Espar heating

Jackdaw · Mar 5, 2013

ken336 said:
Bought a boat with espar heating and I have two questions. There is three controls on the thermostat, the dial controls the temperature, the one on the right is the on off switch, what does the one on the top left do? It is marked 1/1 and 1/2.
When I turn it on and come back there seems to be a mist or light smoke in the air. Is it humidity? Or is there something wrong with the unit? There is a very faint smell of diesel but it could be normal as it burns diesel to operate. Since I do not know what normal is, I'm confused. Thank you for any help.

The air coming out of your warm air vent should NOT have any diesel smell at all. Like your house furnace, it uses totally indirect heating and the combustion loop is separated from the cabin air loop. If there is a leak you could end up with a carbon monoxide problem.

Ideally, the system will draw cool air from inside the boat and warm that. Combustion air comes from around the heater and is exhausted out near the transom. These two systems should never meet.

onecoolair · Mar 5, 2013

ken336 said:
Bought a boat with espar heating and I have two questions. There is three controls on the thermostat, the dial controls the temperature, the one on the right is the on off switch, what does the one on the top left do? It is marked 1/1 and 1/2.
When I turn it on and come back there seems to be a mist or light smoke in the air. Is it humidity? Or is there something wrong with the unit? There is a very faint smell of diesel but it could be normal as it burns diesel to operate. Since I do not know what normal is, I'm confused. Thank you for any help.

Please be more clear....Diesel smoke and smell???? Inside or outside???

Jackdaw · Mar 5, 2013

ken336 said:
When I was washing the boat I may have got some water down the exhaust port. What if any problems might occur because of that?

If installed correctly, the exhaust line will curve upward and then come DOWN to the port, making it very difficult for water to backflow all the way to the unit. I'd check yours if you are worried.

Jackdaw · Mar 5, 2013

ken336 said:
I thought possibly since the exhaust exits the stern, that's where I was getting a slight smell of diesel back into the cabin.

It depends on where your fresh air intake is.... often it is mounted low inside the cabin, but sometimes outside, perhaps in the cockpit. If it IS outside and somewhat close to the exhaust, then you could get some diesel smell.

onecoolair · Mar 5, 2013

Jackdaw said:
It depends on where your fresh air intake is.... often it is mounted low inside the cabin, but sometimes outside, perhaps in the cockpit. If it IS outside and somewhat close to the exhaust, then you could get some diesel smell.

Jack....I would second your opinion about were smell of diesel may have came from at first start up....or lets hope it was just a one time slight breeze blowing the exhaust back toward open main companionway.
A slight burn dust like smell and fog in the cabin air may have been just your normal begining of season start up...... My furnace at the house does it.....The main a/c heater on boat does it ....My little ceramic office heater does it....Both of my grey West Marine low profile electric space heaters do it on boat..After sitting idle for 8 to 10 months....etc.
I would advise to make sure to have working CO detectors in each cabin on boat !!!