mattkab
Senior Member
All:
Our boat has an 80's era bulkhead mounted Force-10 Kerosene heater. It's hard to light, smokes if not adjusted just right, requires pressurizing the fuel tank in the aft storage area, and the smell tends to give us headaches. In short, my wife hates it.
So one of my winter projects this year was to replace it with another heater. We tossed around the idea of a diesel/kerosene model with an isolated combustion chamber direct vented to the outside. Those run ~$800 and it appears would require a new flue and deck cap, as the diameter is twice that of the existing pipe.
Then I came across this diesel->propane conversion kit for the existing heater: http://www.go2marine.com/product/156519F/diesel-to-propane-conversion-kit.html
I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this product?
At $200 retail, it is substantially cheaper than a new replacement heater. We already have propane on board and in the cabin, with CO/LPG detectors, solenoids, etc because our oven/range is LPG. In theory, all I'd need to do is add a T downstream of the solenoid valve, and replace the kerosene fuel line with a propane one.
However, it is still an open flame in the cabin, but that appears to be the only negative.
I don't want to start a huge propane vs diesel debate (and I really don't want to relive the propane bottle storage discussion from last November But I am interested in any thoughts...
Our boat has an 80's era bulkhead mounted Force-10 Kerosene heater. It's hard to light, smokes if not adjusted just right, requires pressurizing the fuel tank in the aft storage area, and the smell tends to give us headaches. In short, my wife hates it.
So one of my winter projects this year was to replace it with another heater. We tossed around the idea of a diesel/kerosene model with an isolated combustion chamber direct vented to the outside. Those run ~$800 and it appears would require a new flue and deck cap, as the diameter is twice that of the existing pipe.
Then I came across this diesel->propane conversion kit for the existing heater: http://www.go2marine.com/product/156519F/diesel-to-propane-conversion-kit.html
I am wondering if anyone has any experience with this product?
At $200 retail, it is substantially cheaper than a new replacement heater. We already have propane on board and in the cabin, with CO/LPG detectors, solenoids, etc because our oven/range is LPG. In theory, all I'd need to do is add a T downstream of the solenoid valve, and replace the kerosene fuel line with a propane one.
However, it is still an open flame in the cabin, but that appears to be the only negative.
I don't want to start a huge propane vs diesel debate (and I really don't want to relive the propane bottle storage discussion from last November But I am interested in any thoughts...