Dickinson Marine heater

[uriedog]

Anybody using a Dickinson (or other) type propane or solid fuel heater?

I am thinking of putting one in, but would like to here some real world numbers of how they work.

[reed_cundiff]

Weight and cube are not of considerable concern to motor coach owners. However, Liberty Coaches ($1.8 M and up) have gone completely to lithium iron phosphate (LFP) with a claimed weight savings of about 1100#

A 180 amp-hour (2.4 kW-hr) 12 V nominal battery (4 LFP cells) weighs about 60 to 80 pounds and provides 80% DOD for several thousand cycles. This would provide the equivalent of more than 150# of lead acid. The price of LFP is going down drastically just as the price of solar panels has gone by a tremendous amount in the last several years. Balqon sells one of these for about $2.5 K. This is scarcely a game changing cost for most people.

We full-time (and almost entirely dispersed camp/bush camp) and have 9.6 kW-hrs of LFP and 1.4 kW of solar on our 5th wheel. Our battery bank consists of four Manzanita Micro 180 amp-hr 12 V batteries (each is four 180 amp-hr CALB cells). These four batteries are in series to provide a battery bank at 48 V nominal. Each 12 V nominal battery weighs 64# and is 12" x 13" x 8" (29 kilos and 30.5 x 33 x 20 cm).

We have only tied into line power for 3 days in the last 18 months and have not used generator except to trial. A friend of ours has (will have shortly) 1.2 kW of solar on his truck camper/motorcycle hauler trailer combination.

We have a friend who will shortly have 1200 W of panels on his truck camper/ motorcycle trailer combo. He is looking into LFP
Reed and Elaine

[Mike_Hohnstein]

Works for me, very well.

Have one sit's on the floor of the camper @ nite and one in the stair well of the Wanderlodge AND one for emergency back up heat in the kitchen of the Cabana at our place in north central Idaho. Haven't died yet or had issues with moisture.

[garryk6]

Home built wood stove for boat or camper...
Here is one persons try at a tiny wood/solid fuel heater for a bota or RV.

I am thinking of trying to build the same for my Avion, and giving it a try!
Garry

[uriedog]

Cost no kidding!!!


1 200 ah 12v group D $2300.00

[HMS_Beagle]

The fire issue with Lithium batteries has been solved (Lithium ferris and lithium carbon don't have the thermal runaway issues many of the other chemistries do). It's the cost issue that needs addressing now.

[John___Angela]

garryk6 wrote:

John & Angela wrote:
Gotta wonder though how much something like this would cost installed. Would it exceed the cost of installing a robust solar system and using the existing propane furnace...eg around 800-900 bucks. Just curious, never had any experience with these kind of stoves.

One of the issues that plague Truck Camper owners that motor home and trailer guys don't hardly think twice about, is the weight of a "robust" solar set-up, as well as the limited real estate on the roof of a TC. A robust system includes a large surface area of panels, AND a sizable storage capacity. The sizable storage capacity equals weight, and space, both of which are a problem for most TC Owners... Some who have trailers, solve this problem by setting up the extra solar and storage in the trailer. If the fire issue is ever solved on the Lithium batteries, I could see that as a real plus for TC owners.

Personally, I am researching welding and manufacturing for my own TC a small solid fuel stove. I have teh Cozy Cabin in my boat, and for what it is, it does it's job, but I prefer the Wave in the TC, due to size and less moisture. But there is still moisture. In Alaska, there is always wood available, and for the size I am looking at the fuel could be stored in sandwich baggies... Either Wood, charcoal briquettes, or even lump coal are some things I am exploring. I found a few interesting Home Built miniature wood/solid fuel stoves around the internet, and I think there is a real possibility. I have even hit my son up who is a very good welder for ideas...

Garry

Interesting stuff. Thanks.

[uriedog]

Power consumption on the forced air is only one problem. They are also noisy. My last TC had a gravity heater, very warm very quiet.

Trying to do it on budget is also a deciding factor. I thought about just building a solid fuel heater. I am a professional welder so the fab part is no issue. May have to start looking for a good small design that pulls combustion air from outside like the Kimberly stoves.

[garryk6]

John & Angela wrote:
Gotta wonder though how much something like this would cost installed. Would it exceed the cost of installing a robust solar system and using the existing propane furnace...eg around 800-900 bucks. Just curious, never had any experience with these kind of stoves.

