A25 Auxiliary heater

[Bob Noodat]

For some reason you made me think of this:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bwvlbJ0h35A

Yep, it's a dog's life. That's why we named our little ship of dreams (or fools?) La Dolce Vita, The Sweet Life. Just another day in paradise down here (low 80s the next few days). Love Weird Al. This one my favorites of his bits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEcjgJSqSRU

Great! Speaking of Paradise, this is my favourite:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lOfZLb33uCg

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[WillieC]

"Oh, how I wish we could afford a PNW summer home at Seattle prices! Then I could pester you six months out of the year! That would be the beginning of the end of the neighborhood though."

Oh, this neighborhood is long gone, since we moved in...I don't WANT you moving in and end up raising my property taxes. I'm telling you...Hood Canal waterfront. Both sides of me. Moving out. One is estate related and they are spending way too much to raise the price way too high for someone else to move in and tear it all down. I don't expect it to move too quickly. The other side could have been a bit of a steal, but there is a relative/friend realtor who will be cashing in. Not the owner.

I hope to re-install the Esparanto Escargo heater tomorrow. Pics will accompany details of my own private Super Tuesday. Exit polls of the entrance polls are caucusing Superly.

Stand by for NEWS!

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[DesertAlbin736]

Great! Speaking of Paradise, this is my favourite:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lOfZLb33uCg

Yes that's another funny one. There is only one Weird Al, a national treasure. We could go on and on about Weird Al bits. I know we're veering way off topic here, but the paternal side of my ancestry dates back to German Swiss "Palatine" immigrants (aka Pennsylvania Dutch) arriving in Philadelphia in the 1740s and settling in NE Pennsylvania. They were Lutherans, not Amish, but if the Amish in Lancaster had phone books my last name would be as common as Smith or Jones anywhere else.

By the way, we saw this Amish kid stopping to go fishing on the Erie Canal in Lyons, NY in 2015. Not sure where he "parked" (or who stole) his horse. The photo is a bit grainy because it was shot from a distance at max telephoto. But I've always thought it was a cool picture.

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That's all I'll say on this digression, now let's get back to WIllieC's heater, which we could have used one that day on the canal.

[dkirsop]

Hey Richard, be careful with that heater. You might have a 2 knot drift to port every time you start it!

[WillieC]

Exactly! I may just have to find another to add on the starboard side. Hmmm...right over the galley sink!

Of course, my total fuel consumption, for at least two days per year, might go up to .635 gph.

[WillieC]

Let's wrap this up.

Thought I was all done, ready for paint when last we spoke. I could not get Rustoleum gloss black paint from Home Despot to cover, stick, dry, turn black, or do graffiti. I will be using Krylon from here on out. I did have a partial can of Hammerite which I knew would cover the usual multitude of sins. Two or three coats later, even over half cured black putrid swill. Done.

The combustion chamber, once I removed the blower, was encrusted with soot and carbon. Somewhere I read about burning it out with an acetylene torch, but CAREFULLY... Fortunately I only have Mapp gas and I knew enough to stop when I detected burning rubber. O-rings. Almost an oops.

Just below the intake vortex

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is where the fuel enters through the glow plug. This area was especially carboned up and the torch loosened it up pretty good. I scratched around with an awl and screwdrivers to remove as much as I could then I noticed some sort of lighter colored layer starting to show up. Thinking it was asbestos, I quit scraping and took a break to finish my last will and testament. When I came back, a closer look revealed some sort of screen material wrapped around the inside of that initial part of the combustion chamber. A little more poking and prodding began to loosen up a bunch more carbon, more like gray ash revealing that, sure enough, that screen used to wrap the whole portion. Ever notice how brightly screen glows in any kind of fire? Well that is how the diesel is supposed to ignite once the unit gets going and the glow plug is turned off. So I kept poking loosening up and removing as much crud as I could reach around what remained of the screen. No asbestos after all.

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Then I rewired the whole thing to match the somewhat official Eberspacher schematics that came with the boat. I eliminated the extra relay that didn't do anything, there were plenty of contacts on the other one, crimped new connectors, added an on/off switch, fuel interruptus push button, and proper operation green lamp.

