Sailing For The Soul
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Photo Galleries

Hydronic Heating

12/16/2020

1 Comment

 
Most winters we find ourselves tucked into a marina, out of harms way of winter gales. As the temperature dips into the low forties my mind always strays into project mode as we sit in our warm little boat. There are so many things I’d like to do, and every winter I plan on getting a few of them done. 

But because we use our floating home constantly, things wear out or break. The repairs take priority so the projects just have to wait. 

The most recent repair involved our beloved hydronic heating system. A hydronic heater heats water and then circulates it throughout the boat. Small radiators located in various spots then blow out warm air, feeling very much like a central heating system in a house.

So when our hydronic system stopped working in the middle of December, fixing it becomes the priority.

Luckily I knew enough about the unit to get it running, and I may even have found the root problem. This is not the first repair/maintenance I’ve done to the system and I’m sure it won’t be the last. So far it’s doing great, time will tell. I’ll post some specific articles on its ups and downs soon.

You may ask why don’t we just run space heaters at the dock? Well, we do most of the time, but it isn’t the same. Imagine keeping your house warm with space heaters in each room. It would work. But in the morning it's nice to just turn on the furnace and let the whole house soak it all up.

Another bonus is that the hydronic heater is diesel fired and very efficient. This means we stay warm when the power goes out during a storm. It’s also our only source of heat when on the hook.

Our system came from Sure Marine in Seattle and uses a Webasto 90ST heater core.
Picture
Webasto 90ST, 26,000 BTU 17 in long
1 Comment
prideservicestoday link
12/1/2022 07:41:47 am

I agree! Hydronic heat is more efficient than traditional air heating for many reasons. For one, water is a better heat conductor than air.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Odyssey


    Live as if you were to die tomorrow.
    Learn as if you were to live forever.
    -Mahatma Ghandi-

    Find Us

    Archives

    October 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.