other 3 are so I can have up to 4 cooking burners.

Cheers!

"Be the reason someone smiles today!" ~ Van_Dweller

Greetings!

Awww… blush… Thanks for the kind words.

Nothing’s right for everybody, and it’s okay to not always agree. That’s how we learn, and knowledge is power. What seems right or wrong for us today, could change in the future, and you just never know.

Knowing extra options for if or when they’re needed never hurts. Yesterday I stumbled upon a lady in a ditch, and as luck would have it, my tow strap never got returned the last time I loaned it out, and all I had was a 100 foot length of dollar store rope. Not nearly strong enough for the task needed…

So I tripled the rope over, and did a chain stitch type thing to make a ~10 foot tow rope which would hopefully be much stronger, and it worked! I read that tip like 20 years ago, and 20 years later it saved the day. I think knowledge & choices are often under appreciated.

Pictures would be GREAT! That’s one category I’ve never been good at. Digital cameras, smart phones, and touch screens don’t seem to like me. I’m like a ghost to them for some reason. I can tap em till the cows come home, and they just ignore me. Voice recognition doesn’t seem to work well for me either. At least the keyboard on my laptop & keypad on my flip work hehe.

Cheers!

"Be the reason someone smiles today!" ~ Van_Dweller

Greetings & Welcome!

This is kind of where I’m at, except even simpler. The vintage style heater/cooker I used last winter in the frigid frozen North, is dirt cheap to build, uses no electricity, and has basically nothing that can go wrong with it. It’s basically a liquid candle heater/cooker with many wicks, that can use cooking oil, diesel, or kerosene.

You adjust the temperature according to how many wicks you light, and a dollar store string mop will give you a lifetime supply of wicks. Nice reliable dry heat, that’s portable and requires no vehicle modifications.

With the addition of a heat powered woodstove fan, you can have electricity free fan forced heat, or cooling powered by only a single wick lit. With a spray bottle to mist yourself & the fan, you can also stay cool even in the hottest weather.

While my laptop & need power to charge them, both are basically luxuries, but if I can heat, cook, have lights, etc. that are all electricity free, even if just for backups, I feel well prepared.

As a kid, we tent camped in all weather conditions, comfortably. Blazing hot to well below zero, we were comfortable without any electricity at all. While I’m not opposed to more modern conveniences, being prepared for when the power goes out, brings me a lot of comfort & peace of mind.

Cheers!

"Be the reason someone smiles today!" ~ Van_Dweller

Some may be hard pressed for money and cannot afford a $900 heater. I’d just like to add that one should not fear them just because they cost considerably less. Most everything you own today is made in China. I have 3 of different sizes of Chinese diesel heaters and for different purposes. For me it’s the golden ticket to being comfortable in the cold. There are millions of the Chinese diesel heaters in use it seems from all the forums that talk about them.
I have not read of a single case of CO poisoning from them to date. To each his own. Do your own research and you decide what’s right for you.

Take reasonable precautions of course. For example have multiple CO detectors. That should be the case regardless of what you use for heat I would say.
With over two years of use on them now and hundreds of hours they have been 100% reliable and it costs me about 30 cents a night to stay cozy warm and dry (oops…that was before gas prices went crazy, now it’s almost 60 cents a night…

I’m not a fan of open flames in a vehicle living space unless it’s a woodstove designed for it… It’s just me. Especially when there’s any kind of hot or flammable liquid associated with it. It also removes oxygen from the air and so you must leave windows open. If I had no other choice I’m sure I’d rather have that than freeze.

Van_Dweller this is not to in any way diminish your choice. If it works for you then it must be the right choice for you and will likely work for others as well. Different strokes for different folks the saying goes.

Tedski,
They are different sizes, different configurations for different situations. And as a backup.
Not to mention they were all shipped free. I think I have $340 total in all 3 of them combined.
I love my diesel heaters. With the simple push of a button my Van is 70F degrees in 15F weather in minutes. No mess no fuss.

Just my 2 cents. YMMV and of course, diesel heaters are not for everyone.

Happy Trails !

Greetings!

Real life doesn’t feel a need to comply with anybody else’s rules, needs, or expectations. Life is fluid and constantly changing. Yesterday’s reality, might be obsolete today, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still work.

Every day we look at things and say “That’s Impossible!” or ask ourselves “How is that possible?”, yet it happened. It didn’t care about the odds, the probability, physics, or anything else, yet it happened. Such is real life. No argument or explanation can claim it didn’t happen, when it obviously did.

Candle heating & cooking dates way back, and is still in daily use in many parts of the world. Millions of people have proven the technique works and they depend upon it.

A vehicle typically holds in heat quite well, even with the windows cracked. It might take a little extra heat to compensate for the open windows, but it’s still easily doable.

Many nomads do things much more dangerous than these heaters/cookers every day, but safety should always be practiced.

Cheers!

If you want to learn more, please visit our website Vehicle Air Conditoning System Parts.

"Be the reason someone smiles today!" ~ Van_Dweller