Planar heater

petdoc4u · Mar 27, 2016

Just completed the installation of my 26000btu Planar Russian diesel heater 2 days ago. It went smoothly, install kit very complete with exception of expected custom parts such as exhaust tubing and need to extend included wiring looms. Is no noisier than other heaters and puts out great quantities of heat. I can feel the movement of air out of the registers unlike some heaters where you can feel warmth but only very slight air movement. Digital thermostat maintains desired temp. The only other heater with this level of BTU output is the Espar D8 at $6500 and is old school technology I am told. I paid approx 1/6th of that. I met the Northwest distributor who guarantees parts and service support. 2year no questions warranty. Well, so far I couldent be happier, of course time will tell the story. I'll report back periodically as to how its going.

FF · Mar 27, 2016

GOOD LUCK!

The Russians do know a bit about COLD!

FlyWright · Mar 27, 2016

Here's a review of a Planar heater. Interesting product at a resonable price. Do you agree with the points made regarding the fuel pump clicking and lack of temp control at the low end?

petdoc4u · Mar 27, 2016

Ive only had the heater operational for 48 hours so my experience is limited. However, regarding the thermostat: on power mode it will provide adjustable output which you can control. There are 8 or so settings for this mode. The thermostat mode allows the heater to increase or decrease heat output depending on set temp. The heater does NOT cycle on and off to maintain constant temp. Superior to other heaters in my opinion. Re the clicking pump. Its mounted in the engine room under the salon sole. Havent heard it! Lovin it so far.

Nomad Willy · Mar 27, 2016

He may be alluding to the same problem I had w the Wabasto. It worked fine adjusted to 60 degrees up but would run to maintain 60degrees as required all the time as temps went down lower. I was in Alaska at the time and wanted the Wabasto (WB) to come on in the mid 30's and turn off around 40 degrees. That way when the weather was in the teens I could leave the WB on and protect from freezing. It was'nt a WB problem but a thermostat problem ... control. I modified the mechanics of the thermostat (not the original from WB) to function the way I wanted. Recently I was at Sure Marine and they advised me the liquid mercury thermostat I was using was'nt suitable for marine use. Evidently they had a problem w movement and were only suitable for attachment to things that didn't move around. Was news to me. Never had a problem w it either after or before or I "fixed" it. We ran it a lot underway too. Until I have a problem I think I'll just run it. But it did have have the above limitation w the original WB thermostat and w the replacement too before it was "fixed". The thermostat now needs to be mounted about 30degrees to level to function properly. Looks funny but it works. Frequently my modifying things results in oddities but I've had very good luck.

windmist · Mar 27, 2016

Who is the NW distributor? I look at the Planer hydronic heater and it looks like it could be a direct replacement for my D10 hydronic Espar and with a lot more features.

Arctic Traveller · Mar 27, 2016

windmist;427953 it looks like it could be a direct replacement for my D10 hydronic Espar and with a lot more features.[/QUOTE said:
Should you decide to replace your D10, I'd be interested in it.

dhays · Mar 28, 2016

iirc, Webasto heaters can be setup a couple different ways. One way is that it will provide variable heat output by changing the amount of fuel the burner gets. The other way is to to simply cycle on and off. I chose the second route on my boat since I was told that the burners do better when running at full. The downside is that the boat has more drastic temperature swings when it is really cold outside, maybe 4 degrees at the worst. Not a hydronic system obviously.

FF · Mar 28, 2016

THe variable speed units will frequently be unhappy at low output.

Use kerosene instead of diesel,

or simply rig a timer to bypass the speed control rheostat for 5 min every 30 to operate on full.

Rebel112r · Mar 28, 2016

With my Espar D5l, if it has gone into the low and slow mode which it does if it is maintaining set temp, I normally crank up thermostat so that it will run on high for a few minutes before shutting down. Seems to extend life of glow pug and screen. Unit was troublesome prior to fixing electrical issue.

Nomad Willy · Mar 28, 2016

FF said:
THe variable speed units will frequently be unhappy at low output.

Use kerosene instead of diesel,

or simply rig a timer to bypass the speed control rheostat for 5 min every 30 to operate on full.

FF,
I just converted to kerosene. Nice new aluminum furl tank and plumbing. Then I grabed (by mistake) a jug that had some anti-freeze in it. I'm in the process of taking the whole system apart for cleaning. Do'nt know if any AF got into the burner.

dhays · Mar 28, 2016

FF said:
THe variable speed units will frequently be unhappy at low output.

