Tag: Frost Protection

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Winter Frost Protection Year 2

Last year we set the boat up with two thermostats, a normal one that controls the Eberspächer D4W diesel heater when we need it, initially the heating was just a switch on/off. I also fitted a frost thermostat both of these have a switch so they can be taken out of circuit.

Frost Thermostat
Frost Thermostat

So this year we made sure the diesel tank was fully topped up switch in the frost thermostat as low as I could above freezing (about 2°C).

Update Feb 2023 – This seems to have worked well again this year, we have used a few gallons of diesel, but the boat seems to be free of any frost damage.

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Eberspächer D4W Diesel Powered Frost Protection – Update

Winter is not over for us yet, there will be a lot more opportunities for our canal boat Floydtilla to freeze.  In November I fitted a frost thermostat to control the Eberspächer D4W Hydronic diesel heater, before that it was just a pull button start and it would run until the water returning to the diesel heater was to hot, now with the frost thermostat we have it switching on if the internal temperature of the boat reaches between 2 and 4 degrees.

Diesel Tank Usage
Diesel Tank Usage

We have mains power at the marina, and also a large diesel tank, but I was still worried that our tank would run out or a prepaid electricity would run out, either could have stopped the heating working.

So last weekend we went to visit the boat and check everything was working, and to our great good fortune, it all had been working very well. We can see the diesel tank gauge had dropped, but not by much, less that a eighth of a tank used in two months, and our prepaid electric which was at about £25 when we last left was down to about £10. The electric in the marina is not cheap, but this summer may be the time I fit some solar panels for complete independence.

Electricity Topup Card
Electricity Top-up Card

Went we left on Sunday, we topped up the electricity with another £20 just encase, we do hope to be back within a month, but you never know.

The next project for Feb is to fit a thermostat so we can set and maintain a temperature, and also add some isolation switch for both thermostats so we can override them if needed after that we want a remote control for the heating so I can turn it on before we arrive on a cold day.

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Frost Protection options with our Canal Boat

This is going to be our first winter with a canal boat, and I have been looking at how we can protect the boat against freezing.

I had a few options:-

  • I could drain all the water out of the boat, i.e. the water tank and the heating system. But we intend to visit the boat over the winter as a jumping off spot for visiting relations.
  • We do have mains power, so I could place some oil filled radiators in the boat, they would need an anti frost setting. This looks like a viable and popular option, but we have to prepay for electricity and I have no idea how much we would need.
  • The boat is fitted with a very effective diesel powered heating system, with radiators around the boat. At present, the control system is very primitive, with just an on/off switch, we have used it a few times. I would need to fit a frost thermostat to make it effective.

After much studying and asking questions on Facebook and the online forums, I decided to go with the third option and use the built-in diesel heater. We have a large diesel tank, so this I hope will last the winter.

Eberspacher Heater Switch
Eberspacher Heater Switch

Our boat is fitted with an Eberspächer D4W Hydronic water heater which heats the radiators and provides hot water when required, which in the summer is not often. It is controlled by a simple pull switch.

I then tried to source a 12v frost thermostat, from what I could see a 12v Honeywell frost thermostat part no 4111263a would do the trick. The prices of these seem to vary from each supplier, but in the end I selected PB Auto Electrics as the price and delivery seemed reasonable.

But when it arrived, it was the T4360 240v frost thermostat, A quick check with PB Auto Electrics and, they confirmed it was exactly the same device, I wish I had known before it would have made finding one a lot simpler.

NOTE: This type of thermostat is a very simple device, that uses a bimetallic strip as a switch when temperature changes see here for a more detailed explanation.

My plan was to fit the thermostat is parallel with the current switch, so I could still use the switch when needed, the frost thermostat could then operate independently when the internal temperature of the boat gets too low.

To install the thermostat, I made some extension leads from the switch to the new thermostat and mounted it on an internal wall near the control panel.

The switch had two wires attached, a yellow wire and a red wire. The red wire has 12V supply from the heater, and the yellow goes back to the heater to trigger it to start.

Inside Thermostat
Inside Thermostat

Inside the thermostat, I extended the red wire to terminal 1 and the yellow to terminal 3.

When you remove the cover of  the frost thermostat it revels a wheel with the temperatures marked on it, it is pretty much a normal  thermostat with a cover that stops adjustment.  To test the setup changed the setting to  above and below the current temperature.

Everything worked as expected, so I finally set it to between 3 and 4 degrees.

Before I left, I did take a photo of our fuel gauge, so I can see roughly how much diesel we use.

Next I will add  a frost protection switch, so I can isolate this in case of problems, I could have done this with the current switch, but I expect to add a normal thermostat later which will work with the switch or replace it.

 

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