bilge heater

[jjssas]

410 Dancer in water over Winter. Connected to shore power. Batteries left connected. Outside Temps usually in the 20-35 F range. Will a light bulb (turned on of course) in the bilge keep the air in the bilge dry/warm in any meaningful way? Certainly a 40 or 60 Watt bulb would not keep the engine innards WARM. Anyway, what is the point of warm air in the bilge over the winter? Is it really that big a deal? I have not used any heating device in the bilge in past years and the boat does just fine operationally all season.

Thanks
Court Ship
Baltimore

 

[Four Suns]

Is this 60 watt bulb instead of doing a proper winterization with antifreeze?

 

[37 Dancer]

I have to admit........I've been a light bulb guy for 8 years now. I use 2 clamp style ( with tin shades )shop lights with 100w bulbs......clamped to the stringers....just inches above my bilge pumps. I winterize the entire boat......just use the bulbs to keep the pumps/water from freezing.

I know this is ...to some people .... a no-no....but it works for me. Bilge heaters are fine.....but the bulbs direct the heat more to where I want it.

 

[Henry Boyd]

37 Dancer,

You don't specify engine type in your sig, so if diesel: never mind

But for gas owners think about the following:

1) Incandescent light bulbs are an ignition source,

2) gasoline vapors are heavier than air,

Using 100 watt light bulbs in enclosed engine space, unsafe idea unless blowing up your boat is your intention

 

[37 Dancer]

My 370DA has 7.4 EFI motors.....and like I said its a no-no to some people.....but it works for me....year after year. Its not a source of ignition but a source of heat.

I don't want to get into a useless battle over this.....but any electrical device...in an engine room.... can be a potential source of ignition.

Thanks.....

 

[Four Suns]

The OP asked why to keep the engine room "warm" and I'll explain my experience.

Some of the engine room heaters, like the Xtreme ones I've used for various boats I've owned, have a fan on them to keep the air moving. The problem is that you need to keep everything that can freeze from getting below 32 degrees (or a little lower if it's salt water) and there will be nooks and crannies that the outside of the boat will keep cooler than where your heat source is located. Because of that, you need to keep the bilge air moving as well as a "safety factor" so the "cold spots" don't freeze.

I don't winterize... and if it gets down in the single digits, I have to keep the cabin of the boat warmer than I do if it's in the 20's because the hull sides are not insulated and the shower valves will freeze... really... I know... If the outside air is in the single digits, I crank up the heat inside the boat to be in the 60's... if it's in the 20's, I leave it set in the 50's...

Hope that explains the logic... The colder it is outside, the warmer you need to keep the inside and have air movement so the remote areas stay above freezing...

Also, the wattage of a single bulb won't cut it (even ignoring the safety issue). The colder it is, the more wattage you'll need (see above) and for your boat I'm guessing you'll need 800 watts or so for your engine room... I'm south of you... it gets cold sometimes...

The other option is to put oil pan heaters on your engines. I did that this year and will be reporting on how well they work. They'll keep the bilge warm but it's really more of a function of being able to start very cold engines to go out fishing in December/January. Those are made by Wolverine engine heaters: http://www.wolverineheater.com/

 

[Nehalennia]

My 370DA has 7.4 EFI motors.....and like I said its a no-no to some people.....but it works for me....year after year. Its not a source of ignition but a source of heat.

I don't want to get into a useless battle over this.....but any electrical device...in an engine room.... can be a potential source of ignition.

Thanks.....

Ok, not going to battle you either, but a light bulb is not ABYC, UL, CE or USCG listed

 

[Nehalennia]

The OP asked why to keep the engine room "warm" and I'll explain my experience.

Some of the engine room heaters, like the Xtreme ones I've used for various boats I've owned, have a fan on them to keep the air moving. The problem is that you need to keep everything that can freeze from getting below 32 degrees (or a little lower if it's salt water) and there will be nooks and crannies that the outside of the boat will keep cooler than where your heat source is located. Because of that, you need to keep the bilge air moving as well as a "safety factor" so the "cold spots" don't freeze.

I don't winterize... and if it gets down in the single digits, I have to keep the cabin of the boat warmer than I do if it's in the 20's because the hull sides are not insulated and the shower valves will freeze... really... I know... If the outside air is in the single digits, I crank up the heat inside the boat to be in the 60's... if it's in the 20's, I leave it set in the 50's...

Hope that explains the logic... The colder it is outside, the warmer you need to keep the inside and have air movement so the remote areas stay above freezing...

Also, the wattage of a single bulb won't cut it. The colder it is, the more wattage you'll need (see above) and for your boat I'm guessing you'll need 800 watts or so for your engine room... I'm south of you... it gets cold sometimes...

Gary
That's a good point. I was considering a Boatsafe "Bensaco" unit, I don't see that they have a fan.

 

[Four Suns]

Yeah... I'm not crazy about the "convection" only heaters... Here's the specs on the Xtreme ones: http://www.xtremeheaters.com/heaterspec

I think they are better quality and make more sense than those "West Marine Special" jobs...

