Heaters, heaters, heaters.

[doorgunner]

The current 25-30F temps are ideal to test heaters. For the next few days I will be posting my real life testing of heaters and heat producing devices. I'm getting my notes together tonight and will start the in depth detailed findings on each. The test will include - Olympian 8100 cat, Dicikenson 9000 direct vent yacht heater, Delonghi 1500 watt oil filled heater,Pelonis 1500 watt HC-461 5 disc furnace,Aladdin Mod. C kerosene table lamp, Den Haan mini-trawler kerosene lamp and a solar convective loop window homemade unit. Some require propane, others kerosene, 110 VAC and sunshine.Hopefully this may help some members at some future time. Currently I have the Dickinson and the Aladdin going. 28F outside 79F inside yup. 9:15PM. So please bear with me as I will be getting pics and info together. Tim

[bobkelly]

Thanks for posting on this great topic. I'm looking forward to your findings.

[janetbjt]

glad to know you are testing....i will be anxiously waiting for your results...it was below 20 here in eugene, or. before 7pm!! the two you have going now seem to be working great..see if the others match up!

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, my vote is for the oil filled heater. I have one in my house that I am useing right now. Works great. Would like to find smaller version for trailer. Plus's: vertually noiseless, very little noise [no fan motor] while warming up, and with no exposed gas or heating elements. I feel much safer running one of these all night while I'm sleeping. Still need to use factory installed furnace to keep tanks from freezeing in real cold weather in which I haven't been in yet.

[Lumatic]

1.I have tried dickenson.com and the site does not seem to go beyond the home page. Is there another website for information on the Dickenson heaters?
2. I saw a plan by Jim Phypers to use the hot water heater with a heater core and fan to heat a 25' trailer. The site is RV Hydronic Heating System. Says it uses 50% less propane and electricity anybody have any experience with this kind of system?

[doorgunner]

dickinsonmarine.com is the web Marshall, I used to subscribe to "Home Power" good magazine and thanks for the article, looks like something to try. On some of the experimental planes I fly we use a water cooled Rotax 912 powerplant and pretty much have the same system for heat as your article. Automotive heater core plumbed into the water line with a small 12 VDC fan. Robertsunrus- yes the oil filled is nice when you have 110VAC available- it's on the list! Well I'm getting my things together will start with a post showing test equipment used and go from there. Tim

[doorgunner]

1986 32' Excella, lotta windows, 2'x91/2' vista, 24"x42" rear, 7-20"x30",16"x18" door, 16"x20" side,6"x16" and 3-6"x30". For the test the complete 9 1/2 feet of vista view window, the rear window and 4 of the 20"x30" windows are covered with Reflectix bubble insulation at a cost of approx $25. This stuff is wicked nice. If you are gonna do one thing to winterize make this your first. Just trim it with shears to fit, the curved windows are fitted inside the others the insulation is placed by opening the windows and pressing the stuff between the screen and the window. Then close the window. Takes less than 5 minutes. Put it in at nite and remove in daytime to benefit from sun heating thru windows. The test eguipment is pretty straight forward, an inside outside thermometer that records hi and lo temps and a multimeter with thermo couple probe. pictured on the reflectix bubble wrap insulation.

[janetbjt]

doorgunner...really like that - easy-cheap - idea!! gotta do that before tonights predicted below 20...again here....thanks!!

[doorgunner]

Here are a few lamps I used when I lived aboard my sailboat in Newport Beach decades ago. If you notice some older AS had propane mantle lamps in them, these are still available Paulin is one brand. Google time. Here are my findings on the Aladdin lamp.The lamp height is 22", burns kerosene, I use Kleen Strip heater Kerosene that I get at Lowes.I've had this lamp for 30 years, geez I'm sounding old, It burns without pressure and has a round wick and a mantle. Puts out about the light of a 60 watt bulb. silent, no smell and quite pleasant as lighting in general. Now sit down for this part. Temp measured one inch above the chiminey opening is 800 F!! yes eight hundred. When sitting on the dinnette the temp directly above measured at the ceiling is 140F. yowza. O.K. On to the Den Haan. A beautiful piece, round wick burns liguid paraffin wax, has a distinct odor, some like it some do not. Temp measured at top of bail 103F. Not a real heater for a cold nite but I just had to include it. Karma is welcome BTW!

