Freeman Heater

[Guest]

I am currently getting my 23` Freeman ready for the BSS.

Got the petrol tank out ready to drill a hole in the top and weld up a new feed pipe.

Whilst I am doing this I thought I would fit some heating arrangements in it as I use it all year round.

I am going to run the cooling water via a car type heater matrix fitted to the locker next to the engine bay then back through the exhaust manafold.

I was wondering if any other person has fitted heating of this type?

[Antares_9]

I am currently getting my 23` Freeman ready for the BSS.

Got the petrol tank out ready to drill a hole in the top and weld up a new feed pipe.

Whilst I am doing this I thought I would fit some heating arrangements in it as I use it all year round.

I am going to run the cooling water via a car type heater matrix fitted to the locker next to the engine bay then back through the exhaust manafold.

I was wondering if any other person has fitted heating of this type?

Have done it in the past Paul, the biggest thing to watch for is that the matrix is sited below the header tank on the engine or you will have to fit a swirl pot or similar just a bit higher than the matrix to prevent constant air locks and for checking levels. It is most effective and best of all, free at the point of use. You can either have just the matrix and fan or slightly more complicated, a matrix with 65mm or 80mm outlets (new or coach breaker) and use Ebo or Webo hot air ducting to split the air distribution.

All of the above is assuming indirect cooling, raw water cooled engines often run at lower temp and therefore make it less efficient and the matrix is more likely to become fouled with cast scale from the engine galleries.

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply David.

Mine is a direct raw water system so no closed water / air lock problems.

Point taken about the "muck" getting in and lower temperatures . Any heating will better than the "non-heating" I have so far, other than sitting on the engine locker lol!

Will let you know how I get on.

[jillR]

hi paul

when i bought this boat, the first thing i did was fit central heating, as you no doubt know us

girls love to be kept warm.

i have a multi fuel stove so in went the back boiler and running off it i have three radiators.

the system self circulates.

my header tank is the header tank from an escort

i removed all the taps from the radiators and fitted swept bends with a gate valve in line

as the trick is to keep the flow unrestricted

i made sure there was at least 5 degrees of lift all along the line, for the hot water to rise

big bore pipes are needed 28mm ID feed and 22mm ID take offs to the radiators

and the pipes to the header tank are 22mm

the system is not sealed as i leave the cap off the header tank

this system is also linked in to the engine so when im running, the engine

runs the central heating but ive never sussed if the engine can be pre heated

by the stove.

this system has worked well for me for 7 years now

jill

[Guest]

Sounds like you have a good system going for you Jill.

It is surprising what you can do if you have a bit of time and knowledge.

A friend of mine now lives in Spain - Albox - and he has now gone totally "green" with solar power.

Was quiet expensive to start with but he hopes to re-cope within a few years.

He can run everything, including freezer, washing machine TV and PC etc. Never run out of power yet.

[jillR]

hi paul

i cant take the credit for this one ill fess up

i was looking through a narrow boat book in the library one day, many years ago,

and i spotted a very simple looking line plan for said heating so thinking it would

come in handy one day ( like most of the contentes of my garage ) i copied it

into my hand bag diary.

the difference was, that realy did come in handy.

jill

[SteveO]

I have one of the heaters which is connected to the engine cooling system, a bit like a car heater. It has outlets into the cockpit by the helm position and in the main cabin. This is great for when you are motoring along on a cold day and it is also useful in wet weather because it keeps the windscreen and the side panel windows of my hood free from condensation. It is obviously not much use when the engine isn't running though and so we have a "Coldwatcher" 500W convector, which we use on our moorings to keep the cabin warm in the evenings. This works extremely well and has allowed us to extend our cruising season. However, if I was having heating installed from scratch, I would probably go for an Eberspacher-type warm air heating system.

Steve

[senator]

Hi Steve,

We fitted a Propex blown air gas system to White Lady which works brilliantly in a small boat, easy to install and relativley cheap at around £500 all in, we are petrol the same as you and didn't fancy fitting a diesel tank for the more traditional types but wanted heating for the evening so the engine option was out.

Ian

[Guest]

Steve0

Do you find it is worth having?

More interested in the cabin part.

I do not want heating in the cockpit as I normally run with that open.

Being a stern cockpit it is open so I can take photographs from there, unless it is raining.

[SteveO]

Hi Lordofsealand,

In the sense that the system was on the boat when I bought it, it is worth having. A blast of warm air on the nether regions is good for morale and comfort when navigating on a cold day. the heater does warm the cabin whilst we are under way, but it cools down quickly when the engine stops. I suspect that it would cost a few hundred pounds to have someone install one of these heaters and for my money, if I was starting from scratch, I would save my pennies for a while longer and put in either a Propex or an Eberspacher-type system. My preference leans towards a diesel-fired system, on grounds of better intrinsic safety. Interestingly, someone on ebay is knocking out what appear to be new Eberspacher 12 volt diesel hot-air heating kits at a "buy it now" price of £325, plus £20 p & P. I admit that I am tempted.

