Bus Heater

[Mark Myns]

I will be retiring next year and I would like to travel in early spring and late fall with my boat on the Great Lakes. It can get cold on the water especially because I like to travel at night when it is calm. I am thinking of installing a bus heater in the main cabin so that I can draw heat off the engine. I pretty much know the pros of the argument but I was wondering if any one has some cons that I should consider. I have a 135 hp Ford Lehman. I could use the generator to run the reverse cycle a/c but I look at the bus heater as free bonus heat. I know there is likely a marine heater that will do this but a bus heater should work just fine since it is not exposed to the elements, unless I sink. I also plan to have shut offs installed on the lines so no heat gets to the heater in the summer.

 

[GoneFarrell]

Do it. I have one for the cabin, former BC boat, on upper fan settings it will drive me back up to the flybridge!

 

[Capitaine R]

We have one in the saloon and although we have only used it once it worked great.

 

[CaptTom]

They're great. Very popular around here. Go for it!

 

[O C Diver]

I have 3 in series in my boat. They are in the forward stateroom, saloon, and pilothouse. I have the blower motors wired through a relay that is activated by a temperature switch in the cooling loop. 2 of the units have room thermostats controlling the blowers also. Basically, I wanted the blowers to shut down when the engine temperature drops, such as waiting for a bridge opening, locking, or in a slow speed zone. With a 2 GPH fuel burn rate, with 3 blowers running, the thermostat stays closed with 170 degree engine temperature. Once the room thermostats start cycling the blower motors, engine temperatures return to normal.

Ted

 

[Wxx3]

Do it. It really warms the boat.
I too was worried about heat in the summer and being able to shut it off, but in fact, it gives virtually no heat without the fan on.
So I ended up making a triangle loop, leaving the leg from the engine to the water heater, then adding a hose to the bus heater and then back to the engine.

Here is what I brought:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E5ND7MG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Xsbank]

Radiators. No noise, tons of heat.

 

[FF]

A nice sized bus heater can easily be in the 60,000-80.000 BTU range

An efficient displacement boat that operates at 2 or 3 GPH may have to re-plumb to get enough hot engine water into the box heater.

We use a small 12V centrifugal pump to assist water movement .

At anchor the 12v pump and box blower at low speed is sometimes enough to steal heat from 3000lbs of DD to warm the cabin for hours.

Beware if a HW heater is in the same circuit as some simply shut down the circulation to keep the domestic HW from becoming scalding.

 

[psneeld]

I have one, great for short sleeve cruising while sailboaters and flybridgers are in parkas.


My water heater is also in the loop so half safety precaution half ability to isolate it...I put in a small heat exchanger near the engine before the loop goes to the water heater. The secondary loop with a very small inexpensive 12V solar circuit pump feeds the bus heater.


Warms he boat fine, heats the water fine and the Ford Lehman 120 at 1700 rpm runs at 175-180 degrees.

 

[jleonard]

I have one, great for short sleeve cruising while flybridgers are in parkas.

.

I'm a "flybridger" guilty as charged but I can run a small cube heater on the bridge thru my inverter.
Or wait for the warm weather since I no longer own a parka LOL

 

[sunchaser]

I have 3 in series in my boat. They are in the forward stateroom, saloon, and pilothouse. I have the blower motors wired through a relay that is activated by a temperature switch in the cooling loop. 2 of the units have room thermostats controlling the blowers also.
Ted

In our neck of the woods the thermostats are called aquastats, working in a similar manner to Ted's.

With our Hurricane II heater there is one additional aquastat. That is the one the allows the hydronic heating system to perform with the diesel heater automatically bypassed/off. Engine coolant can be circulated to a plate heat exchanger (equipped with the additional aquastat) used to heat the hydronic coolant loop. The engine coolant loop is valved, or better said the valves serve as the on/off switch for the plate heat exchanger aquastat..

In essence, a bus heater in the hydronic loop.

 

[psneeld]

I'm a "flybridger" guilty as charged but I can run a small cube heater on the bridge thru my inverter.
Or wait for the warm weather since I no longer own a parka LOL

A couple times I wound up docking with delivery captains for the big Viking sportfishers headed south in December....they were running the boats from competely open flybridges at higher speeds and headed to southern dealerships/tower companies to have all the metalwork done.