The oil pan heaters are convection only but they heat up two very big hunks of iron (QSM-11's) so they work a little better... ;-)

 

[chuck1]

Just a quick plug for xtremeheaters.
I've got the xx(Medium)tremeheater on our 240SD works great!

 

[Four Suns]

Just a quick plug for xtremeheaters.
I've got the xx(Medium)tremeheater on our 240SD works great!

Oh... then nevermind... I can't recommend a product that a guy uses who advocates taking a bow rider across the gulf stream...

 

[chuck1]

Oh... then nevermind... I can't recommend a product that a guy uses who advocates taking a bow rider across the gulf stream...

Now that was just plain funny.:thumbsup: I nearly spilled my coffee all over my desk.:lol: We all have to have our faults.:smt021 At least it is a Sea Ray bow rider.:thumbsup:
:lol::smt043:lol:

 

[Four Suns]

The reason it's nice not to winterize s so you can sweep the snow off the boat at 5 am and go enjoy the striped bass fishing off the coast of Virginia and North Carolina:

and

(the location is correct but I don't go fishing around the breakers/inlets like those idiots do)

This will break your light bulb.

 

[Larry&Leisa]

I just installed an Extreme in the 370. I had trouble finding a suitable location but because it can be placed at any angle and because of the fan as Gary said, I think I'll still get plenty of circulation. (I had to mount it rather high.. but pointed it so the heat was blown down)

 

[Southpaw II]

I've used the Benasco/Boatsafe 750 watt heater in 2 different boats, and they work fine. And, they do have a fan. These cut on at about 45F and off around 55F. I don't remember exactly, but it's in the sales info. They even give you a can of cold spray to spray in the end of the heater to fool it into coming on, so you can test for proper operation. Saying that, I am now going to go the light bulb route. I know guys in my present locale that do it, and it works fine. I now live in a less extreme climate where I need heat only a few night a year. By the way, remember that the warmest part of your bilge is probably near the front and near the lowest point since water is typically warmer than the outside air. The outside edges near the top of the engine room are the coldest. Keep those vents plugged with rags or foam.

 

[Nehalennia]

I've used the Benasco/Boatsafe 750 watt heater in 2 different boats, and they work fine. And, they do have a fan. These cut on at about 45F and off around 55F. I don't remember exactly, but it's in the sales info. They even give you a can of cold spray to spray in the end of the heater to fool it into coming on, so you can test for proper operation. Saying that, I am now going to go the light bulb route. I know guys in my present locale that do it, and it works fine. I now live in a less extreme climate where I need heat only a few night a year. By the way, remember that the warmest part of your bilge is probably near the front and near the lowest point since water is typically warmer than the outside air. The outside edges near the top of the engine room are the coldest. Keep those vents plugged with rags or foam.

I was looking on their website but did not see any mention of a fan.

 

[EmJay]

My last boat was 410. It had Cat 3126 T engines and I had the Cat guys put heaters on them. IIRC, the heaters that they installed warmed the antifreeze, which then circulated through the engines. Seemed like a good idea!

I plugged them in when it got cold here. They made the engines so warm that the whole engine room area would stay warm and toasty, no matter how cold it was outside.

The engines would start almost instantly, with no smoking, even when it was really cold outside. This was cool, BUT after the first month or so of use I got a timer for them, this was after I got the electric bill!

It was quite a surprise to me to out find out that those things used as much or more electricity/month than the ACs did during the summer. ($$$$$) Ouch!

 

[Southpaw II]

It's there....trust me. I've had these things apart to repair them. The fan looks like one out of a computer power supply. Very reliable. The one we took apart was making noise when the fan cut on. A little lube was all it needed to run quietly again. They are riveted together, but if you drill out the rivets...no prob. This unit was very old.

 

[Four Suns]

My last boat was 410. It had Cat 3126 T engines and I had the Cat guys put heaters on them. IIRC, the heaters that they installed warmed the antifreeze, which then circulated through the engines. Seemed like a good idea!

I plugged them in when it got cold here. They made the engines so warm that the whole engine room area would stay warm and toasty, no matter how cold it was outside.

The engines would start almost instantly, with no smoking, even when it was really cold outside. This was cool, BUT after the first month or so of use I got a timer for them, this was after I got the electric bill!

It was quite a surprise to me to out find out that those things used as much or more electricity/month than the ACs did during the summer. ($$$$$) Ouch!

The oil pan heaters basically do the same thing (i.e. warm the whole engine). Dom (osd9) had a remote temp monitor so we could all see the weather in his engine room last year... very toasty.

You can hook a thermostat up to the circuit to allow the on-engine stuff to only come on at certain temps but I haven't looked into that yet... guess I'll wait until I get my first electric bill and then bitch about it... then do it.

 

[mrsrobinson]

Gary
That's a good point. I was considering a Boatsafe "Bensaco" unit, I don't see that they have a fan.

I have used a BoatSafe heater for 4+ years in 2 different boats. It's worked well for us and to the best of my knowledge it uses a fan, or something fan-like, I do not really know. I can hear what sounds like a fan and I feel air moving when I test it with freon.

I am not an expert on the matter though, you may want to contact them directly for clarification.

"This product provides forced-air heat through a patented case design to keep your engine compartment safely above freezing while maintaining ignition protection"