Pellet Stoves onboard

The Thelin gnome didn't used to have an automatic ignitition, but now apparently does. It uses the same 27 amps as its big brother the Parlour 3000 and at 19.25" circumference/18.5" footprint its only 3/4 inch smaller.....but it IS only 34" high, so 11" shorter. So it only holds 26 lbs of pellets in the hopper and people have mentioned the ash tray is smaller.

According to their website its 27,000 BTU. That would be max BTU.

For less than an inch difference in circumference I'd go for the Parlour 3000 with 40,000 BTU, larger hopper and ash tray. Also their website indicates the Gnome burns at 69% efficiency but the Parlour 3000 at 72.19%

Manyboats, if I recall mine used to start within 2 minutes. It was a point about the size of a dulled sharpie marker tip that glowed, fuel sits on it while air blows over the pellets. BUT, the outer fan doesn't kick on until ignition and warm up are complete, so it may not really use more amps during start up. Of course once started it will run days if set properly without reignition. Just need to shut off for emptying the ash tray every few days and a quick brush around the burn pot once weekly.

If you have it running by thermostat though and its kicking on and off you would have multiple ignitions. Truthfully I had a thermostat with my old one and never hooked it up. I just used the manual settings and ran the stove where I was comfortable. It had two settings, one for fan speed, the other for fuel feed.

I went from thinking, "Hmmm, where do I want to put the thermostat?" To, "Oh why bother?" lol

manyboats said:

DO,
How many amps? P=IE? or I/E .. can't remember.

I would think the "rating" would be for maximum heat.

The PS does take much more power to start but only for a short time. You don't light them. They heat the fuel to combustion electrically like the "burner" on your electric stove.

Click to expand...

The rating on the cover page was the lowest output so that you could determine if your room was too small for the PS. When you click on the model the next page gives all the specs, hopper capacity, weight, max output.

P (power in watts)= I (current in amps) X E (electromotive force in volts)

P/E=I

So for this PS 27 watts/120 volts = .225 amps
27 watts/12 volts = 2.25 amps

messed up a post here

Pellet stove on boat

Lots of good / great reading here. I have been a lurker for awhile and just signed up. Wife and I are in the midst of moving onto our 41' Trawler. Although our marina has full metered electricity we are looking at another primary heat source.
Diesel, Propane or Pellet stoves ?
We have two back up generators and inverters as well.
The information contained in this thread is steering us towards a Pellet stove.
We have a central salon over the engine room and planned on running ducts similar to baseboard heaters for transferring warmth fore and aft.
Has anybody thought about the "hydro pellet" stoves ? They are a little boxy and not as pleasing to the eye as the Thelin shown above. They heat circulated water like a normal boiler and distribute the warmth water to remote units with little heat exchangers with individual temp control. They also throw off radiant heat off of the unit itself.

They also will heat your hot water and engine compartments... I like that feature.
I am going to meet with a Pellet stove distributor tonight and see what he has to say.

Hi Tom, yes, I too have thought about the hydro units. There is also a gentleman who makes a retrofit hydro kit for a number of pellet stoves on the market already. His kit runs $1700. I have my pellet stove on board but have not yet done the install. Looks great though. Lol

if living aboard full time and not moving...then it doesn't matter a whole lot what you heat with as long as the fuel is readily available...

if you own a diesel boat and plan to cruise...I just don't see any better, more convenient fuel source other than the diesel you already carry....

You are right, if cruising with a diesel boat diesel heat makes a lot of sense. Especially using engine heat while on the move. But if you spend time at the same dock and don't go out for more than 3 days at a time or live aboard diesel can get expensive comparatively. I think my calculations were approximately $300 a month or so. With the pellet stove I expect under $100 a month.

>Unlike coal and wood, pellets aren't as messy..<

Coal is not at all messy IF you have a system.

While living aboard at Worlds Fair Marina (with diesel heat) one fellow chose coal.

He had a couple of large garbage cans with a tight lid the coal was stored in.

His technique was to paper bag the coal in what would be a 12 hour shot, staple the bag closed then put another bag over the first and staple again.

All the bags were stored in the cans and when it was done there was no mess.

On returning home he would grab a bag before stepping on board , shake the grate and toss in the bag.
In the AM he would pop outside on waking and repeat the procedure.

No muss no fuss , and no mess with hard coal.

Weather you can find coal in your area is a different question.

For larger boats there were many wood/coal on gas ranges made pre- WWII.

These have an oven with a gas 4 burner range built in and a wood coal range can be cooked on and also heats the oven.

No electric required and fairly large BTU output .

For my bucks the Dickinson is a better choice , as sometimes I would be gone a few days.

For a new boat in cold but not killing cold where the chance electric will mostly be on the new minisplit air cond will pump out 400% or 500% more BTU per amp than a hot wire heater.
They are used in Euro land , Norway -Germany at -30F and still produce the rated heat output.

BUT when the electric goes down an unwinterized boat can sink overnight.

Caviat Emptor!

