Tried the Blue Flame, will be looking at another way to heat

DiploStrat wrote:
I have a Webasto Dual Top Evo on my Tiger. Does hot air heat and hot water. Next to no noise. Runs on diesel from the truck's fuel tank or, if you have a gasoline engine, a small, separate diesel tank.

Watch the little video.

we're in a diesel pusher. So...with these, sounds like there would have to be an engine running all night..not sure I want that since the engine is under our bed

wny_pat wrote:

SuzzeeeQ2012 wrote:


Ok, I'll see. I'm on CPAP and that pulls some off our inverter.

SuzzeeeQ,
See if you CPAP is both 110 AC and 12 VDC. The 12 VDC will not draw as much from the batteries as the inverter does. Mine CPAP is and many are, but they don't give you a 12 volt cord. You can buy the cords on line, and they are cheaper too than they are from the CPAP suppliers! Think I got my cord off ebay. Installed a 12 VDC outlet in the bed box.

it's only 110. I am due a new machine soon, and there are definite requirements I'm going to demand. A remote CONTROL for the thing lol I like to have the machine NOT near my head and it comes on automatically, and I can't turn it off unless I'm near the button, so that's why I want a remote (I've heard they're around) and now something else to look for...a 12V one :)

The blue flame heater is convective while the catalytic heater is radiant. Radiant heat is a more effective and comfortable way to heat a small area. That is an equally important benefit of the catalytic heater over a blue flame. Another is separation distances from combustibles are less with a catalytic heater than a blue flame. One will not get the same results as a catalytic heater with a blue flame heater.

Francesca Knowles wrote:

beemerphile1 wrote:

My point has also always been that if you are going to vent the exhaust - why waste the extra money on a platinum catalyst?

Do you mean on any (window-vented etc.) catalytic heater, or are you just referring to the platcat with its power vent...

I am referring to the PlatCat with the power vent and have mentioned it by name several times.

The primary benefit of a catalytic heater over a blue flame is that the off gas from the catalyst is less noxious. If the exhaust is vented outside, there is no benefit to the catalyst. Thus a vented catalytic heater like the PlatCat is just a waste of money.

You could vent a blue flame heater which would be substantially less expensive to purchase with the same results as the PlatCat. Which is essentially what the original furnace is - a vented blue flame heater.

beemerphile1 wrote:
My point has also always been that if you are going to vent the exhaust - why waste the extra money on a platinum catalyst?

My guess is that it makes it more efficient. Since they allow the vent to use PVC pipe I'm guessing that the exhaust temps are fairly low. That also indicates efficiency. However, without specs it's only a guess.

beemerphile1 wrote:

My point has also always been that if you are going to vent the exhaust - why waste the extra money on a platinum catalyst?

Do you mean on any (window-vented etc.) catalytic heater, or are you just referring to the platcat with its power vent?

It's my understanding that in either case, better use of the fuel is made by catalytic heaters- more bang for the propane buck, so to speak.

Am I just dreamin'?

EsoxLucius wrote:
...By the time the fuel/oxygen/catalyst produces radiant heat it really doesn't matter what heat is contained in the exhaust gases...

Heat going out is fuel wasted. Don't forget that the PlatCat is also sucking cold air in from outside through every nook and cranny. The exhaust going out must be replaced by air coming in at a 1 to 1 ratio.

EsoxLucius wrote:
...I'm thinking a vented catalytic heater producing long wavelength infra-red radiation does indeed have high efficiency and they don't vent much heat...

My point has always been that the PlatCat doesn't give any specs so we have no idea. Your opinion is valuable but is only conjecture. Your regulated furnace gives output and input BTU making it a piece of cake to know how efficient it is.

My point has also always been that if you are going to vent the exhaust - why waste the extra money on a platinum catalyst?

Great discussion going here, solid facts and hard to back up opinions. I don't have much to add other than the fact I have been using cat heaters since the seventies and still alive. First cat was a green mushroom Coleman which was used for ski bumming, and if a cat was going to kill me that would have been the one. Used it in a van covered inside mostly by sprayed on expanding foam, very air tight. Always left two windows cracked a bit which at below zero temps was a hard but needed decision. Only drawback to the mushroom was resort security it drew when I lit it off in parking lots because of the two foot flame while getting started.

I have a Webasto Dual Top Evo on my Tiger. Does hot air heat and hot water. Next to no noise. Runs on diesel from the truck's fuel tank or, if you have a gasoline engine, a small, separate diesel tank.

Watch the little video.

I think some of the previously stated efficiency concerns regarding vented catalytic heaters are overblown. These heaters heat an area through radiant heat, not convection from heated gases. By the time the fuel/oxygen/catalyst produces radiant heat it really doesn't matter what heat is contained in the exhaust gases, which should be very little. The fuel/oxygen activated catalyst plate has already radiated its effective heat into the living area. So I'm thinking a vented catalytic heater producing long wavelength infra-red radiation does indeed have high efficiency and they don't vent much heat with the other combustion byproducts of heater exhaust gases which contain water vapor, carbon dioxide, and minimal quantities of carbon monoxide, NOx, and hydrocarbon pollutants.