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I wanted to re-route the ducting that serves the aft cabin storage area to provide heat to the helm area. I managed to snake the whole length without cutting so aft cabin heat can be restored later easily.

This is one of those projects you don't want to drag out, mainly so you don't lose all the little parts and pieces and forget how it is supposed to go back together. Best part was no fuel leakage at any connections, first time. Then bleed the system and fire it up. (First, make sure the winter tarp is not laying against the exhaust outlet...trust me.)

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Controls are inconspicuous enough and not easy to inadvertently operate.

Always measure twice and redo the whole thing when you screw up.

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All in all, this was a great project. We'll see how well it works. I am concerned about the fuel system losing its prime, but that is not that big a deal. It's just that you can't override the little dosing pump and the doses are small. I also decided to include the fuel delivery interrupt switch which lets the glowplug heat up even though I was able to clean out a lot of crud which was contributing to slow ignition. The hot glow screen inside the unit is largely missing and that would be huge in improving initial combustion, though it is not bad now. We'll see how long it continues to work.

In reality, I didn't do that much, other than clean everything up, repaint, tear it all apart so now I know EXACTLY how it works. Trouble is, with only a few days use per year, there is a very good chance I'll forget it all when I may need to troubleshoot later. I kept good notes though, and now it matches the original schematics.

I still have a lot of engine heat going to waste. (But I have an ancient 5 gallon dual coil water heater laying in the shop. It even has a 120V element! Maybe next year...)

Thanks for all your advice and encouragement, to say nothing of the usual thread drifting comments! I appreciate it all, especially the humor.

[nebulatech]

Nice work! So it was a screen in the end that was causing the heater to not reignite?

I am impressed with the wiring I see against the cabin bulkhead. I've worked on a lot of boats, including some expensive ones, and my general opinion is "if you wired a house this way, they would put you in jail." I like the clean runs and gentle 90 degree bends you have.

I hesitate to ask this, because I don't want to infer anyone is full of $#!&, but isn't that heater installed in the factory default holding tank location?

[Bob Noodat]

Well done. And very interesting to follow. Is the screen like a hardware cloth, or like old-fashioned metal door screening? Will there be enough left to maintain combustion?

At least now I know who to send my Apexscratcher to when it crêpes out. Could I have your mailing address please?

[WillieC]

"I hesitate to ask this, because I don't want to infer anyone is full of $#!&, but isn't that heater installed in the factory default holding tank location?"

Well that would be THE VERY FIRST TIME anyone insinuated that I might not be playing with a full deck. NOT! HA! Love it.

Actually, I think there are a lot of them built just like mine. I have the original owner's manual that came with ours, and it clearly shows the heater, the two holes in the side of the boat, the routing of the ducts, the whole nine yards. Now I have to go back and look for the holding tank.

Our holding tank is under the starboard bench in the vee berth. It holds around 13 gallons or so and matches an auxiliary fresh water tank on the port side. I am SO glad whoever plumbed it knew his port from starboard. Since they match, I suspect neither is original as the official freshwater tank is all the way forward and costs about $22,000 to replace, if I recall DA's figures correctly.

Other models may vary. The WillieC is 1973 vintage, kind of halfway between the original garbage scow and the DeLuxe models. Nowhere is "DeLuxe" indicated, but somewhere I have read of a "Mark II" reference. We have the newer hull at the stern, the 3 cylinder Volvo Penta, mighty, green, and cranky though she be. We have a funky one-off engine cover I have not seen elsewhere, and I have seen a few A25s. No hinges, no two-parts, no removing the seat for full access. Just lift and separate, like the bra. Ok, a little slide action and that's enough about that comparison.

This part of the boat is somewhat under-utilized on the WillieC. The batts, 2 group 31s, sit way low, and could easily accommodate another layer of batts, kill my aching back now, perish the thought. DA relocated his batts to add a 20 gallon holding tank. Not sure where his USED to be. Steve? I may have plateaued on spiffing things up, other than cosmetics. My next upgrade may well be to a dessicating toilet. The pumpout situation the farther north one goes in the Salish Sea is abysmal.