In the winter we will be "iced" in at the dock at a full service marina that has a full underwater propeller system in place. There are about 12 boats that stay in the water and about 8 of us full time live aboards.
As far as traveling in the cold ? We are in our low 50's so we have another 30 yrs to work before we can break free and travel during the cold which the diesel heat would be well suited for. Plus it would probably be a bigger boat.
We both work during the day and arrive back at the boat around 7:00 each night. We are both very athletic and busy.
We have yet to see and hear any systems working. We are headed up to Maine next week to look at and hear the Diesel fired stoves made by Dickinson, Sigmar and Refleks.

>full underwater propeller system in place<

Lucky , the marinas that pump air they the existing water pipes that feed bubblers STINK for a liveaboard as the noise is 24/7 .

>We are headed up to Maine next week to look at and hear the Diesel fired stoves made by Dickinson, Sigmar and Refleks.<

The pot burner versions of diesel fuel stoves usually is the safest.

Dockside the boat can not swing into the wind , and suffers downdrafts from other boats so the H style smoke head is the preferred unit. A cast bronze water deck iron is great if you can find it.

I suspect the biggest problem w pellet stoves in pleasure boats is finding one small enough. For larger boats they should be good to great. We have had a top of the line PS in our house and like it a lot. If I had to gripe about anything it would be the fan noise but it's a very small issue .. if at all. Another thought about PS is the bulk of the fuel. Pellets need dry storage. Pellets in the bilge pump wouldn't be great either.

For a liveaboard w a big boat they would probably be great but I don't know of any PSs small enough for a smaller trawler. But I AM a fan of pellet stoves.
We just got ours moved over to our new house and am happy to have it back again. 400lbs of stove just moved across the street for us old folks was a big effort.

A really neat thought about pellets is a pellet boiler and steam power for the boat. May be real fuel efficient.

Well, there are more smaller units these days. US Stoves even has a window model like a window a/c unit. Theres the Thelin Gnome and Parlour 3000 (which is what I bought), the Jamestown J1000 and J2000, and I have noticed some smaller relatively inexpensive models at Tractor Supply. Not sure who made them but they are right around $1000.

Don't believe that just because you paid a lot of $ that its a better unit. I'm not all that happy with my Thelin, though I am loving the pellet stove on board. Their customer service isn't good nowadays, and parts are crazy expensive. On the other hand, Harman stoves I hear are worth what they ask.

Again, heating with one of these very much depends on your boat layout, as moving the air around will be the biggest obstacle...unless as manyboats mentioned you manage to fit a hydro pellet stove. I have plenty of space to store pellets on my upper deck. For now I buy a weeks worth at a time. That's 5 bags, 40 lbs ea at less than $5 a bag. Maybe next yr I'll lift a 2000 lb pallet up there with my davit. That's 50 bags. A pallet runs around $225 and would get me through much of the winter.

So right now my salon stays around 78 with the pellet stove on low. The rest of the boat ranges 60-65. And I have NOT yet installed ducting to duct it back to the air handler on my reverse cycle unit. I will probably tackle that next yr, as I'm fine with this for present. Once I do I expect to distribute the warmed air better. Here is a picture.

P.S. - the power went out about a week ago. One of the main lines to the marina went bad and they had to dig it up. Was only out for a day, but I hooked the Thelin up to its battery backup and no problems....

aronhk_md,
Now t hat's a hard username to copy.

A Harmon is what we have. We have it at home and it's a very good stove. My only complaint is the noise of the fan. Not terrible but I could do w/o the constant whir of the fan. It does not hinder conversation even w quiet people (like my wife) so really not an issue. We use less than a bag a day at this time of year to heat our 1900 sq ft house. We burn w outside air.

Pic to follow

Eric, yes...outside air is the right way for the burn chamber. I believe Harmon also has a smaller stove, but not sure. I liked the idea of a battery backup for the Thelin, and I LOVE the way it looks. But, you could just use your inverter on a 120v stove. On any stove you are going to have fan noise. But think about what others are paying to heat their 2000 sq ft homes compared to you!

During the cold months my neighbors pay $400-$500 a month to heat their boat, and I know the guy down further with his diesel fired heater is burning 3 gallons a day....which is close to $400 a month.

We bought an Upland 207 because it is so quiet. The exhaust is natural draft which cuts the noise considerably. Too big for the boat but we love it.

http://www.nutec-castings.com/upland-207-pellet-stove.html

Rob

Datenight,
What a beautiful stove. And you're idea about the inverter may be useful to us as we haven't installed the wood stove for back-up during power failures. But I'd like to be able to burn wood for further economy in especially cold weather .. like we just had (15 degrees).

Yup ... I think we're heating the house in the winter for less than $200 mo. Yup ... our Harmon is rather large. And heavy (375lbs). We know as we moved it across the street by ourselves on 2x4 runners. Was fun going down the stairs at the old house. The pic was taken at the old house.

beautiful stoves

My stove is small at 185 lbs and a 20 x 20 footprint, but as mentioned there are other small units around today. Mine is rated at 40,000 BTU. I'm really enjoying it. Wish Thelin hadn't sold the company a few yrs ago, it could be a much better product. Love the way it looks though.