Use kerosene instead of diesel,

or simply rig a timer to bypass the speed control rheostat for 5 min every 30 to operate on full.

I really would hate to have to manage another fuel. Diesel is something that I always have (hopefully). I can deal with a bit of temperature variation in the boat when it is 30 degrees outside. The nice thing is that over 5 years, the Webasto AirTop has given me no issues and has kept me warm(ish).

Nomad Willy · Mar 28, 2016

Dave,
How many hours on your 5year old?
Mine lasted a bit over 5 years and 800hrs.
Sure Marine was the source of my notion to change to kerosene. After looking at my Wabasto that would'nt start they recomended kero.
Yes we need to carry jugs of kero in the hold. That's where the gasoline is for the OB too. Dosn't sound ideal but we've never had leakage. Relatively constant temp and no sun helps a lot.

dhays · Mar 28, 2016

Mine was purchased from Sure Marine and installed by a local guy who takes most of his advice from Sure (like most everyone here in the greater Seattle area). Not sure how many hours on the furnace.

Of course there was the one time that we accidentally left it on when leaving the boat with an almost full diesel tank. We were gone from the boat for a much longer period (it was in the winter) and when we got back, the diesel tank was empty. Only a 40 gallon tank but it was almost full. After putting 5 gallons of diesel in, both my engine and the Webasto self primed and fired right up. It would have been running for a lot of hours in that case.

Arctic Traveller · Mar 28, 2016

manyboats said:
Dave,
Yes we need to carry jugs of kero in the hold. That's where the gasoline is for the OB too.

Really? You carry gas inside the boat? :nonono:

Never had a leak? Well, you know what the farmer said when his cow died, Damn, she never did that before. A leak could happen at any time for any number of reasons. How about finding it a home outside, perhaps on top somewhere?

Russ Borman · Mar 28, 2016

I'm looking to install a heating system on my boat. I looked this over and I like it .
How many registers is it able to handle?

FF · Mar 29, 2016

Just a thought, The Russians are great at selling new stuff , not so great at parts .

Anyone that messed with Russian copies of BMWs knows what i mean.

If the unit works well for you , purchase the factory shop manual and parts book, and purchase a SECOND new unit .

When its killer cold, installing #2 will be faster than removing the unit , taking it down and ordering parts.

Having the stock parts numbers may allow the parts to come from Russia , should the current seller evaporate.

In the archives I gave some tips for Espar folks using truck heaters in their boat .

Nomad Willy · Mar 29, 2016

Arctic Traveller said:
Really? You carry gas inside the boat? Never had a leak? Well, you know what the farmer said when his cow died, Damn, she never did that before. A leak could happen at any time for any number of reasons. How about finding it a home outside, perhaps on top somewhere?

AT,
Nice to see you again.
Still have a neat pic of you leaving Thorne Bay .. I think.
Yea I was wondering who would comment re the gas in the hold. I may compromise by getting better containers. With all the "down w fly bridges" comments I've posted here having a good place for gas cans is a good use for the FB. Thinking about it now I could probably put the fuel jugs (plastic) in the rubber duckie on the cabin top. That would be a PITA though. Especially if it's wet. Now I wonder who will say "better than boom". By the way since you've decided to be the safety expert ... how explosive is kerosene? And yes I've seen jet airplanes burn. It's a little more volitile than diesel I'd think .. but don't know.

FF · Mar 30, 2016

"And yes I've seen jet airplanes burn. It's a little more volitile than diesel I'd think .. but don't know. _"

And you have seen oil rigs and tankers burn, even though they are carrying heavy oil that must be heated to flow.

Diesel and kerosene are similar in terms of explosions

Pumps are diesel rated not gasoline rated.

Gas is different as the vapor can explode.

Arctic Traveller · Mar 30, 2016

manyboats said:
AT,
By the way since you've decided to be the safety expert ... how explosive is kerosene? And yes I've seen jet airplanes burn. It's a little more volitile than diesel I'd think .. but don't know.

