Courtney Thomas wrote:
Cindy,

Mine is an old one ['63] and I've come onto it with no instructions,
etc. I'm not even sure that I have all the parts. The Origo
manufacturer, U.S. distributor, as well as W.Marine, Defender, and Swego
vendors also have no information on my model [HEAT-PAL].

Courtney

Wow! 40 years old! It may be different than the current ones.

Ours is the HeatPal 5000. It consists of two nesting aluminum
"buckets". One has a bracket which holds the heating part, the
other is a cover which helps collect and radiate heat. The
heating section has 2 parts: An Origo stove cartridge - a
canister about 2" hight and 12" in diameter completely filled
with a wick material with a hole in the top exposing about 3" of
the wick surface. The other is a cover for the cartridge which
has a flame diffuser, a lever that partially or completely covers
the flame to control the heat, and little grate for setting pots
and things on.

You fill the cartridge by simply pouring alcohol onto the wick
until it won't take any more. (Yes, it's messy.) The fuel is just
denatured alcohol or "stove" alcohol. This can range from the
Origo brand alcohol (expensive, but not much smell and less water
vapor) to the generic alcohol they sell in the paint section of
the hardware store.

Once the cartridge is full and you have it all reassembled, you
light it by sticking a match or a BBQ lighter tip through the
diffuser. It usually takes two tries because there's an initial
"pop" which usually blows out the flame. You control the flame by
moving the lever back and forth. The second bucket gets turned
upside-down and is placed on top of the first.

Our boat has excellent ventilation so we haven't had any problem
with gases. I don't think these produce much carbon monoxide, but
they do use oxygen. Use common sense and I think they're very safe.

Why aren't they popular? I really don't know. I think most people
only sail when it's warm and just don't want to mess with
heaters. Others want a built-in diesel or propane heater. We
bought our HeatPal when we were chartering in cold weather
(cheaper rates) and still use it on our own boat. We've also used
it at home when the gas was out.

I'd be really careful about a 40 year old unit. These things are
dirt simple, but combustion is a tricky thing. Be sure to try it
out of doors before you use it on your boat.

Cindy

Here's what ours looks like...
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...roductId=12130