Regards

Steve

[Antares_9]

Steve, because of your current installation you have another option, you can simply plumb a Webo or Ebo water heater into the current system which will give you the best of both worlds, free heat on the move and heating / hot water when moored from the Webo or Ebo, it would be a simple job and less work than fitting a new system from sctatch.

[SteveO]

Thanks Antares_9, this looks like an idea well worth investigating. Would one of the Ebo/Webo water heaters that you see from time to time on Ebay be suitable for this?

Regards

Steve

[Antares_9]

Yes, they are the ones Steve, just make sure you get the right heat output for the job, too little and you will not get enough heat, too much and it will be constantly cycling at low power, and they like to be run at higher output to keep the internal carbon levels down.

[Jim]

Hi Paul,

A mate of mine installed warm air heating on his Fairline Holiday a while ago which he said was fine and just like you, he thought of fitting a matrix with blower fan,

If you follow this link, you can read how he went about it http://www.fairlineholidayclub.co.uk/Ht ... eating.doc

Another thought! Recently, I was looking for a new hot water tank and the Hotpot range supplied by ASAP supplies in Beccles caught my eye. I also found that ASAP can supply a matrix based warm air heating system as well, so this might be of interest also.

Jim

[Guest]

Hi Jim and thanks for the link and info from ASAP.

I had a good look at both.

What Gary did is similar to the way I will be doing mine except I will only have a single outlet as the cabin is open plan so no real need for duct work. Least not at the moment.

Will take some pictures of "before" and "after" so others can see how I have done it for future referance.

So to coin a phrase - watch this space.!!

[Guest]

I got on very well today with installing a heater.

Not complete as I am waiting for the blower to be delivered.

This is coming from a Ford Escort RS turbo and I got it on good ol' Ebay !!!

The first picture is the heater matrix that came off - I think - a Ford Transit - may be wrong, as I managed to scrounge it from one of my customers.

The second picture shows the normal cooling configuration with the thermostat housing and hose going to the rear of the exhaust and addition cooling going into the tee piece.

The next bit was quiet simple:-

I removed the hose from the thermostat housing and replaced it with a longer one which goes to one side of the heater matrix.

The Tee piece I turned through 180 degrees and fitted the return hose from the heater matrix to this tee piece.

So in effect all I have done is to make that hose connection much longer and place the matrix in between.

I should have the blower on Wednesday so that should be fitted and the heating completed.

Cost so far, has been very reasonable.

Heater matrix £0.00 ( on ebay you can pick them up for £10.00 + )

The blower from Ebay was £20.00 +£15.00 P&P ( Could have got it cheaper by going to a scrap yard. )

Hoses 2 meters of 12mm ID £10.00#

Jubile clips 4 at £1.00 each.

Vent grill £0.00 got that from broken caravan.

Less than £50.00 and about 4 hours work.

Cant be bad!!!

[Jim]

Nice one Paul!

It seems both you and Gary think along similar lines and the result looks good. Let us know how she goes when the blower is installed as I'm tempted to have a go at something similar. Would be nice to have a bit of warm air as I do love to cruise around a lot in winter.

[Mowjo]

Paul I presume from the first picture, that the matrix is fitted in the underbunk cupboard to the right of the engine, looks nice and simple, and something I might try as I can get most of the parts cheap or even free, I just need to see what sort of fan you fit and how, I presume you need to have a thermostate in place to hold the heat, my Freeman seems to run very cool so I don't think it has one fitted, I'll wait for you to test your one first and if it works Ok it's on my jobs list, Oh yes! the vent grill, is yours an open one or one with the sliding bit so you can close it off, :-D

[Guest]

Mowjo

This is a type I almost bought from ebay Item number: 130176628363 ending at 20-30 tonight

Matrix and blower!.

Yes the matrix is fitted in the locker next to the engine compartment.

Mine runs at 80 - 90 C May be a bit cooler this time of the year !!

The grill is a screen type at the moment as was again free ( tight sod aint I !! ) but may look into something better later on.

The support holding the matrix isnt very pretty so may have to change that later as well but it does the job at the moment!

.

If you see me about "Mistral" hard toped 23 footer give me a shout and I,ll show you around.

[Mowjo]

Thanks Paul, I have a scrapyard almost next to our cafe so I should be able to pick one up for next to nothing, might cost me a couple of Bacon rolls,, I asked about the grill because there dosn't seem to be any way to shut off the heat, so I reckon one of those sliding grills would do the trick, I'll have to check my thermostate as I'm sure mine runs a lot colder, it only just registers on the temp gauge, everything with me is a round tuit job and the list is getting longer, I'll look out for you when I'm at Broadsedge, I'm not sure if it was your boat I saw moored up at/near Moonfleet last weekend,,

[Guest]

I now have the fan fitted and working on two speeds too.

If any one is thinking about fitting this type of heating then try and get a matrix AND blower complete as it should be easier to fit if it is a complete unit.

I am very happy with the way mine has gone but if I was to do it again then I would certainly try and get a complete unit.

[Guest]

Paul could you just take the same unit of a car and fit it on your boat?

[Guest]

That is more or less what I did Jonny except I used the fan off of one vehicle and the matrix off another type.

Would have been best to have had a complete unit but in my haste it wasnt available at that point in time.