I'm no safety expert, but I can tell you that the flash point is the lowest temperature at which vapors of a fluid will ignite. Gas has a flash point of minus 45deg F, while Kerosene has a flash point of +100 to 162deg F. That means for all intents and purposes, ANY gas that escapes will be capable of ignition. If the concentration is between the UEL and LEL (upper and lower explosive limit) any source of ignition, including static will cause an explosion. As little as 1.4% of gas vapor by volume of air will cause an explosion if it's in a contained area (such as your bilge) and gas vapors can sometimes permiate plastic containers. The minor amount of work needed to place the gas cans in the dingy are more than worth the effort if it saves your life, your loved ones, your boat and / or rescue personal called to the scene. Agreed?

FlyWright · Mar 30, 2016

"By the way since you've decided to be the safety expert ... "

Eric, can you list one source that recommends storing gasoline containers in your diesel boat's hold? Is it completely segregated from any and all ignition sources?

Nomad Willy · Mar 30, 2016

Thanks FF, Artic Travler and Flywright,
The hold has several bilge pumps and a passage in the lower bilge to the engine compartment. So you guys are right. I just thought it's gotta be safer than in the eng comp so it must be OK. Well actually while cruising we put flamables on the port side deck but w the addition of Kero there will be too many jugs/cans to easily step over and the dinghy is out as I'm sure handling them up there is more dangerous than stowed below. Now I dono. Perhaps metal containers for the kero in the hold and the OB gas on deck.

Arctic Traveller · Mar 30, 2016

manyboats said:
I'm sure handling them up there is more dangerous than stowed below.

I'm not sure why handling the gas containers to the top of the house is more dangerous than below deck storage. Actually, I can't think of too many things that would be more dangerous than below deck storage of gasoline. Is the problem that you physically would have trouble getting it up there? If you are storing your dingy on the cabin top, just leave the can in the dingy as you raise and lower it. The can may expand a bit in the sun though, but covering them will solve that problem. Do you need a ladder to the top deck? If so, I have a SS one I'll give you if you promise to stop keeping your gas below deck. :socool:

Cesna chow · Mar 23, 2022

Hey all, I'm new here. I have a 24' Sea Ray that doesn't have any sort of heat in it now. Would you say a 2kW or 4kW would be good for the cabin and if you don't mind me asking, if you were doing the install, where would you mount the heater?

Cesna chow · Mar 23, 2022

LOL holy smokes, I have been Googling "Planar Diesel Heaters" and just read an article on: https://www.4wdtalk.com/planar-diesel-heater-review/ where this guy mounted a 2kW in his Turtleback trailer (which by the way looked like a clean install) and I was looking for some boat reviews with a Planar heater installed. Which is how I found this forum! After commenting on this thread I just noticed this is from 2016! OLD THREAD! I hope I can still get some help on my last post.

Should I post a new thread on the topic or will people answer this old thread?

Marco Flamingo · Mar 23, 2022

Boat US did an experiment where they stored an exact amount of gasoline in a generic red plastic container for several months. I don't remember the exact amount, but it was missing more than a few ounces when measured again. Gas "goes bad" because some of it "goes away," especially through generic plastic gas cans. Apparently, what goes through plastic is the potent stuff. Probably why they aren't rated for below deck storage.

I could hear my diesel heater pump ticking when first installed. Not bad, and kind of comforting. But I changed the pump so that it wasn't attached directly to the bulkhead. The hose leading to and from it is fastened down, but the pump is suspended by about a foot of hose on either side. Then I got a piece of foam pipe insulation (aka pool noodle) and put that over the pump, zip tying both ends. It has to be a really, really quiet anchorage before I can hear the pump. My thermostat shows whether the pump and fan are running, so I just check that.

CaptTom · Mar 23, 2022

Cesna chow said:
Hey all, I'm new here. I have a 24' Sea Ray that doesn't have any sort of heat in it now. Would you say a 2kW or 4kW would be good for the cabin and if you don't mind me asking, if you were doing the install, where would you mount the heater?

My guess would be the 2KW would be fine, that's a pretty small space. You don't want to have to run these things on low all the time.

Obviously getting the Russian version might run into some geopolitical problems right now. But in the years since this thread started, the Chinese versions have become much more available. They work well and you can buy two or three of them for the price of one name-brand unit.

As for location, put it somewhere that allows the shortest and most direct exhaust run possible. These units are really made to exhaust directly through the floor of a truck or RV. The exhaust pipe can get hot enough to glow cherry red, and the units aren't designed to move the exhaust very far.

RonR · Mar 23, 2022

I think Mike is a dealer.
Diesel Outfitters
19018 Smokey Point Blvd Ste 4, Arlington, WA 98223
(360) 386-9608

Planar heater

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