04/07/2017
THERE IS HOPE for MANKIND YET
Now, this might look like a complicated piece of machinery, and in many ways it is, but does it work as a heater? Oh yes indeed.
Let me tell you a bit of a story about my experiences with the Proheat hydronic heater. Originally owned by Teleflex (the people who make steering controls and all sorts of other marine related items) the company name has changed to Seastar Solutions and Proheat is under their umbrella.
I first got involved with the company when I purchased a Formosa 51 sail boat. It had no working heat and as I was living on board I had to do something. I had been involved in the marine industry for many years, so I knew a few people and hunted around looking for a machine that would put up with the live aboard life and not just the odd trip out in winter. Proheat was recommended. The company that sold it to me has long since gone the way of the Dodo, but suffice it to say, they sold me the machine and walked away. The thing never worked properly, it smoked, it backfired, it didn't get the water hot enough to heat anything. I was at a loss, so I turned to the factory.
Proheat is in Richmond and I was downtown Vancouver, so having to disconnect all the pipes and wires and take it to the factory was a pain to say the least, but there was nothing else I could do. They took it on. I waited a couple of days and the unit was ready. I put it back in the boat and it ran for 2 months before stopping. For 5 years this went on, never running for more than 2 months. Every part on the machine was changed at least 3 times before the factory finally said "Evan (yes, by then they knew my first name!) we really cannot do this any more, you will have to get it looked at by the service network in future. They had looked after me for FIVE YEARS, and never charged me a cent. I couldn't have asked for a fraction of that, so I accepted the inevitable and moved on.
The problems continued. Every time it was fixed, and tested right in front of me, I put it back in and waited until it was really cold outside when inevitably it would die again. I had had enough and after 10 years of fighting this monster, I gave up, took it back to the service dealer, told them to fix it and then I wanted them to buy it or recommend somebody who would, as I wanted to buy a Webasto, or anything that simply worked! They wouldn't and couldn't, but what they did suggest was that I bought a replacement unit exactly the same!! (I eventually sold the old one for $600 to a guy in Sweden!)
I naturally thought that they had lost their presence of mind and told them so. They then went on to explain that the new model was 50% more powerful than mine and I could just take it back and plug it in. After much thought, mostly about whether it was me who was losing my mind, I agreed, but informed them that if it didn't work perfectly, I would bring it back, hot, and stuff it somewhere very dark and painful. They agreed.
I installed the heater, and yes, I just plugged it in, and just for good measure I decided to fit an extra hot water circulation pump into the system as I was pushing water around about 100' of pipe and baseboards with just the pump on the unit. This couldn't do any harm. I took a feed from the unit's pump to a relay which then sent power to the auxiliary pump and would turn on at exactly the same time as the main one. I turned on the machine, waited, it spooled up, the compressor got to work blowing air over the atomised fuel coming out of the jet and - WE HAD IGNITION! With a roar the spark ignited the fuel, and water started to circulate - and the WATER GOT HOT! Clearly the old unit had not been man enough and was "lugging" trying to push all that water around and did not have enough "fire power" to heat that much water. I had been sold the wrong unit in the first place.
I couldn't believe it. And you know what? 11 years later it has only stopped once when a 5 cent 'O' ring let go on the jet mixing fuel in the wrong place. Until now.
I am getting old and feel the cold and of course things like this only happen when its cold and the unit is working full blast, but to be honest, I hadn't done a thing to it after the first couple of years when I used to take it apart to get rid of excess soot and found there wasn't any. It just worked, so I let it run. I tried to fix the unit this time, but found a fuse blown. I replaced that and it ran for maybe another 20 minutes then stopped again, and I couldn't fix it. The fuse is part of the computer that runs everything and is WAY beyond me, so I contacted the service dealer. No answer, so I removed the machine and just went there ready to plonk it in their laps. At least the exercise kept me warm.
It turned out that their engineer was away on sick leave with mental problems, so, when I asked where I was expected to take it, they recommended a company in Surrey. Now I was having to drive all over the lower mainland and was sitting outside entering the coordinates into the car's GPS when the secretary came running out to tell me that that guy was away on holiday in Vegas! Good grief! Stuff this, I'm going to the factory.
I turned up and asked to talk to the person in charge of Proheat as the company name on the outside of the building (Saestar Solutions) didn't mention it. Brian Curliss came out and he turns out to be product manager for Proheat.
He was delightful and when I said that I needed to know why the fuse was blowing and to call me with an answer so that I could decide if I could afford to do anything at all, he told me not to worry, and even when I suggested used parts, he told me they had some of those with a wry smile.
"Contact me on Tuesday" he said, (this was Friday) I did, and was told that due to pressure of work I should get in touch on Thursday. I did, but Brian was out and I spoke to the head of product development who told me that they were still changing parts and wouldn't know why the fuse blew until they had changed everything and tested it. Um??? This was going to cost a fortune. These are not cheap items and it looked as if they were almost renewing the whole thing, even putting in the upgraded computer and renewing the firebox! Now I was worried, and guess what? I had a mild stroke. No really! Emergency stuff until 3 am. I am fine apparently but it was a bit of a scare and it was with great trepidation that I sent my son to collect the unit as he had driven 500 km to help me through my little problem. When he asked for the bill they told him they didn't know anything about that so he rushed out with the machine yelling like that IKEA ad "START THE CAR, START THE CAR!" as if he was getting away with anything.
We fitted the machine back in, and sure enough EVERYTHING was new, new pump, compressor, fuel pump, fire box, fuel nozzle, evacuation fan etc., etc. We turned it on and it smoked! Lots of smoke. I called the factory and they kindly ran me through all sorts of tests and everything tested fine, so the last thing was voltage. We measure the voltage at the coil which said 9 volts! It should be 13.8v. Then we found out that while fitting the exhaust, we had tripped over the main ground strap. We reconnected that and boom, we had lift off! I call the machine "my second hand engine out of a Harrier Jump Jet"!
Today I wrote to Brian to thank him for everything they have done and told him I was a bit frightened, but where was the bill? I cannot tell you what he said as he would have to kill me, but suffice it to say he has restored my faith in mankind, and I cannot recommend Proheat highly enough. They helped a guy out who was in real trouble. These machines are really designed for trucks but they still got me going, with a huge smile on their faces and efficiency and generosity unmatched in my experience, which is considerable. They will be taking all my old parts to bits to see how come they lasted so well with almost 11 years of continuous use. They may even start a museum!
For bigger boats, I cannot say enough good things about this Proheat X45 Plus product (45,000 BTU) or the factory staff. Nothing but brilliant.
For smaller boats, the X30 at 31,000 BTUs is perfect and you can find that at http://www.proheat.com/x30/index.html.
Check them out or get in touch. I'll help.