Pellet Stove on board

I have a Theilin Knome on my 42 Bristol. This will be 3rd winter. Works great although occasionally fails to light on automatic. Have it on thermostat in main saloon.

Am trying a new ignitor to solve ignition problems. Manufacture is no help on service.

I can get you the pellets . Our lumberyard makes 40 tons of hardwood pellets EVERY DAY.

On starting up our stove works very noticeably better when we clear off the ash on the apron inside. Only takes a minute (literally) .. Open the door before startup and use the hoe like tool to rake off the ash on the apron. It just falls down into the ash box.

The stove dealer says we are much more attentive to our stove than most people. So if you really think you will clean the stove often the pellet stove is great. But if you tend to let such things slide propane may be better. Propane is real cheap now. That was pointed out to us when we bought the stove. Propane prices vary a lot while pellets are very stable. Often we buy a ton (one pallet) at a time this time of the year for about $200. The 40lb sacks are about $5.00 each.
In the winter ours runs 24/7. When we go to town we turn it down a bit but not off. My biggest objection is the fan noise. Stove in the LR. We've had this (Harmon) stove for about three years. Pic in post #46.

Marty,
Hardwood? We burn "Golden Fire" Douglass Fir.

Eric ,
Yes it's hardwood . We make a truck load flooring and two truck loads of pellets
every day redoak and white oak .

Pellet mill set up
400 hp pellet mill , cooler , shaker screen , bucket elevator and automatic bagger .Totally enclosed system . It's a 2 man operation ,could be one but it's no fun working by yourself.

For folks that are going with a big stove of any style and need a used bronze water deck iron, I have a 5 inch for $200US.

Smaller (3 orb v4 inch) is easy to find but 5 inch is rare!

We love our Harmon Accentra. Living in a 4 story town-home with only one HVAC system it's the only way to stay warm on the 1st floor without roasting on the 4th. And besides, the ambiance of a "fireplace" is undeniable.

Yurt RV wood pellets stove

We are considering one of the available yurt RV wood pellets stove for our 35' Dutchman. The doctor is recommending we replace the diesel heater that is giving my wife migraines. Propane is too expensive, and moist in the rainy Northwest winter's.

Doing a Google image search, we see there are some very compact wall mountable wpc wood pellets stove designs.

I like this 3x3x24" tall pellet stove but my wife wants something to cook on like the CHP.

At what surface temp is ok for a zero clearance installation to a 6x6 hardwood post?

Are you breathing the diesel exhaust fumes?
I have an Englandlander pellet stove sold under a number of names. 23w x21d x 28h. I put mine in when diesel was $4/gallon. Other than a barbecue, I've never seen a pellet stove that get its' top hot enough to cook on. Most stoves have a 3" minimum clearance on the sides and the back away from the fire box. The firebox walls can get to 400°. Double wall stove pipe can get hot enough to start a fire.

Interesting post for someone that only experiences 20 days a year when it gets a bit chilly on the water maybe worst been -2 c .My good friend fitted a Webasto diesel heater last winter it uses next to nothing in diesel. This unit is exhausted to the out side so there is no diesel smell what so ever in the cabin .
This 5.5k heater heats 3 cabins on a 40' Island Gyspy . When I come to think of it the water temperature here seldom goes below 17c even in winter so this unit may just be a toy in your conditions



https://www.webasto.com/au/markets-products/marine/heating-solutions/air-heaters/air-top/

Living aboard in NYC , (22+ years) where it does get cold , and working for a living the diesel fueled Dickinson was the only unit I could count on for days on end of being absent.

The fire was not pretty to view , but coming home to a warm dry boat , even if the marina electric was down, has its merits.

The bulkhead at the foot of the bed has a shipmate wood heater in case atmosphere was needed.

One of the attractive features of this WPC CHP wood pellet stove is it is modular, despite its small size it can have a cooktop, water heater, and or thermal electric generator added to the basic burner.

I'm really liking the idea of my burning fuel for heat doing many things for me like combined heat and power.

With the months of grey liquid sunshine the solar has a hard time keeping the diesel heater blower fans from flatlining the battery.

It will be nice to have the yurt stove that actually charges the batteries rather than drawing them down...

This evening pellet stove with hot plate cook top



I hope I did that image thing right, sucks to not be able to do a simple upload...

This is the basic burner we found in our Google image search that peaked our attention. This thing is smaller than our diesel heater... And requires no electricity to work.

https://www.google.com/search?q=yurt+rv+pellet+stove&client=ms-alps-full_pri6750_66t_m-gb&prmd=simvn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilgd376tLSAhVG7WMKHU7wCkgQ_AUICCgC&biw=640&bih=280#tbm=isch&q=yurt+rv+pellet+stove+wpc&*&imgrc=wJwaH3Q7T4LgOM:

Yes apparently I'm all thumbs when it comes to HTML images....

Try again...