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From: Stefan Mochnacki (no email)
Date: Mon Feb 05 2007 - 17:05:16 EST
On Mon, Feb 05, 2007 at 09:05:00PM +0000, wrote:
> Be aware that there are two types of ceramic heaters.
>
> The cheap, so-called "ceramic" heaters are very light weight and do not
> appear to me to offer any function different from old fashion hot wire
> heaters.
>
> True ceramic heaters are heavy. When you pick one up you immediately
> notice how heavy it is for the small size. These ceramic heaters are
> sturdy, last near forever, and IMO are the safest AC heaters available.
>
From many years of experience, heating my boat (8 years) and an observatory
instrument room (5 years):
You get about one year per $CDN 40 invested in a heater. The el-cheapo
little cube heaters, rather mis-named ceramic, are generally noisy and are
toast after one winter of Toronto-style live-aboard use (the fan bearing
gives out or the thermostat unit burns its components. Ah, that familar
smell of Roasted Resistor...). The more expensive $80 units will last two
winters until Roasted Resistor occurs. This is having the units run night
and day about half the year.
The best true ceramic unit I ever bought still works (sort of). It cost
$100, and it was a compact Venturi fan sort of thing, allegedly a civilian
spin-off from a military jet fighter cockpit heater. It was quieter and more
efficient than anything else, made in Canada I think, with a stronger
airflow (very important). Unfortunately, its circuit breaker/safety connector
died when it got splashed with seawater and corroded. And I lost its
stainless (or chrome?) stand... but I still use it occasionally.
I always preferred the units with a fan, despite the noise (the two-winter
heaters are quieter), but the much-missed George Geist, who was very active
on this list until his sad demise about 5 years ago, strongly argued in
favour of those oil-filled silent central-heating-radiator-style units. They
have a large size in the vertical dimension, with a long footprint of small
area. Since area rather than height is lacking on a boat sole, it can work...
That's about it. You gets what you pays for.
Stefan
PS: Re heating while absent or asleep: the main thing on a boat at the dock
on shore power is to regularly check the shore-power cable hook-up sockets
and connectors. Any corrosion will lead to heating and potentially a fire.
Check the polarity, and run GFI units... The "standard" 30 amp "marine"
connectors are quite vulnerable to corrosion-induced resistance and heating.
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