The canal / narrowboat thread.

The canal / narrowboat thread.

Author
Discussion

john2443

Original Poster:

6,322 posts

210 months

Thursday 16th January 2020
quotequote all
geeks said:
john2443 said:
Don't mention the non-authentic kitchen and the 1990s camping gas stove that are in shot biggrin
Nerd hehe
I wouldn't have noticed except that having been on the boats I was looking out for things that I know are there!

geeks

9,119 posts

138 months

Thursday 16th January 2020
quotequote all
While not a boat the principle is the same we have a camper, I have a 5kw Planar heater that I need to fit (I'll get to it at some point, I need to work out exactly here I am placing it), common for vans, campers etc to have forced air diesel heaters, my uncles boat has a webasto diesel heater that feeds a wet central heating system and hot water.

FiF

43,957 posts

250 months

Thursday 16th January 2020
quotequote all
Best heating system I've experienced on a boat, albeit not a narrow boat, was a Webasto system, hot water circuit heating domestic hot water, radiators and hydronic heaters where no room for radiators. Latter were small versions of kickspace heaters used in kitchens, the pumped hot circuit goes through a heat exchanger, a small fan blows air over that to produce dry warm air.

Never had much luck with blown hot air systems, either in terms of heat output not that great or electrical power consumption being high.

Could see how a solid fuel stove would be good for a live aboard, not so much electrical consumption just pumping the water circuit.

Simpo Two

85,147 posts

264 months

Thursday 16th January 2020
quotequote all
FiF said:
Could see how a solid fuel stove would be good for a live aboard, not so much electrical consumption just pumping the water circuit.
Bloody miserable getting up on a freezing winter morning to light it though... other methods can be programmed to come on automatically.

MartG

20,619 posts

203 months

Thursday 16th January 2020
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
FiF said:
Could see how a solid fuel stove would be good for a live aboard, not so much electrical consumption just pumping the water circuit.
Bloody miserable getting up on a freezing winter morning to light it though... other methods can be programmed to come on automatically.
Close the damper down and it'll keep going overnight

FiF

43,957 posts

250 months

Thursday 16th January 2020
quotequote all
MartG said:
Simpo Two said:
FiF said:
Could see how a solid fuel stove would be good for a live aboard, not so much electrical consumption just pumping the water circuit.
Bloody miserable getting up on a freezing winter morning to light it though... other methods can be programmed to come on automatically.
Close the damper down and it'll keep going overnight
Yep, seen a few posts on canalworld where if the stove is in the boat midsection then warmth gets through the rest of the boat. Others who have had a stove in the lounge up near the bows have needed a circuit and radiators to distribute heat, and complaining about noise from the pump. Though someone used a near silent house pump fed off an inverter. Not sure how well a gravity system would work.

classicaholic

1,689 posts

69 months

Thursday 16th January 2020
quotequote all
We have a fan on the stove that works on heat somehow, it really works pushing the air around and getting it warmer lower down.
Aldi had them for about £20 recently but I paid over 100 from the swindlers!

Pippage

233 posts

258 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
I have a combination of diesel c/h feeding rads, and a diesel fired stove. The stove can be left on tickover all night to retain cosiness, and the rad heating is now controllable remotely via a SIM card so I can heat the boat up prior to heading there. This combo works really well for me.

SimonTheSailor

12,543 posts

227 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
classicaholic said:
We have a fan on the stove that works on heat somehow, it really works pushing the air around and getting it warmer lower down.
Aldi had them for about £20 recently but I paid over 100 from the swindlers!
The heat powered thermoelectric module ?

Now £15.99 at Aldi"s -

https://www.aldi.co.uk/workzone-stove-fan/p/021240...

FiF

43,957 posts

250 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
Pippage said:
I have a combination of diesel c/h feeding rads, and a diesel fired stove. The stove can be left on tickover all night to retain cosiness, and the rad heating is now controllable remotely via a SIM card so I can heat the boat up prior to heading there. This combo works really well for me.
Tbh that sounds like a good solution providing can be sure the diesel fired c/h exhaust is clear and away from anything that could be damaged by hot flue gas.

classicaholic

1,689 posts

69 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
SimonTheSailor said:
classicaholic said:
We have a fan on the stove that works on heat somehow, it really works pushing the air around and getting it warmer lower down.
Aldi had them for about £20 recently but I paid over 100 from the swindlers!
The heat powered thermoelectric module ?

Now £15.99 at Aldi"s -

https://www.aldi.co.uk/workzone-stove-fan/p/021240...
Might get another at that price!

dhutch

14,198 posts

196 months

Friday 17th January 2020
quotequote all
FiF said:
Yep, seen a few posts on canalworld where if the stove is in the boat midsection then warmth gets through the rest of the boat. Others who have had a stove in the lounge up near the bows have needed a circuit and radiators to distribute heat, and complaining about noise from the pump. Though someone used a near silent house pump fed off an inverter. Not sure how well a gravity system would work.
As long as you can get the pipe runs right gravity based works well.
Our rads are gravity fed, two to the front, one rad and the calorifier to the rear.

Calorifier (horizontal) is a pig to bleed, but the rads a bang on, warm all day and night, can't put your hand on them if the stoves going strong. No pump noise, not elec draw, and no worries about boiling the backboiler if the stoves still hot when your packing up to leave the boat go home.

SimonTheSailor

12,543 posts

227 months

Tuesday 4th February 2020
quotequote all
Anybody cut a big hole in their roof to fit a collar and flue ?

Not too sure if I'm going to tackle this but might give it a go..........

jjones

4,422 posts

192 months

Tuesday 4th February 2020
quotequote all
SimonTheSailor said:
Anybody cut a big hole in their roof to fit a collar and flue ?

Not too sure if I'm going to tackle this but might give it a go..........
Have seen a few done on various youtube videos e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZAlt9NNlVQ


SimonTheSailor

12,543 posts

227 months

Wednesday 5th February 2020
quotequote all
Ah swine........mains electricity !! B*st*rd !!

dhutch

14,198 posts

196 months

Wednesday 5th February 2020
quotequote all
Roof will be maybe 3mm thick. If you where without 240v you could chain drill it with a good cordless drill, even if you had to do it in stages each night, or a cordless jigsaw with a thin hss blade. However it's not an insubstantial job!

classicaholic

1,689 posts

69 months

Wednesday 5th February 2020
quotequote all
If it only 3mm thick a holesaw will go through in a few minutes, don't go too fast and use a cutting paste, a decent sized battery drill should do it.

dudleybloke

19,717 posts

185 months

Wednesday 5th February 2020
quotequote all
Shaped charge will do it easily.

john2443

Original Poster:

6,322 posts

210 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
New paint job smile

I'm relieved that a few people will use it before I do - would hate to be the one to put the first scratches on it (shared ownership). Shares available if anyone's interested smile 58', 6/7 berth.


SimonTheSailor

12,543 posts

227 months

Tuesday 11th February 2020
quotequote all
Looking good !!