Hurricane heating. Failure and success.

[jonesthenuke]

Spent the weekend on the boat. As its unoccupied the rest of the week it was a little chilly so heating was bunged on. We have recently bought this boat (second hand), so do not have much experience of all the fixtures and fittings and we keep getting little surprises. The heating ran OK Friday Evening. Saturday evening, the heating was back running (hard to miss, the Hurricane is somewhat loud) but after about 30 mins the radiators were just luke warm and similar on the calorifier. No error codes on the control panel. Continuous running of the Hurricane. Still not much output. Flame bright and yellow when looking through the inspection window, though not uniform and looking "spluttery". It was dark at the time or I would have spotted the next bit earlier.... Outside with a torch and look at the exhaust. Considerable smoke and signs of unburnt fuel in the exhaust. D'Oh!

 

So shut it down, and time to investigate. Not had this apart before. Find the 1000 hour service info on the web which was the best information I could find at the time.... The Hurricane is a fairly standard design air blown siphon nozzle diesel burner, so the nozzle seemed a likely problem. Compressor and fan all running, Air inlet hose not blocked, exhaust appeared clear of any blockage. Time to dismantle......

 

Nozzle out (Delavan 30609-2). Stripped nozzle and found small piece of what appeared to be brown rubber, about 2mm across, but nothing else, all very clean. Air hose to the nozzle checked and clear, compressor inlet filter looked brand new, fuel filter in the nozzle holder appeared clean. The hours counter on the heater has just got to 80, so very little use since new (2006). Rebuild it all and try again, though not very hopeful. Same result.

 

Sunday morning. Still think its a nozzle/spray related issue, so take out the compressor. Standard diaphragm affair so take off the head. Fail to find any information on the web (its a "Thomas" compressor from the US). Obviously has an inlet valve, visible as a brown rubber mushroom head, but no sign of the discharge valve apart from some rubber sticking to the edges of the hole where it should be. The compressor head is a plastic affair and appears to be of two parts glued or molded together, with the head of the discharge valve inaccessible inside, so no chance of fixing it easily.

 

Luckily the boat is at Calcutts who are Hurricane dealers. With no great expectation of success I head to the marina shop, discuss the issue and:-

• Yes these compressors are known to fail, especially early ones (like ours)
• No they did not have a direct spare in stock (Hurricane no longer supply them due to reliability issues)
• Yes there is a replacement, may have one in stock but £300++ needing various parts to make it fit.

By now its lunchtime and I agree to come back after lunch when they will have had time to find the various parts. When I get back I find better news, they have a later version compressor head with stainless steel reed valves for a much better price of £40. Brilliant service from Calcutts!

 

Back to the boat, rebuild compressor, fire it up and Yippee it all works ok.

Thanks Calcutts, saved the day and my wallet.

 

Chris

[NB Lola]

Nice story, well done calcutts!

[blackrose]

When Hurricane heaters were introduced to us a few years ago they were reported to be the answer to unreliable eberspachers and webastos. Amid all the enthusiasm several people refused to join in and said they would wait and see. Given numerous reports that we're now hearing about Hurricanes going wrong and breaking down it seems that those people were right to withhold their judgement.

[mkn777er]

D'oh!, and there was me just getting very close to the decision of investing in the Hurricane system!

 

I have been looking for some time now at getting a system fitted to my boat. My head is spinning with Webasto, Eberspacher, Mikuni etc. etc. At some point I really will have to make a decision but as I say i was coming around to the idea of going for the Hurricane system reading the manufacturers claims of faultless long-term performance and reliability. Perhaps not? Whatever system I go for it has to be long-term (we intend to keep the boat and so are happy to 'invest' in it). We do not live aboard but visit frequently and so do not want to shut down for the winter so it has to have the ability to be left running on frost free mode and ideally can be controlled from a mobile to give me the option of 'firing' it up before arrival (although my research would suggest this is available on most systems now).

 

So the question is (and I know there will be many different opinions) should I 'invest' in the Hurricane or would I still be getting much the same from a Webasto, Eberspacher type of system at almost half the cost?

[mattlad]

Okay let's look at this from a different angle then.

 

Given the fact that whatever diesel heater you have is going to break down which one is the easiest to service and repair?

[KJT]

Hmmm! Maybe it's got something to do with getting very little use? 80 hours in 7 years is about one hour per month on average. In reality it has probably remained unused for considerable periods during that time, which it may well not like all.

 

Ours is one of the earlier models (2002 vintage) and has clocked up a faultless 3000 plus hours. We service it annually although the recommended service interval is every 1000 hours. On its last service at Calcutts in June of this year, they found it to be in excellent condition.

 

Ken

[Alastair]

I've not had a hurricane, but have had a discussion with a surveyor about them. He isn't impressed, seen too many boats with problems.

 

During the discussion he asked me what I had what I thought about it. "Riello burner in a boiler, it's on now." He was sat next to the flue and couldn't believe it, he hadn't realised it was on. Had never seen flue output (from diesel) so non-sooty and quiet.

