Advise needed on tube heaters

[The Slug]

Hello all, I have a parker 6.3 with mercruiser 1.7 dti. The boat is out of the water and stored in a warehouse. With all this cold weather we've been having, I've been considering getting one of those tube heaters as the last thing I need is a damaged heat exchanger etc etc (already spent a load of money on a turbo this year because the waste gate seized). I've not got that much experience of inboard engines, does anyone know if it's common to get damage caused by freezing conditions? Also I'm a bit concered about the potential fire hazard of leaving one of these on 24-7? Any advise would be appreciated. I should add that I have drained the heat exchanger but I expect theres bound to be water left in the system somewhere

Thanks in advance

Paul

[Zippy]

I have just ordered 2 tube heaters (same as those people have in green houses) one to sit in the engine bay and one to sit by the fresh water tank. Thermostatic plug set to 3 degrees. Will be fine!!!

wouldn't want a fan Heater on all the time but tube heaters should be fine!

[Erin]

Most people with inboards tend to feed some water with a dash of coolant into the water intake and run the engine for a few moments. This gets a mix of antifreeze through all the important parts which minimises corrosion and also prevents anything freezing up. You shouldn't need to worry about heaters then.

[T 15]

in our cruiser I use tube heaters



either on a timeclock or on stats, running antifreeze thro is also good, also make sure you dont have any water ( without antifreeze ) in the ball of any closed ballvalves.

[Mollers]

I'd go for a decent dehume rather than low wattage heaters. The dehume will add a few degrees and dry the engine bay. Just warming up the engine could make the condensation problem worse. If you attach a length of garden hose to the permanant drain and run it out of a trunk, you can forget about emptying the bin.

[C2 RIBS]

Our marina staff recommend tube heaters as described. We use under covers by consul openings and use catlitter in sandwich boxes open to take out damp no probs over two years use

[C2 RIBS]

Originally Posted by C2 RIBS

Our marina staff recommend tube heaters as described. We use under covers by consul openings and use catlitter in sandwich boxes open to take out damp no probs over two years use

Forgot to say used in engine bays of loads at marina on and off water

[The Slug]

Really appreciate all the replies guys. Ribbing has been a pretty steep learning curve for me so its good to get as much advice as possible. This is my first rib with an inboard engine so just getting to know it really. Just finished doing the timing belt and service last weekend. It seems to be a constant battle with corrosion to be honest, even the tensioner pulley and fly wheel sprocket had some surface rust, so i ended up using a whole can of quicksilver anti corrosion stuff so fingers crossed it should be ready to go for another season. I think i will get a heater just to be on the safe side, they seem to be fairly reasonable in terms of cost and as Erin said it can't hurt to throw some anti freeze around the system. Thanks again

[Leapy]

Originally Posted by Mollers

I'd go for a decent dehume rather than low wattage heaters. The dehume will add a few degrees and dry the engine bay. Just warming up the engine could make the condensation problem worse. If you attach a length of garden hose to the permanant drain and run it out of a trunk, you can forget about emptying the bin.

+1

[The Slug]

Hope I'm not being stupid here but how would the dehumidifier option work then, its a pretty small engine bay on the parker 6.3?

[Leapy]

I think the point here is that a heater simpy converts water from a liquid state to a gaseous state...unless the water vapour has somewhere to go it will simply evaporate and condense with fluctuating temperature caused by the heater thermostat. If you have a vent to let vapour out, then more vapour can get in too.

With a dehumidifier, the water is absorbed into the dehumidier and then drained out as Mollers explained and there's no need to provide an air vent. But, it does assume power - which you must already have - and space - which you may not.