Top 3 Heaters, Non-Shore Power?

May 24, 2004
7,164
CC 30 South Florida
My top choice is living in Florida. Google the internet for a flower pot radiator heater to place over a stove burner. Check out those vent less, propane canister heaters. Some come with an oxygen depletion switch. We run A/C in the summer with a Honda 2000 gas powered generator; I'm sure it could also run a 1,500 watts space heater. The best would be to put the kids in sleeping bags.
 
Mar 26, 2011
3,677
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
Allan, the normal water heater is six gallons. Of water heated to maybe 120-150. That won't go a long way to heat anything. Think about it. Even if you stayed plugged in with the heating element on, then you'd spend more to pump it around. Buy a space heater for when you're at the dock or a catalytic heater when anchored out, or invest in one of the heaters mentioned in a parallel discussion of Top 3 Heaters. KISS.
Actually, the volume of the tank is irelevant. The heating capacity will be the wattage of the tank heater + the wattage of the pump (that is not wasted, it is also heat). The result is it will heat just like an electric space heater of the same wattage, with a lot more complications. For those of us in cold climates, it has the additional weakness of bursting when cold. However, I can see the practicallity in some cases. Beaware that bus heaters are rated with ~ 180F coolant rather than 110F hot water; expect about 3 times less output.

The simplest way to determine how much heat you need is always to try a cheap electric heater of known wattage and adjust up or down based on that. Converting from watts to BTUs is simple.