Stove Top Heater

 Every fall someone re-posts the idea of heating the cabin with a flower pot on the stove. I was smart enough to test this at home, where the pot shattered, throwing hot bits around the kitchen. It is an unsafe idea that might wok sort of and might get you burned or your boat damaged. Just no.

 As long as the link stays live, here is the article I wrote for Good Old Boat about an improved stove top heater. This was written about 5 years ago, and I would not change a thing. It works. Stove Top Cabin Heater

 

The concept was simplicity itself:

• We already have an engineered heat source with fuel supply, regulation, and a safe base.
• The Dickenson Cozy Cabin Heater was/is nothing more than a burner, heat transfer space, and a properly sized flue.
• A stainless stew pot serves for the heat transfer space, though perhaps not quite on the stoves highest setting.
  
• A 1-inch flue is a good match for a typical burner, though perhaps not on the highest setting. 
• All of the exhaust will go up the flue. If the flue is the correct length, it will be no more than 100C where it penetrates the deck. No problem. Test and insulate as needed. The highest setting might allow some exhaust to go under the pot and out into the cabin. You can feel this with your fingers near the edge. Adjust.
  
• You can still cook, though more slowly, on the top of the inverted pot. The aluminum skirt conserves heat, for the pot, helps heat the room (more surface) and keeps the cooking pot safe. 
• A very low fan (I use one made to run off the USB port of a PC) helps distribute the heat. it will cook my F-24 in 20 minutes after which I turn it down. This is at about 35-40F.
  

I would turn it off before leaving or sleeping. But if the cabin furniture is warm, the cabin will stay warm for a while. Getting the furniture warm is important.

• The interior volume is about 300 ft^3, or about twenty pounds of air. The cabin furnishings weigh several hundred pounds. It is the furnishings that absorb the heat and keep the cabin warm. Kind of obvious, even though common sense tells us that the air is what we must heat.