Talking to them reminded me of my time in the arctic where talking to people with their faces frozen almost made you snicker.

 

[FF]

For those braving the elements with little heat , the best I have found is a "Ski Do" suit.

The huge zippers make it easy to get into , and to ventilate as the day gets warmer.

Water resistant for anchor drills , machine washable , and the big zippers might make it easy to shed if you go overboard.

 

[OldDan1943]

The AT has 2 resistance heaters, one in SR and the other in the saloon. Alas, need to run generator. Remember this is a 30 amp boat..... run the 2 hearts and the 30amps are maxed out.
It also have a fan that draws air from the ER and into the pilot house.
No place to put a bus or truck heater.

 

[Tingum]

I would look at an Espar or Wabasco instead of one that works off the main engine. If you anchor out a lot you will soon figure out my reasoning.

 

[Alisske]

Hi. I know it is off topic a bit, but my boat originally had a heater hose system that worked off the fresh water side of my Lehman 120. It ran with 3/4 OD hoses in and out of the cabin to a heater.

I removed it because the heater was leaking and I needed the space to run electrical.

I started using a “My Buddy” catalytic propane heater and it has really served me well. (I boat year round in NE, but most folks only need heat a few times a year, so it might be worth using one of these to get by)

There is a pic below (heater on table - was working on an old outboard)

Just FYI. Good Quick solution.

 

[Xsbank]

Bus heaters work but are darned noisy. This is better:

https://www.amazon.ca/Bathroom-Radi...&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B07WNP8H56&th=1

 

[BruceK]

...I started using a “My Buddy” catalytic propane heater and it has really served me well. (I boat year round in NE, but most folks only need heat a few times a year, so it might be worth using one of these to get by)

There is a pic below (heater on table - was working on an old outboard)

Just FYI. Good Quick solution.

Effective heaters, but carbon monoxide poisoning is a risk.Some may have monitors built in, I would be wary of taking a snooze and not waking up.

 

[boatpoker]

https://heatercraft.com/collections/heaters-1

Satisfied customer for about 25yrs.

 

[Alisske]

Effective heaters, but carbon monoxide poisoning is a risk.Some may have monitors built in, I would be wary of taking a snooze and not waking up.

Excellent consideration. This has the low O2 sensor. Used catalytic heaters abroad and have used them on my boat and garage for many years.

I think the biggest danger is the propane fuel. I run a 20ft extension how to a large tank that vented outside of hull.

It takes longer to prime the unit, but worth the safety

 

[oscar]

It also have a fan that draws air from the ER and into the pilot house. No place to put a bus or truck heater.

How about right in front of that air intake from your engine room...... close to the hot water and would send toasty air up there.

Can be as small as 5x8x2 inches....

 

[BruceK]

Thinking of early VWs, where a heat exchanger system heated air destined for the car interior by passing it around the exhaust manifold/piping. All it took was an exhaust leak into the air destined for the cabin, and uh oh, I feel sleepy.....

 

[Portage_Bay]

Hi. I know it is off topic a bit, but my boat originally had a heater hose system that worked off the fresh water side of my Lehman 120. It ran with 3/4 OD hoses in and out of the cabin to a heater.

I removed it because the heater was leaking and I needed the space to run electrical.

I started using a “My Buddy” catalytic propane heater and it has really served me well. (I boat year round in NE, but most folks only need heat a few times a year, so it might be worth using one of these to get by)

There is a pic below (heater on table - was working on an old outboard)

Just FYI. Good Quick solution.

In addition to the CO risk other's have mentioned I had one run away on me. Stuck on high, the control knob frozen with no way to turn it. Yes, frozen as in ice. Must have been moisture in the propane that when the gas expanded froze the control valve. I solved the run away by carrying it outside and tipping it over to trigger the tip over safety shut off. It worked. I did some research at the time and found it was a not uncommon occurrence. I still use it but will only run it on high for a few minutes to get the worst of the chill driven out then throttle it down to low.