Best Engine Room Heater

I had already ordered one dancer.
Here is my old apart.
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As you can see not much to them.
The 2 wires going to the element
Wasn’t healthy. Glad I changed it out.
 
I spoke to the owner of twin hornet and he built me a 1000 watt unit that isn't advertised for my Cruisers. The largest one they supplied was marginal for my bilge. The good thing about their setup is that it's double redundancy. Two thermostats, two heating modules, and two fans. If one piece should fail, you still will have half the unit working. His business started out serving the Aviation industry where they require double redundancy.

Edit - looks like he's selling the 1000 watt unit now on his site.

https://www.aircraftheaters.com/

https://www.boatbilgeheaters.com/
 
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Wolverine Oil pan heaters. Had (2) install in Sea Ray 420AC on Cat 3126 for over ten years on the Chesapeake Bay in Deltaville,VA. Your Diesel engine loves being warm as well as the rest of the engine room. You can leave them on the entire time or run them through a line voltage stat if you’d like. I had a 250 watt heater on both engines running September till end of April. Non on generator as it was fully exposed to the heaters. Eliminates condensation and makes for easy no smoke engine start ups even on non electric diesel engines.
I heard that these Oil pan heaters, if kept constantly on, will make rust inside the engine, what is your opinion?
 
Like some here, I run the twin hornet bilge heaters along with wolverine pan heaters. The ER is nice and toasty... just checked it it's 47* down there and just as warm as my cabin :) I use the temp sticks to monitor ER, cabin and cockpit.
 
I have a Camfaro Pali. I mounted it on two 2”x4”s to get it off the floor. The boards also let me sit it between the engines on the floor with any concern of it rocking over should we get a big wake. I plug it in and leave it til spring. I check on it. My bilge isn’t toasty, but I’m not trying to heat it. Just trying to keep things above freezing and it does that well. No complaints with it.
 
I heard that these Oil pan heaters, if kept constantly on, will make rust inside the engine, what is your opinion?

Well, I just had my oil analysis done and it came back perfect. I have had my oil pan heaters going 6 months a year for the past 14 years...
 
I was always happy with the BoatSafe heaters in my previous boats.

The "good ole boys" in Richmond, VA love to put house heaters in their engine compartments. I keep waiting for one to burn..wait, one did a few years ago and took the entire marina with it.
 
I used the Extreme heaters. Nice thing is that they have a fan and move the air around in the engine room. Not only do they keep things reasonably warm, they also reduce condensation and the subsequent corrosion. I don't know if an oil pan heater will reduce condensation on the exterior of the motor. Make sure you cover your engine air intakes if you are using a bilge heater.
 
I used the Extreme heaters. Nice thing is that they have a fan and move the air around in the engine room. Not only do they keep things reasonably warm, they also reduce condensation and the subsequent corrosion. I don't know if an oil pan heater will reduce condensation on the exterior of the motor. Make sure you cover your engine air intakes if you are using a bilge heater.

I have these as well, on my 2nd one. Temp is set too high, turns on ~40 and doesn't turn off until almost 60. Same on two units, basically runs non stop. Wouldn't recommend these sending mine back.

Just ordered the Twin Hornet 66. Hopefully that will be a whole lot better.
 
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... Just ordered the Twin Hornet 66. Hopefully that will be a whole lot better.

So I received my Twin Hornet 66 yesterday and noticed an issue with the temp this morning. Sent an email to the Johnathan at BoatBilgeHeaters.com (manufacturer) and instead of emailing me back, he called me directly. At the end of the conversation it was decided that I needed two of the smaller heaters instead. So he offered to send me two of the 45's and all I have to do is return the 66, both for the same price because of the issue I was having.

I can't say enough nice things about how Johnathan handled this issue. Great company that really understands customer service, and that is extremely rare these days. I just wanted to make sure people know this because dealing with Extreme Heaters was not the same experience and I was very glad those heaters were an Amazon purchase.
 
What was the issue you were having?

I have a twin hornet 1000w unit.

According Johnathan the 1000w unit has the thermistor mounted to internal parts and will cause the unit to not turn on/off at the advertised temps. Only some units have this issue according to Johnathan. Mine tuned on ~40 and basically never turned off. My engine room was ~53F and the heater was still running at 10Amps. The 600w heaters have the thermistor hanging free of mounting and can register the correct in coming air temp.

I have received my two 600w heaters, pro-gratis, and now the heaters turn on/off under 50F. My engine room is now ~46F and the heaters cycle as they should.
 
According Johnathan the 1000w unit has the thermistor mounted to internal parts and will cause the unit to not turn on/off at the advertised temps. Only some units have this issue according to Johnathan. Mine tuned on ~40 and basically never turned off. My engine room was ~53F and the heater was still running at 10Amps. The 600w heaters have the thermistor hanging free of mounting and can register the correct in coming air temp.

I have received my two 600w heaters, pro-gratis, and now the heaters turn on/off under 50F. My engine room is now ~46F and the heaters cycle as they should.

Thanks for the follow up.

Last year during the bad texas snow storm, my remote thermometers registered around ~37/36 degs before the units turned on. They did go off from what I could read. Granted the thermometers could also be off slightly, but it appeared to work as it should. I will keep an eye on things.
 
For those using heaters in your engine compartments, do you winterize your engines as well? If no, what's your backup plan if the marina loses power?

Are you winterizing your other raw/fresh water systems? If not, what are you doing?
 
For those using heaters in your engine compartments, do you winterize your engines as well? If no, what's your backup plan if the marina loses power?

Are you winterizing your other raw/fresh water systems? If not, what are you doing?


I'm in NY, outdoors, shrink wrapped.
All systems are winterized.
Engines, Gen, AC, Heads and drains with antifreeze
Fresh water systems blown out with compressed air.
I am plugged in all winter, so why not leave the engine room heater on.... Can't hurt!

Edit: added AC
 
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I am in the water outside and everything is winterized and I have the bilge heater set in place.

1. Engines drained
2. Genset exhaust blown out
3. AC blown out
4. All fresh water systems blown out
5. Seacocks closed, strainers vacuumed out, caps off.

I stopped using marine antifreeze after I got comfortable using air. It wouldn't hurt to use it for the engines if you have expensive ones, however, some just drain the water like I do.
 
In the water with a 1000 watt bilge heater plugged in. Cabin heat set to 55*. I can monitor temperatures remotely. Marina loses power and things get too cool, crank the generator. Lake rarely gets below 50*. 22* two nights in a row and bilge never dropped below 41*.

Bennett
 
For those using heaters in your engine compartments, do you winterize your engines as well? If no, what's your backup plan if the marina loses power?

Are you winterizing your other raw/fresh water systems? If not, what are you doing?

I'm in MD and the outside temp right now is 24 and ice in the water. I am in the water full time, only short haul to do the bottom and zincs. Fully winterized including air blown through the threw hulls and anti-freeze poured in them as well. I have two 600w bilge heaters and two cabin heaters on 24/7. The bilge heaters turn on at 40 and off at 45. I match that in the cabin at the same temps. Over kill? Probably, but it makes me feel better, that along with remote monitoring.
 

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