Heating on board? Here’s how to assemble

The cold season is here, and if you want to use the boat for short cruises, or fear that the humidity will do damage on board, a good solution is to get an air heater. They weigh little, are efficient, draw directly from the diesel fuel in your boat’s fuel tank, and have power consumption that does not require (unless you wish to heat very large rooms) the installation of an additional battery bank. We followed Alberto Verzeletti, Technical Manager of Eberspächer, in the installation of an Airtronic D3 model on board a Bavaria 33 Cruiser (we show you the operation diagram, in detail, below) at the M3 Servizi Nautici shipyard in Andora (Savona, Italy). We derive the right advice to ensure that, should you decide to rely on a boat heating system, you know what you are talking about while avoiding common and gross mistakes that can irreparably damage the heater.

TO GET A FAIR QUOTE
“Our task,”” Verzeletti began, “is to determine based on the layout provided to us of the boat, all the material needed for the application assuming an air distribution path that will have to be verified by our authorized service center that will carry out the installation, then an assessment on the passage of the pipes, the positioning of the heater, the fuel tank and so on. So be precise: often the drawings provided by the yard of your boat do not take into account many modifications made to the hull (especially watch out if you bought a used boat).

WHERE DO I PUT THE HEATER?
Typically, an air heater finds its place in a stern locker, given its compactness (the D3, for example, weighs 4.5 kilograms and is easily mounted on a stainless steel bracket screwed to the fiberglass). “It is important,” Verzeletti explains, “that the air that will then be heated by the device does not come from the locker in which it is placed, so as to avoid bad odors or the spread of harmful substances below deck (for example, how often does it happen, in a locker, that a fuel canister leaks): therefore you will have to make sure that the air intake is outside or, at most, in an interior room of the boat. The first option is far preferable because it allows the heater to also initiate a dehumidifying action. The heater requires, for combustion, the intake of oxygen: this is taken through a dedicated tube directly into the locker itself. The exhaust pipe, made of stainless steel, should be well protected by an insulating material to prevent high temperatures from damaging the parts of the boat in close contact with it.”

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THE OPTIMAL ROUTE
Since the heater develops a flow of hot air based on its output, the path of the tube below deck will have to be designed taking into account some important factors: “The first is purely physical: the shorter the path of the tube, the more efficient the system will be. Excessively articulated and extended circuits will result, especially toward the end of the path, in back pressure that will prevent hot air from escaping from the last prepared vents. In this regard, straightness should be preferred: pipe bends should be very wide. Any forced deviation at acute angles risks causing back pressure and subsequent overheating of the device. In case we need to make a restriction of the tube, then, this should not be arbitrary, because it would be equivalent to narrowing the outlet of the heater itself, causing it to overheat. It will be necessary to intervene with a “Y” junction by splitting the pipe into two branches with smaller cross sections (e.g., a 90 mm branches into two 75 pipes), at least one of which ends in a nozzle. Be careful not to overdo the outlets: too many outlets will cause those at the end to be inefficient. You run the risk of perhaps not being able to heat the forward cabin because you have favored a bathroom, an area that, being little used, does not need as much heat. Finally, do not forget that all components that develop heat (exhaust pipes, hot air) should be kept away from electrical wires.” For more info, click here