Dickinson Heater and Eco Fan

I have noticed several posting with comments and questions regarding Dickinson Heaters. As an addition to our Dickinson Alaskan heater we have installed a "Eco Fan" on top of the heater:* *http://www.caframo.com/hearth/hearth_products_woodstove.php
This little fan consumes no power at all and is a wonderful addition to your heater. I have had one of the fans in operation on our last three boats over the past ten years. This thing is bullet proof! Last summer when we brought our boat down from Prince William Sound Alaska to Puget sound we used the heater quit a bit, in fact the heater and fan ran one time for 30 straight days!

There is a hot water circulation system that Dickinson sells that I would like to hear comment on. I've had an idea of heating water with the Dickinson that would circulate hot H2O thru a little radiator type heater that would be placed about 20 feet away. I have no idea if this would work.

Rob & Anne
"Lady Anne" Willard 40PH
La Conner, Wa./Girdwood, Ak.

Very cool.* Thank you Rob.

I don't have the H.W. heating coil but know of two boats with it . They use it to heat the hot water tank from the Dickinson stove/heater I see no reason that it couldn't be used to run a small radiator for heating a remote area. Even better if there was a fan to blow through the rad.

Keep in mind though that the two boats I know of were able to install the tanks ABOVE the heater by about 2 or 3 ft. One is a pilothouse 37 ft boat so it was easy, the other not so much. They must be above for the convection to work. Otherwise you would need a small pump to force movement through the coil and radiator. Since Webasto, and the like offer hydronic systems they may have a tiny, low draw pump you could adapt.

Otherwise maybe someone like Grainger or McMaster Carr offer something

If your installation requires a circulating pump I would highly recommend Johnson Pumps "Heavy Duty Fresh Water Circulating" pump series. These pumps are very quiet especially compared with other manufacturers and are designed for continuous running. I had one on Penta for over 6 years (until she was put on the hard for re-building) and it gave no trouble however that could not be said about the ones it replaced from the "big name " pump manufacturer.
No involvement in Johnson Pumps just a very happy customer.

John Tones Penta
Sidney BC

"I see no reason that it couldn't be used to run a small radiator for heating a remote area. Even better if there was a fan to blow through the rad."

Yes But,

One huge advantage of the Dickinson is the lack of any electric required.

No matter how small a circ pump it will kill the batts if the juice is off at the marina long enough.

We used the 7 turn coil in a floor mounted Dickinson on our 90/90.

With a pilot house it was possible to get almost 8 ft of head , and a 3/4 copper finned tubing thermosyphon system was created.Gravity , no electric.

It took a great deal of engineering as elbows and 45's slowed down the circulation too much.

Sweeps , from the fridge folks did the trick.

Regardless of the outside air temp , the water in the loop needs to be about 135F and the boat is T shirt from 45F to -17F , the coldest week I recorded.

-- Edited by FF on Wednesday 19th of January 2011 05:19:45 AM

If you go for a Dickinson, just make sure you get the*stainless steel flange connecting the body to the smoke stack. Dickinson switched for a while from SS to a cast aluminum alloy flange. The melting point of the alloy is below the max temperature the heater can produce.* This guy was lucky his fire alarm triggered when he had a meltdown in his 3 mo old Dickinson. In his last post he says Dickinson has switched back to SS.