Shopping for a Marine Diesel Stove

For the crew to prepare a meal on board, having a marine diesel stove or other way to cook is more than a luxury, especially for commercial boats, cruisers, and live-aboards. But even weekend pleasure boaters need a way to whip up something to satisfy grumbling bellies (and mouths) after a day or more on the water. And a diesel stove may be exactly what you need.

Diesel Stoves for Boats

If you're in the market for a new diesel stove, remember that size matters. Diesel stoves for boats come in several sizes, and the size of your boat and galley area will largely determine the stove size. Unless of course, you're quite skilled at carpentry (and love doing it).

If a complicated carpentry project is not for you, then careful measurements must be taken of the height, width and depth of the space where your stove will live. Be extra careful with depth measurement, as being just a bit off can result in your shiny new diesel stove being too far back or too far forward. The latter can interfere with the opening of a drawer or cupboard underneath.

But it isn't as easy as simply matching up the dimensions of the stove with the dimensions of the space it will be installed. The installation area must be large enough to accommodate safety clearances, such as the recommended distance between the insulated wall and the back of the stove. There must also be metal-covered high-density, heat retardant insulation between the stove and cabinets and any storage underneath, although an alternative to this could be ceramic tiles.

Then there's the chimney pipe. The right location and configuration of the chimney is very important to ensure correct operation of the stove. A long, straight chimney is preferable, as it will ensure that all-important strong draft. 

A straight run of five to six feet is best if that is possible,
with a minimum of four feet long and a maximum of eight feet. Avoid using elbows unless you must; in this case, use 45 degree elbows but with as much straight pipe as possible with a minimum straight run of 24 inches from the top of the heater. 

There are also other things to consider when shopping for a marine diesel stove, like how much and what type of cooking you do and how many people you will be cooking for. For instance, the Adriatic diesel stove by Dickinson Marine is built for mid-size boats of 30 to 45 feet, has a large cooking surface and wide oven.

If you don't need such a large cooking area, the Pacific diesel is about the most popular sized Dickinson diesel stove for boats 30 to 40 feet. And at just over 22 x 22 x 20 inches overall, it's makes it the most likely to fit most galley range cutouts. If you prefer a more utilitarian model, the Bering has a cooking surface and oven size similar to the Pacific, but is longer and narrower.

Or if you're looking for an even smaller diesel stove for cooking, the Dickinson Bristol is just over 19 x 21 x 18 inches and is designed to fit the standard small boat cutout. But what about those larger cruisers and commercial boats? The Atlantic is a large and roomy diesel stove for boats 45 feet and over.

This more spacious model has a larger natural draft diesel burner than the other models, and the heat output is 30-50% more than any of the other smaller Dickinson diesel stoves. When the crew is hungry, never fear a mutiny--the Atlantic's cooking capacity can serve a crew of 6 to 8. 

Pros and Cons of Diesel Stoves for Boats

Many boaters steadfastly refuse to use propane stoves or cooktops on their boats due to the "boom factor", thanks to the heaviness of propane and its propensity for sinking down into unsuspecting bilges. This in turn can set the stage for an explosion, particularly if safety protocols aren't followed to the letter.

On the other hand, there are boaters out there who dislike diesel stoves, complaining that they stink up the boat, spew soot, and take forever to get hot enough to cook on. Then when they are finally ready, they make the boat uncomfortably hot. Let's take a look at some of these claims.

Why the Cons?

There are a number of reasons that a marine diesel stove would deliver unpleasant odors and paint the galley with soot, but in a nutshell, there are three things that must be in balance to prevent these side effects and get clean combustion. These are the draft, oxygen, and fuel.

The draft of course, is the exhaust rising up through the chimney. One reason a straight stove pipe is preferred is because it makes it much easier to achieve a stronger upward draft, although this can still be done if the elbows and chimney are installed as described above. But one non-negotiable for getting a good draft (and staying safe) is oxygen--bringing unrestricted fresh outside air to the inside.

There must be a permanent fresh air inlet designated for your stove to draw in outside air for the stove to operate correctly. Make sure that enough fresh air is available for the stove with good ventilation, and that the air inside the boat is being replaced at the same rate that the stove is removing it. The higher the stove's burn rate, the more air it will need.

Very high winds can obviously create annoying downdrafts, not to mention other unrelated problems, and you may want to forgo cooking for a while in this case. But what may not be so obvious is that you can also get downdrafts if the airflow is blocked or restricted in any way--then the stove won't burn efficiently, which in turn will create soot. It can even blow out, and the end result of this whole mess caused by restricted airflow can even be a health hazard.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Here are some other reasons for those dirty downdrafts:

• Competition for air - exhaust fans, large engine or air-exchange systems sucking air out of the boat
• Chimney - too tall, too short, too narrow; improper construction and/or installation; elbow has too much bend
• No draft assist fan (not required but highly recommended)

And alas, there are many types of operator errors that can interfere with strong drafting. Here are a few to watch for:

• Having a draft assist fan but not using it when needed, or overusing it (which makes hard carbon deposits in burner pot and clogs up air holes)
• Burning the heater too low, creating downdraft
• Plugged lines or valves; dirty filter
• Forgetting to open the damper before lighting the stove
• Not correctly adjusting the damper once stove is running
• Failure to perform regular, proper maintenance and cleaning

The stronger the draft, the more able the stove will be to resist strong winds, overcome flue elbows that might otherwise inhibit draft, and the hotter you will be able to get your stove without having to deal with soot.

