The heater I purchased is a Plannar. The distributor is on the west coast and I found him very helpful The heater is Russian made and seems to work well. I did as much research as I could and did not see any negative reviews. They are priced a lot less than others, which was my main reason for going with them. I figured if it turned out to be a bad choice at the very worst I would have all the ducting in place and could install another make. From what I have been able to see it is a knock off of the Webasto or Espar heater . These are basically truck heaters with a through hull fitting for exhaust. If you want what I think is the top line marine heater I have seen, go for the Wallas they are made specifically for marine use and from what I read are very quiet, not that I find the Plannar noisy . I have read as others have mentioned not to run these heaters on low all the time to avoid carbon build up. With that in mind do not get too big of a heater for your boat or it wont be working hard enough. I looked very hard at a hydronic system that would heat the water in the cooling system of the boat. This would give you hot water for showers as it heats as a side benefit, but requires more draw on the 12 volt system as you are running a pump, a heater fan and a fan in the furnace, so I went with an air heater. Most of the tugs that have a diesel heater have no generator so the heater is installed where the generator would go. The unit is the size of a loaf of bread so although not huge needs some room. I climbed into the starboard storage area with the heater and a light, closed the hatch and found the best spot I could to make everything work the best with the least amount of fittings . I will post some pictures later to assist anyone wanting to dive into this project. Is not complicated just takes some time, and basic skills.