One of the issues that plague Truck Camper owners that motor home and trailer guys don't hardly think twice about, is the weight of a "robust" solar set-up, as well as the limited real estate on the roof of a TC. A robust system includes a large surface area of panels, AND a sizable storage capacity. The sizable storage capacity equals weight, and space, both of which are a problem for most TC Owners... Some who have trailers, solve this problem by setting up the extra solar and storage in the trailer. If the fire issue is ever solved on the Lithium batteries, I could see that as a real plus for TC owners.

Personally, I am researching welding and manufacturing for my own TC a small solid fuel stove. I have teh Cozy Cabin in my boat, and for what it is, it does it's job, but I prefer the Wave in the TC, due to size and less moisture. But there is still moisture. In Alaska, there is always wood available, and for the size I am looking at the fuel could be stored in sandwich baggies... Either Wood, charcoal briquettes, or even lump coal are some things I am exploring. I found a few interesting Home Built miniature wood/solid fuel stoves around the internet, and I think there is a real possibility. I have even hit my son up who is a very good welder for ideas...

Garry

[John___Angela]

Gotta wonder though how much something like this would cost installed. Would it exceed the cost of installing a robust solar system and using the existing propane furnace...eg around 800-900 bucks. Just curious, never had any experience with these kind of stoves.

[HMS_Beagle]

I would agree on the moisture problem.

How about a vented catalytic?

[uriedog]

bb_94401 Thanks for the picks and ideas.

HMS Beagle. I have a catalytic, no good for winter camping, enough moisture to deal with already.

I like the vented heaters, and pulling the combustion air from outside is the safest way to go

[HMS_Beagle]

And Espar or Webasto works pretty well - but they both take quite a bit of power to run, not a lot less than an RV furnace I think. If you are after power reduction a catalytic propane heater will work better than a canister type like the Force 10. It is just a stove burner with a pot on top (in concept). I had one on my last boat. Maybe the Dickerson is better.

[bb_94401]

uriedog Here are a couple pictures of my Dickinson heater mounted in my boat



The chimney provides both fresh air for combustion and exhausts the combustion products. It is double walled and uses a special cap shown below.



Inlet air goes in under the bottom bell, and the exhaust goes out from under the top bell. When sailing and not using the heater we covered the stack by adding a stainless steel bowl with a single hole drilled in it.



This kept lines from getting tangled in it and large amounts of water, that was washing over the deck from entering. You can see the bowl just above the front of the window on the starboard side.



You don't need to go up on the roof to remove the stainless steel bowl each time you want to use it, if you think it is needed to keep rain out while driving your TC. Add a series of holes in the back half of the bowl that I used to allow the gases to enter and exit. We had an earlier version that worked this way.

[uriedog]

for $900 I would just put in a dickinson marine LPG heater.

The current heater is OK but a little loud. I will be able to run a small genny once every other day to keep the batteries topped up. (I have a Honda EU 1000)

I also discovered the Fatsco Tiny Tot today. Another great little coal/charcoal burning stove. $250. seems reasonable for a little stove. A little more robust then the dickinson heaters too. A little more involved to the install thought.

My biggest questions are on heating capabilities.

the size of this is 6" diameter 11.5" tall

[John___Angela]

Thinking out of the box a bit. I had some one come to me with a similar problem, sking and ice fishing with a camper,(think it was a wolfcreek 850) trying to keep it warm etc. We did some experiments to see if we could offset the power usage of the forced air furnace with solar. Doesn't sound like much of a challenge but with short winter days and not always sunny conditions it was surprising. After all was said and done it looked like it would need a solid 250 watts of solar to make it happen. I laid out the option for him and he had to decide between that and going with a Plat Cat furnace which presented its own challenges for install. He opted for the solar for a couple reasons. He never used his canoe rack in the winter and worse case scenario if it didn't work out for him he would have a killer solar system. We managed to squeeze a 160 and a 140 watt solar panel on the roof and he hasn't looked back since. In good sunny conditions its way overkill but in bad conditions it seems to work out for him and he has had no problem with one week dry camping stays. He says he tends to park in spots where the sun can hit the roof a little easier but other than that it seems to have worked out for him. He also got rid of all his incandescent lamps and changed them with LED's which I think made a significant difference.

Not sure if it would work for you but something to think about. Seems to me he spent about 900 bucks or so.