[doorgunner]

Oh I forgot to mention, many folks remark about kerosene smell. That smell is not present with the Aladdin until you blow it out. SO take it outside to extinguish, leave it for 10 minutes then bring it inside. Tim

[doorgunner]

Here's by favorite for when the sun is shining. My homemade solar convective loop collector. 40F outside 135F being pumped inside. Typically on a sunny cold day this will keep the AS comfortable mid 70's. Even have to open the windows at times. Thats when it is really nice kinda like a sun room. It cost about $100 to build glass was expensive, maybe you can find a used piece. It takes about 1/2 hour to mount on the AS, weighs 30 lbs. About 6 hours to build, once constructed it provides Silent, Free heat. BUT the sun has to be shining and needs to be in a south facing window for optimum results. I got the idea many years ago from Mother Earth News, they're still around too. That's about it for today, tomorrow I will post on the electric heaters. Hope a few are finding this useful! Tim

[doorgunner]

Last night low was 18F I had the Dickinson on all night on low without the blower. No other heat making devise was on. The low inside the AS was 49F as per the recording thermometer. Past nights when it has been 30F outside the inside low mid 60'sF. This unit is frugal on fuel, 7 hours on low fuel use 1 lb.On high 5 hours use 1 lb of fuel. Pretty good seeing as 1 gallon of propane is 4.2 lbs. That means this heater can run on low for 6 1/2 days straight on a tank like you use on the barbie.No power is required but the unit does have a 12VDC blower installed. without the blower the heat is silent. 5500 btu low,7500btu high.Cost $625. The direct vent design takes outside air in for combustion so there is no depletion of O2 in the AS. very nice indeed.This would be a great choice for anyone redoing a AS and not wanting to use the furnace.

[lewster]

If you're looking for hydronic heating, there are a couple of units out there made specifically for RVs. The first is called 'Aqua Hot' and is a diesel fired heat and hot water system. The other is fairly new: Twin Temp by Precision Temp, and is a similar unit but propane fired.

They both use a burner core withh a copper loop wrapaped around it fofr the hot water. This is enclosed in a 'box' filled with antifreeze....usually etylene glycol/boiler grade which is then heated by the burner and pumped to heat exchangers thru out the coach. the heat is then distributed by almost silent computer style fans by forced hot air.

Both work very well and are quite efficient also. I am a factory Authorized service center for Aqua Hot, and a dealer for the Twin-Temp and have a Precision Temp RV-500 tankless water heater (same principal) in my '06 19CCD. Look up posts by 'SmokelessJoe' as he is using a custom built hydronic system in his Argosy re-build.

Let me know if I can answer any specific questions for you.

[Road Ruler]

Sounds interesting. Now all we need to go with it is a steam powered blower that recycles the steam back to water so you never have to add water and you would always have an operational blower without an electrical source.

Has that been invented yet?? lol!

[Lumatic]

Hi Lewster,
What is ballpark cost for these units? and where can I get more information?

[doorgunner]

This cat heater really puts it out. 169F one inch from grate.Mine is used for quick heat, it really heats things up fast. A great additional heater- downside is it uses up inside O2 so you need to vent it by opening a window or door on ocassion. Mine is the type that only requires propane, no 12 VDC necessary. The only thing I would do to my install would be to mount the heater on a separate swing out panel with piano hinge so that it could also face the dinette area, its also a fuel miser.

[SafeHarbor]

I have an Olypian 8100p, too. I used it, with the sink window and the rear living room window on the bumpers, in Toledo when it was 23 degrees outside. I was toasty warm on the gaucho - even got up in the middle of the night to turn it down to the medium setting. Pros - rapid heat, no exposed flame, frugal, efficient. Cons - have to have a window open which sort of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

Lamar

[doorgunner]

Here we have the oil filled Delongi, silent and cheap to operate. Well anything that is 1500 watts cost about a dime an hour to operate. On high temp one inch above top of fin 135F. 30F outside 58F inside. Has a thermostat, no fan just warms the air. to be most effictive I leave it on all the time. Next the Pelonis. Note this one has 5 discs-has a thermostat that when approaching the cut off temp shifts the fan into low gear. I tested this heater with a few other models that friends had, blew them all away. One inch from grill temp 225F, the other ceramics best model was 165F. Granted that heater was only $35 the Pelonis $110. This heater having a fan lets you know it is there, not annoyingly loud just a presence. Nice to warm up the bedroom or bathroom, not what I would use for the prime source of heat.

[lewster]

Originally Posted by Marshall

Hi Lewster,
What is ballpark cost for these units? and where can I get more information?

Hey Marshall,

Both companies have web sites: About PrecisionTemp and Aqua Hot Heating Systems, Inc. . If you can't find what you're looking for there, let me know.

[doorgunner]

Hopefully the forum members. My idea was to merely show auxilary forms of heat. NONE of these heaters will keep your pipes from freezing. I like the kiss approach to backup systems. The oil filled AC unit will do fine if 110 is available. The Dickinson will do fine anytime. The others are what they appear to be, good for some applications and not so good for others.Thanks for the tip on the other system Marshall- it looks like a real winner. Lewster your post is also informative but not really what I would use- I like being off the grid if you know what I mean. AND my AS has wheels that work, if it is going to be below 30F I'm chasing the sun! Lets hear what some of you out there are using. Tim