Diesel Heater

[Sam Menard]

Been reading up on diesel heaters and they have some good advantages over propane heaters: produces a lot of heat, dry heat, they don’t use a lot of fuel, and they aren’t that expensive.

They require a power source to ignite and pump the fuel as well as to run the fan. I think that it would be a great addition for ice camping but am not sure how big (amp hours) a lithium battery I would need to run it for 24 hours. Anyone have an idea?

[Fisherman]

Looked at a few and see they need anywhere from 0.8 to 5.0 amps. I don't imagine the 5amp draw would be full time, so max 5amp x 24 hours would be about a 100 amp battery. https://planarheaters.com/wp-content...lyer-rev.4.pdf A 100 amp lithium battery might cause some puckering in the rear end.

[Sam Menard]

Maybe a small generator is the answer.

[Fisherman]

A little Honda or Yamaha 1K would probably suit your needs.

[Species8472]

Maybe a small generator is the answer.

A little Honda or Yamaha 1K would probably suit your needs.

So going that route you would have to carry the diesel heater, diesel fuel, generator, gas for generator. Plus you would have to buy the diesel heater and the generator. Seems a whole lot easier to just stick with a propane buddy heater. That being said having a small gennie does have other perks like you could use it to power/charge your electronics and reduce the amount of battery you would need to bring for those items. Also if your auger is gas powered i guess you would already be bringing gas so that point might be moot.

[delmer]

If you are going to be toting a generator, just go with a 2000W inverter, same physical size as a 1000W, and use an electric space heater. No worry about CO fumes. As mentioned, gives you the flexibility to charge or power other items.

[Shoreline]

We bought the Dakota Lithium 100 Ah for the trolling motor last spring, so this winter got a diesel heater for ice fishing. Ran the heater from 9am to 5pm the other weekend (-5C) and it barely used any of the battery, still lots of fuel left too. And ya, nice dry heat, no dripping.

[Woodsman]

These heaters require a way of directly venting the exhaust. The exhaust pipe gets quite hot. A propane heater with direct exhaust is also a dry heat. Now a buddy heater without direct exhaust is a damp heat.

[Roe+]

This sounds like a case of “choose your poison”. With propane you have water vapour and CO2 as a byproduct of combustion. With diesel iit sounds like more stuff tuff to haul. In either case just make sure that it is essential to have some amount a fresh air entering the space for combustion air as the heater will deplete the oxygen supply during combustion in either instance. You also need a means for the CO2 to escape. Both will introduce cold air into the space, but you need to do it for safety.