As for the fuel, the input must be in proportion to the supply of draft and oxygen. And something that many boaters never consider is the diesel fuel itself. Unfortunately, not all diesel is created alike.

A marine diesel stove comes with an oil metering valve that is calibrated for certain types of diesel fuel, depending on the manufacturer. For instance, the valve on a Dickinson diesel stove is calibrated for #2 fuel unless otherwise requested. These, and most diesel stoves for boats, can burn stove oil (#1 diesel) and kerosene, too.

Although diesel is readily available virtually anywhere, including outside the US, the fuel that you are currently using in your boat is probably not the same viscosity as the fuel that was used to calibrate the oil-metering valve in the factory. The viscosity and even quality can vary quite a bit from place to place. Even if you always buy your diesel from the same supplier, it can vary. 

Some of the things that can influence oil viscosity are regional, because of differences in local refineries and the way different brands of fuel are mixed. Certainly quality has much to do with it, but even the temperature at any given time can play a part as well.

If you want to burn a different fuel from which the heater has been calibrated, you can get metering valves for diesel (D stamped on the side of the valve), kerosene (K), or stove oil (SO). Alternatively, you can make adjustments to compensate. If the oil is too thick you can use the fan less, or open the valve more; if too thin, running the fan more will help burn off the fuel to achieve a clean burn.

To sum it up, naysayers who insist that diesel stoves stink up the boat and spew soot are not completely wrong, unless they try to convince you that this always--or even almost always happens. As we have seen, improper installation, not enough air and venting, and a plethora of operator errors are overwhelmingly the cause of these problems. And the good news is, there is a way to fix every one of them. 

But what of the charges of slow heat-up and then becoming too hot on the boat? They are right about these things. Diesel stoves do take time to reach cooking temperature, so it is quite common for people to use them as a boat heaters as well, by simply adjusting the temperature down once the meal has been cooked.

But this is where a bit of very simple planning comes in. Just as you would turn on your electric stove ahead of time before popping dinner in the oven, you would do with a diesel stove, only giving it more time. The owner's manual will tell you approximately how long that particular diesel stove takes to heat up so you can plan accordingly.

Pros of a Marine Diesel Stove

Being able to use a diesel stove for cooking and heating the boat is a wonderful bonus if you live in cooler areas. But even cooler parts of the world can have their hot days, and no one wants a hot boat then. What many boaters do is have a portable alcohol cooktop they set on top of their (cold) diesel stove and use that for cooking until the weather cools down. 

But in the cooler weather, having the stove on much of the time has the additional benefit of heating the water in your hot water tank. Most stove manufacturers offer optional heating coils for this purpose, including each Dickinson diesel stove we've mentioned here. A one-turn coil will heat about 5-10 gallons of water and a two-turn coil heats around 15-20 gallons.

A diesel stove for cooking also has the enviable advantage of providing dry heat as opposed to the damp heat that propane causes. Any moisture that is produced during combustion in a diesel stove is vented out through a chimney, and since boats are notorious moisture-hoarders, dry heat can help keep mold and mildew at bay. And a diesel oven cooks much better than a propane oven.

Diesel stoves can operate without power, are quiet, and diesel is the safest cooking and heating fuel you can use. You can even cook underway--just be sure to use pot holders (AKA pot restraints, pot clamps, kettle holders, and fiddles). And they can be quite miserly when it comes to fuel consumption, saving you money.

The amount of fuel a diesel stove consumes depends of course, on the size and how hot you run it. For instance, the Bristol model, which is Dickinson's smallest marine diesel stove, uses approximately 1.30 to 3.20 gallons of fuel in a 24-hour period. Even their largest model, the Atlantic, only uses about 1.89 gallons in a 24-hour period when set on low, but crank it up high and it may use 4.50. 

Good Food and Comfort

As we've seen, diesel stoves for boats are a great way to whip up your delicious recipes--cook on the hook or on the go, as well as the dock. Plus, heat your boat in cold weather and have hot running water, all while staying safe, needing no electricity, and saving money. And with proper installation, venting, and usage, the problems of soot and odor can be prevented, resulting in a clean-burning, efficient stove. 

At Go2marine, we not only have a marine diesel stove for your needs, but a plethora of parts and accessories as well. From stainless steel heat wall liners to burner rings and stove lid lifters, well get you cooking.