Hi to all and Happy New Year:
Following are several photos of my recently-completed Webasto heater installation. If you're considering a heater of this kind, it's probably better to read Jesper's account first as Eberspaecher and Webasto make very similar units. My account may be of interest to those who have a Ballad with a port locker and an aft-facing chart table.
This is the exhaust outlet. The choice of location was limited by the fact that I have a swimming/ diving platform.
I chose to have a separate fuel tank for the heater. This one holds 12 litres and is seen here wedged between an engine side panel and an L-shaped plywood piece which keeps it firmly in place.
Behind it, you can make out the fuel pump in a separate wooden box with a plexiglass cover and in the upper right-hand corner there's a plastic box that houses the electrical connections.
I mounted the unit in exactly the same way as Jesper did his, i.e using the toe rail bolts for support. The exhaust pipe forms a loop before going over the aft bulkhead. Webasto recommends drilling a drain hole at the bottom of the loop to allow water to drain but I've yet to do this. Also, the exhaust pipe isn't as thick as it's shown here. However, as Jesper has already pointed out, the exhaust pipe needs to be insulated, so I inserted mine through a heat resistant silicon sleeve, wrapped it in rockwool insulation, then inserted the whole lot in flexible aluminium tubing. The need for insulation cannot be overstressed since the exhauxt pipe gets extremely hot and will readily melt or ignite whatever may come into contact with it. Think of all the synthetic ropes, rubber fenders, engine oil, paints, thinners that we have on board--not to mention fiberglass itself--and you'll see why Jesper and myself are adamant about this. The hose going straight out to the right of the photo is the warm air ducting which was also insulated since that too gets hot.
Here you can clearly see the warm air ducting insulation being positioned by a friend. It's closed cell foam tubing which can be found in building supply stores by the brand names of Armaflex or Eurobatex. This comes in a great variety of diametres and thicknessess. Mine has a diameter of 63mm and a thickness of 19mm, which perfectly suits Webasto's 60mm ducting. It's split length-wise, the ducting is inserted, then the slit is sealed with aluminum tape and the whole lot is inserted through flexible aluminium tubing. In this case, the insulation helps to retain the air warm while, at the same time, protects nearby items from heat. Without the insulation, the ducting gets very warm and would jeopardize the flexible water tank, as you'll see later.
The warm air ducting goes through a piece of rigid tubing before entering the living area. This part of the boat is actually a small locker--seen here without the door-- where I store diving regulators, masks, fins and lifejackets so the rigid tubing offers extra protection, considering that the warm air ducting crushes easily. The corrugated hose next to it houses the power supply cables.
This is another part of rigid pipe which is at the foot of the chart table. In the photo on the right you can see that the rigid tube terminates at the half-bulkhead. The part of the wood which looks rough is where the navigator seat is mounted. The two plywood discs help to keep the tube firmly in place. You can rest your foot on it without any problems.
The ducting goes through the bulkhead and under the saloon berth, terminating at a closeable outlet. It is also teed-off with another piece of ducting terminating at the main bulkhead.
You can see the flexible 100-litre water tank which made the insulation necessary. Another piece of rigid tubing helps to keep the ducting straight and above the tank.
Here is the second outlet that is non-closeable. When the main outlet is closed, a lot of warm air comes into the forecabin. When the main outlet is open, the saloon is well heated while a breath of warm air also enters the forecabin. Like Gerard mentioned, the unit fired up readily (it self-bled after 3-4 attempts) and brought the temperature to 21 degrees C in about 45 minutes with the exterior temperature 5-6C, the companionway wide open and just a little breeze blowing.