Two Dog Nights: Cabin Heat In Winter

[JWalker]

the mantles have been holding up....the globes not so much....I have replaced two mantles due to bumping them while replacing the globe.

We have spent two days with 2 foot chop on the nose which were pretty rough plowing through under motor and the mantles were fine.

yesterday the wind clocked over to s/se and we sailed on a beam reach all the way down lake wilson to the lock.....much more comfortable

the britelyt people (american petromax dealerish long story) is in new port ritchey FL, and they have pyrex globes, if I break another I think I'll order one of the frosted globes for general delivery to a marina on our route....if I don't I think I may try to stop in there on our way down. They also have gimbles.

Brytelyt says they are going to be making a heater attachment this coming year, which will boost the heat output to 14k btu.

Open question to those in the know: Is it safe to run a vented bulkhead kero/diesel heater all night while you sleep?

[skylark]

Yes, they are designed to run 24 hours a day all winter.

[Snapdragon]

I think I saw something like this somewhere, maybe on sailfar, but now I can't find it.  Anyway--- if it works, the credit goes to someone else.
It turned cool today and I was kicking around the barn looking for something to do and I came across an old Coleman lantern stuck away on a shelf.  I also found an old aluminum tea kettle in the recycle bin.  I cut the bottom out of the kettle, drilled a small bolt hole in the center of the top of it and mounted it to the top of the lantern.  I had to buy the 1 1/2 inch flex exhaust hose from Autozone ($6.95) and it fit perfectly over the tea kettle spout.  It only took a few minutes for it to get to operating temperature and put out enough heat to bring Puff's cabin temperature  up several degrees.  The kettle and exhaust hose radiates  quite a bit of heat, and the exhaust gasses exit pretty well through the roof vent.  I'll be looking for a better way to vent the exhaust gasses, since the roof vent has a plastic floating disk, and the exhaust gets pretty warm.  Perhaps I can mount the heater on a platform just aft of the chain locker and vent through the old anchor chain deck fitting that is no longer being used.  Any feedback or insightful comments would be much appreciated.

[JWalker]

i was thinking about doing the same thing.....venting the lantern.

grog for trying it before i did and validating my idea!

the only problem i have is the same i have with a bulkhead heater......
where do i put it?

[tomwatt]

Some years ago I came across a guy heating with a woodstove... only instead of a stovepipe exhaust, his stovepipe ran into a large steel drum, and exited the other side again as stovepipe and on out... the steel drum had another pipe welded in so the whole drum resembled an elongated donut. The contraption caused a lot of heat transfer: he was heating a large workshop (would hold 4 cars plus tools, racks etc.) easily with a small woodstove.
I don't know if anyone could/would want to adapt something along that line to a small cabin heater, but it's just a thought that seemed worth sharing. Maybe a small muffler could be adapted for the job?

[SeaHusky]

My immediate thought about Snapdragons post (apart from "Well done!") was that if you keep the lantern where it is and draw a long exaust hose along the roof and out through the mentioned anchor chain deck fitting you will use much more of the generated heat. A long chimney (coiled perhaps) or one fitted with some sort of heat exchanger is very effective. Perhaps one can use an old radiator of some sort. You just need to keep a good draught through it.

[CapnK]

Was re-reading the thread from the beginning, and ran across Jack tar's suggestion to search for diesel truck heaters. Did that, and this was one of the first I ran across, Espar Airtronic heaters. Look like they might be very similar to the Wallas.

Here's the smallest unit, the D2, at eBay, current bidding is around $925. Stats: 19cfm, .026 gal/hr, .6 amps. Sounds economical - except for the price - but boat heaters seem to be expensive.

Maybe because most of us are warm-weather wimps...?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-ESPAR-AIRTRONIC-D2-12-VOLT-DIESEL-FIRED-HEATER-COMPLETE-INSTALL-KIT-/290642058040?pt=Other_Vehicle_Parts&vxp=mtr&hash=item43ab9ddb38

(I'll attach a screenshot for posterity.)