Warm Air Heating

[BroadsBuccaneer]

Hi NBN.  

I am hiring a cruiser in April (51 days to go!! not than I'm counting )  with warm air heating.  I was wondering how this works and how long you can run it for? 

Through the day whilst cruising about we probably wont need it but at night it may get a bit chilly.  Can we turn the heating on before switching the boat off and then leave on overnight or is that not recommended? I am presuming it works off a leisure battery rather than the main one?

The last boat we had about 7 years ago had warm "air" once the boat had been running for 10 mins or so.  So after mooring up, as you would imagine, the engine cooled down so did the air (and it also smelled a bit like diesel too)   In the morning, if it was very cold, you would have to annoy the neighbours and start the boat up to get the engine/hot air again (not that I did that as I have the utmost respect for other neighbours)

Thx

[YnysMon]

How long you can run it will depend on what state the boat's batteries are in. You haven't mentioned whether you will be able to plug into shore power, if you can, that should prevent the batteries getting hammered.

Even so, I personally wouldn't keep the heating on all night, though I have known people to do so. Firstly, you'd probably be far too hot if you did. Secondly, even if you don't have to run your engine to use the heating, there will be a heating outlet on one side of the boat and the sound from that can be quite noisy. We had a very poor night's sleep one night when moored at Rockland St Mary staithe next to a boat that had their heating on all night. The heating outlet was on our side unfortunately.

The last few times we hired in March and October (on boats that did have shore power), we took a small dimplex radiator with us and kept it on a low settling overnight, just sufficient to keep the chill off. Obviously, we only used it when on shore power. We also took an extension cable, as some boats have a limited number of 240v sockets. Prior to that we made do with hot water bottles and were quite toasty, unless we needed to get out of bed to visit to the loo.

[Mouldy]

The heating should fire without the engine running, however it does seem that many boatyards advise their hirers to run the engine whilst the heating is starting.  Depending on the age of the boat (to a degree) or the specifications of the heating, it may well be thermostatically controlled, but some are either on or off.

As YnysMon said, how long the heating will run, will depend on the condition of the batteries.  Running it overnight may not be possible if you don’t have shore power.  One sure way of upsetting folk who are moored near you would be to run your engine late at night or first thing in the morning, but if you wild moor on your own, it wouldn’t really be an issue.

[BrundallNavy]

We were out two weekends ago and the heating went on at 11-00 Friday morning and didn't go off until Sunday afternoon. I normally turn the thermostat  down to around 12 at night.  Its easier to just keep the chill off rather than letting the boat go cold and having to warm it up again.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Speaking of my own chinese heater. The warming of the glow plug before the burner will fire up is the biggest draw on the batteries after that the drain on batteries drops right

PS. E01  on the panel is low voltage.

I have run it for 7 hours at maximum some nights in the winter and it uses around 0.5L of diesel per hour which is something else to consider and I couldnt run it all night if I wanted too because of the fuel pump ticking away whilst being so close to the bed so I use the little fob to switch it off when in bed and if needs be I can turn it on before getting out of bed. As for noise, I have asked and nobody has complained.

[BroadAmbition]

During my latest visit onboard earlier this month, 'B.A' hadn't been used for about a month so it was proper cold,  I tuned the heating on full and left it on overnight, to say it was somewhat equatorial in the morning was an understatement.  I often do this with no issues.

Exhaust noise is minimal due to the silencer and I managed to get rid of that annoying pump ticking noise years ago (After years of experimenting I might add).  Like BrundallNavy in the winter it is common for us to leave the heating on 24/7 but just turn down the thermostat overnight.  This works out far cheaper than having to warm the boat up on full chat from cold every morning

Griff

[Smoggy]

If the batteries are in a good state of charge there is no need whatsoever to run the engine while the heating starts and no-one wants to hear it when you get back from the pub at 12.00am, unfortunately lots of hire boats spend the last night close to the yard and they are not back in the yard long enough for a proper charge, next hirer picks up and heads for the closest spot and the batteries will be low which in turn takes it's toll on battery lifespan.

A good long run on the first day will help give you a good head start on battery capacity.

[Cheesey69]

after start up, which uses about 10 amps and the same when on run down when the glow plugs are active, depending on heat settings it uses about 2 amps when running. 

And about a liter of diesel for a night.

At least my Chinese one does.

As said, a decent set of batteries should get you through the night. If the heater can only start with the engine running then the batteries are low or the cable run is too small

 

[Broads01]

5 hours ago, Smoggy said:

If the batteries are in a good state of charge there is no need whatsoever to run the engine while the heating starts and no-one wants to hear it when you get back from the pub at 12.00am, unfortunately lots of hire boats spend the last night close to the yard and they are not back in the yard long enough for a proper charge, next hirer picks up and heads for the closest spot and the batteries will be low which in turn takes it's toll on battery lifespan.

A good long run on the first day will help give you a good head start on battery capacity.

Completely agree and no need for hook up either unless you want the heating on for extended periods. "If the batteries are in a good state of charge" is the key plus batteries in good condition generally. If your fridge and your tv start switching off you know you have a problem although I've hired boats with heating cutting out after no time but everything else runs OK. Hook up is good for peace of mind if it's very cold but I do tend to find that too limiting in terms of mooring options.

[BroadsBuccaneer]

Thanks all for the replies...hopefully by April the days/evenings will be a bit warmer