Full of $#!&, indeed! You just wound me up! HA!

[WillieC]

Oh, the screen...

It is way heavier than screen door. I suspect it may also be something along the order of Ni-chrome, because it doesn't burn up and go away. Well it sorta goes away after 47 years.

Because it glows so red in the presence of combustion, it can only assist in lighting the diesel. The rest of the chamber gets plenty hot as well, and once the whole thing warms it settles into a nice combustion sound. No whoomping, (it's a word, trust me) no flame throw action out the exhaust, thankfully. My thinking is the whole chamber, especially the front end, fuel end, (as opposed to the exhaust end) gets plenty hot with and without the fully intact screen to keep burning. But what do I know. I just tear stuff apart and try not to lose all the pieces. And I will be installing a CO sensor, replenish my fire extinguishers, and never run it over 30 minutes, NEVER unattended.

I am open to suggestions about the screen. It appears to have been installed before the whole thing was welded up, so replacement could be tricky. Surely (stop calling me Shirley) there is somebody's ancient German uncle who worked at Eberspacher in the 70s who hangs around family gatherings in northern Minnesota tottering away by the fireplace with a stein or two at hand regaling whoever will listen about the glory cold war days...made a little less cold by the ingenious little heater.

[Bob Noodat]

Anything useful here?

https://www.amazon.com/Eberspacher-Heat ... B00WIVZK8Q
https://www.experimental-engineering.co ... g-screens/
https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32998790514.html
.... or did I get the wrong end of the stick again?

My father, born in England in an era when outside toilets were the norm, explained to me that the origin of this, in Britain at least, was that a stick was used instead of toilet paper. Hence.......
Now, my father was frequently full of $#!&, so I cannot vouch for the etymological authenticity of this derivation. Huh?

[WillieC]

Different stick altogether, though I think the idea is the same. These little screens shown in your posts, Bob, are wrapped around the glow plug, newer, much newer style than my X2 model. The screen the X2 has is wrapped around the very end of the inside of the combustion chamber forming a cylinder about 2" in diameter with a 2" length. Hard to get pics of but just below the vortex I have shown. The vortex adds air, the screen portion is where the fuel dribbles in. The scale in most of these photos is hard to compare.

Close but no cigar stick, wrong end or nae.

I am less concerned about the etymological use but more the physical application in lieu of toilet paper. Our dear neighbor in another lifetime back in our Illinois days was Einar. Crusty old Scandihoovian, but great guy. We got along great separated by a mere 60 years or so. He had a cooling off shack out back attached to one of his barns where he would retreat to when he and Alice were on the outs. Complete with indoor plumbing. He confided to me too many infirmities of age, one of which was constipation, which often would not clear the bowl on first attempt. Thus the stick leaning against the wall next to the commode. Sometimes they needed a little busting up and there you go. RIP, old friend.

Thread drift? DA's got nothing on me.

[DesertAlbin736]

DA relocated his batts to add a 20 gallon holding tank. Not sure where his USED to be. Steve?

Rick/WillieC, you da man!

Here's what the placement of our original 9 gallon holding tank was (which we still have sitting out in the discard pile). Master battery switch was in the wall in the lower port corner inside the head compartment. Aren't those battery cables lovely? Only red cable was the one to the start battery positive post, all the others, including positive side house bank cables, were black.

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It doesn't appear our boat ever had a heater installed, nor a fridge.

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Nebulatech, I PM'd you about that wheelhouse opening support bar. I have it ready to ship. See the PM.

[WillieC]

In Steve's last picture in the above post, notice the two thick blocks attached to the inside of the hull just below his radio. Those blocks are for mounting the angle brackets that support the Everlasting Esparanto heater.

I rest my case. Apparently the see all/know all fortune tellers at Kristenhammer knew those blocks would come in handy in the Mark II models!

[WillieC]

Here we are, two seasons later and I have yet to fire it up in the boat. We live in a mild climate for sure, especially in our chosen boating season. Hard to decide whether I prefer watching the boat burn to the waterline in a chilly remote harbor or on the trailer in the yard. At least on the trailer the waterline becomes moot.

I WILL fire it up when I drag it out in a few days and report back.