BILGE HEATER?
Rob and LeAnna Stephenson
compartment when the
vessel is left un-attended for a week or so at a time ?
....
I live in Alaska and would like to keep the bilge thawed out for winter
use of my twin
gas engines. Engines are currently winterized with anti-freeze and
waiting for me to decide
if it's worth the cost to run them once in a while and then spend the
money to re-winterize
them and etc....
Thanks for any useful suggestions.
Rob
SEADATION (92' 30 Tolly)
Gould 0738
lightbulb
in the engine room, but there are a couple of problems with this approach.
First, a lightbulb is not permanent. If your lightbulb is built by Murphy's Law
Light Co, count on it burning out the first really cold night.
Second, you've introduced a possible source of spark into your bilge on a
gasoline boat. If the lightbulb breaks when it blows you'd have a moment of
potential
ignition until the filament burns out.
A much better approach might involve rigging some blockheaters on your engines.
These will not only keep the engines warm, but the warm blocks could radiate
enough heat to keep the bilge from freezing in a moderate climate. Then, all
you need to worry about would be the interruption of AC power to the boat
during a severe freeze. If power goes out during a freeze, you'd probably have
to go and run the engines frequently enough to keep them warm until power came
back on again.
________
Chuck Gould
Float and let float.
Scott Downey
"Rob and LeAnna Stephenson" <leb...@alaska.net> wrote in message
news:39D06591...@alaska.net...
Larry Weiss
variety of brands of pipe heaters on the market. You know, the wire you
wrap around pipes in the house to keep them from freezing?. Would it not
be possible to string some of that through the bilge?
Larry Weiss
"...Ever After!"
Peter Kennedy
was to fit a block heater to the engine. Its like an electric water heater
element. On big engines it mounts right in to the engine block. On smaller
engines it mounts remotely and connects into the engine cooling circuit with
a hose. It works great, keeps the engine compartment nice and toasty, and
makes it easy to start big diesels even in very cold weather. The company
that specializes in these block heaters is "Kim Hotstart" in Spokane WA.
--
Peter Kennedy
Peter Kennedy Yacht Services
Marine Electrical Systems
http://www.pkys.com
Rob and LeAnna Stephenson wrote in message <39D06591...@alaska.net>...
Lloyd Sumpter
When I was living aboard Far Cove, I used the heating cable used in
greenhouses. They're designed to be put in the soil, so they're
waterproof, etc. (I used it under my bed to reduce condensation, but I
can't see why you couldn't string it through the bilge.)
Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36
Larry Weiss wrote:
>
> I don't know about the downside to this; the idea just hit me. There are a
> variety of brands of pipe heaters on the market. You know, the wire you
> wrap around pipes in the house to keep them from freezing?. Would it not
> be possible to string some of that through the bilge?
>
> Larry Weiss
> "...Ever After!"
>
Larry W4CSC
in a trawler. He bought one of those radiator-looking 1500W
oil-filled heaters made out of steel, took the wheels off and bolted
it to a plate between his engines. There's no fan or exposed red hot
heating element. the whole thing just gets hot with hot oil. He
sealed up the electrical plastic end with RTV, including covering up
the switches and thermostat after he got the thermostat adjusted the
way he wanted (near wide open, marina electric isn't metered). This
keeps any fumes out of the sealed electric box.
His engine room is about 80F all winter!.....cheep!
larry
George Jefferson
:His engine room is about 80F all winter!.....cheep!
man, if I had free electric like that I'd winterize the house
and sleep on the boat <g>
--
george jefferson : geo...@sol1.lrsm.upenn.edu
to reply simply press "r"
-- I hate editing addresses more than I hate the spam!
Peggie Hall
>
> Is there any product that is SAFE to leave in the bilge to heat that
> compartment when the
> vessel is left un-attended for a week or so at a time ?
There are a couple of CG approved electric bilge heaters...Check your
West Marine and BOAT/US catalogs....they're about $250.
I have one on my own boat. Thermostatically controlled...I've set the
thermostat to turn it on at 30F--below freezing, but not enough below it
to freeze hard enough to crack anything.
The main drawback to all the other suggestions you've gotten is lack of
spark protection from anything electrical that isn't CG approved.
Spark/ignition protection is a non-issue in diesel powered boats, but
very much of one where gas fumes are present.
And, of course, anything electrical depends on a reliable supply of
electricity...an electric bilge heater offers no protection during a
power outage.
Peggie
http://www.solitairef32.homestead.com/
RBStern
the Boatsafe brand. Purchased at West Marine. It's fairly compact, is spark
protected, and draws 750 watts when running.
It comes on at 40 F. and runs until the bilge temp is 50 F. I've noticed that
it adds about $20/month to our dock electricity bill in
December/January/February, in our mild N. Georgia winters.
-- Rich Stern
Peggie Hall
is consistently below freezing. In fact, since the lake doesn't
freeze--never gets below 45 very often--and your hull takes it's temp
off the water, the odds of your engines--or anything else--ever freezing
at all are almost nonexistant except when we have one of those rare
spells when the temps never get out of the 20s during the day and down
to single digits at night. Mine's set at 30 to run to 40.
I leave the heat/ac on, set at the coldest temp--which in the summer, is
AC--to protect the plumbing...a heat pump will react in whichever
direction the temperature dictates, so if it gets colder in the cabin
than the coldest AC setting, the heat will come on.
Learned those little tricks after I got a $150 electric bill one
quarter.:-)
Peggie
Larry W4CSC
<peg...@bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>And, of course, anything electrical depends on a reliable supply of
>electricity...an electric bilge heater offers no protection during a
>power outage.
>
>Peggie
>http://www.solitairef32.homestead.com/
>
WAITAMINIT! Do you mean I can't run my 1500W bilge heater off my
4000W Heart Inverter all winter??!!
hee hee....just a little humor in a dry thread....
larry