 

Most of that is due to much fiddling with the air/fuel supply to get it right. It's a bit like balancing a set of scales.

[Hawkmoth]

After several years of wrestling with Ebersplutters on Lyra we finally decided to fork out the necessary readies for a Hurricane.

The first impression was shear joy. The output of 7Kw for the same fuel usage as a 5Kw Eber was wonderful. Yes it was a bit noisier, but we soon got used to it.

After about 8 months it started to run "rich", the heat output dropped and the exhaust darkened.

It seems that the model of compressor we had, had a tiny little air inlet filter and this had blocked up. Replaced and all was well.

A few months later the compressor started to make horrible noises and after a several phone calls to Calcutt I was told to wait for it to fail. It duly did, and they turned out quite quickly to replace it. I was told that the model we had only lasted a while in production as they did have a known problem, but they still replaced it with the same one.

About 9 months later the same thing happened again, called Calcutt and told to wait for failure. I asked that if the failure came after the end of the guarantee period, could I still expect to get replacement because it was a known faulty part? Yes was the reply, and duly the unit failed and they replaced it with the newer, supposedly more reliable pump.

This one has now run reliably for a year with no problems.

I do love the Hurricane, it is designed for ease of owner maintenance. Every part is accessible and replaceable. As long as the maintenance is carried out it should be fine.

Bob

[jonesthenuke]

Having read the reply to my post, let me say I am not against Hurricanes and I was not trying to highlight the problem. We bought our boat via a brokerage and understand that it has stood basically unused for most of the time since it was built. This may be an issue for the aging of the compressor valve that I reported (it may have been stuck to the seat) or its simply the early failure of this type of compressor that Hurricane have now stopped using - I cannot tell. If the latter it would probably have failed in the warranty period rather than 7 years later.

 

I would agree with some of the points that others have made, the Hurricane is simple to dismantle and service, which must be a good point.

 

Chris

[smileypete]

D'oh!, and there was me just getting very close to the decision of investing in the Hurricane system!

 

I have been looking for some time now at getting a system fitted to my boat. My head is spinning with Webasto, Eberspacher, Mikuni etc. etc. At some point I really will have to make a decision but as I say i was coming around to the idea of going for the Hurricane system reading the manufacturers claims of faultless long-term performance and reliability. Perhaps not? Whatever system I go for it has to be long-term (we intend to keep the boat and so are happy to 'invest' in it). We do not live aboard but visit frequently and so do not want to shut down for the winter so it has to have the ability to be left running on frost free mode and ideally can be controlled from a mobile to give me the option of 'firing' it up before arrival (although my research would suggest this is available on most systems now).

 

So the question is (and I know there will be many different opinions) should I 'invest' in the Hurricane or would I still be getting much the same from a Webasto, Eberspacher type of system at almost half the cost?

 

Big part of it has to be the quality of the install which can have a big impact on reliability, a good installer won't cut corners or fit something inappropriate just to make a sale.

 

As well as personal recommendations and local reputation, it's worth the written quotation stating it'll be installed exactly to manufacturers installation instructions.

 

I'd have thought it a be a bit risky to rely on such a heating system to prevent frost damage, ideally use mains electric heat as backup if poss or do some basic winterisation.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

Edited December 11, 2013 by smileypete

[peterboat]

D'oh!, and there was me just getting very close to the decision of investing in the Hurricane system!

 

I have been looking for some time now at getting a system fitted to my boat. My head is spinning with Webasto, Eberspacher, Mikuni etc. etc. At some point I really will have to make a decision but as I say i was coming around to the idea of going for the Hurricane system reading the manufacturers claims of faultless long-term performance and reliability. Perhaps not? Whatever system I go for it has to be long-term (we intend to keep the boat and so are happy to 'invest' in it). We do not live aboard but visit frequently and so do not want to shut down for the winter so it has to have the ability to be left running on frost free mode and ideally can be controlled from a mobile to give me the option of 'firing' it up before arrival (although my research would suggest this is available on most systems now).

 

So the question is (and I know there will be many different opinions) should I 'invest' in the Hurricane or would I still be getting much the same from a Webasto, Eberspacher type of system at almost half the cost?

Bubble stove have had 2 one on each boat I have owned loved them both. Both were backboiler models both ran on diesel or kerosene they were clean and reliable plus they gave you a focal point

 

Peter

[Mac of Cygnet]

Glad to hear Calcutt are still on the ball. I bought my boat through them 8 years ago and requested a few modifications which were carried out in timely fashion and what I thought was a reasonable price. Then just as I was sailing away one of the engine mounts went, which they repaired immediately. A good and useful outfit.

[NB Lola]

We have the webasto, just fitted, including frost stat and 7 day timer.

 

Radiators are hot in 15 mins or so. If there was a negative, it would be the sound of the fuel pump, but that is being picky. The difference it's made to comfort is astounding, making recent trips more enjoyable. What would top it off is a remote unit to allow text management.

Edited December 14, 2013 by NB Lola