Ian Fossett

We have one in our widebeam it does not excessively smoke has performed flawless ly . It has dual altenators and dual thermostats . Is very robust and easy to service, filters etc are easily obtainable. Its funny when questions like these are asked . You always get comments from people who actually know bugger all about the question that's asked.

Or of course you could actually solve the problem, save up and buy a decent quiet inverter generator like a Honda.

And about four grand to buy , very clever though

Probably

Well I don't know everything about everything , I would be the first to admit it. But having posted what I thought would be helpfull information all I get you saying its effectively a waste of time . Its not a waste of time the technology DOES work . It didn't for you , I don't know why that was. Did you use a sonoff sv ? Did you modify the circuit board to isolated mode. I am not an electrical genius ,,, very very far from it. With a bit of reasearch I got it to work and thought I would share that info with others to save them time and money.

I think its because the lithium battery just doesn't have the capacity. Have you considered a reasonable size solar? .

What was difficult about installing the ewelink app ??? I found it pretty easy just like installing any other app. Easy logical setup it also is compatable with amazon Alexa so the heating can be controlled by an Amazon Echo or the Alexa app . The Alexa app automatically finds the ewelink controlled device. A hell of a lot cheaper than the Ebespacher gsm kit which I think is about £350.

Mmm think the clue is in the price. The power output quoted is 150 wh . I think that means it would power a 1 watt device for 150 hours. I don't think it would make dent in your batteries . And thats the claimed output, I think it would be fine for charging phones or torches . Which is pretty much what it says its for.

Some of you with Eberspacher heating may be interested in remotely controlling their heating. I have done this using a wifi switch , the Sonoff sv wifi switch is available on line for less than £10 . It needs a little modification but its very easy to do.

We have lived on our widebeam for over six years with stove and wet eberspacher. This year we purchased a roof mounted reverse cycle aircon unit , the type you see on motorhomes and caravans . We are fortunate to be on power at our mooring and we have toured extensively Australia in motorhomes that all have this type of aircon/heating fitted . Dont let the doubt ers tell you they don't work they do. And they are very efficient . Ours is relativity modest in power 2kw for both heating and cooling. The fact that the unit is an air source heat pump greatly improves the efficiency as the maximum power used to heat for instance is only 600w and is thermostaticaly controled so often quite a lot less, it can also be programmed for time and temperature. Though not powerful enough to heat the boat in winter it is a handy controllable additional means of heating. Our eber uses arround half a litre of fuel an hour about 35p compared with the heat pump at arround 6p. It did increase our air draught but it was not enough to be a problem in our area. The cooling benefits during the summer were also well worth the installation.

an extract from the Solid Fuel Association's advice on stoves linked to central heating systems Pipework Design The output from a solid fuel stove can be turned down but not turned off. Therefore, there are two essential rules to be observed when designing the system. 1. The system must have an unrestricted open vent to atmosphere. 2. There must be scope for the dissipation of heat from the appliance in the event of a pump or power failure. A heat leak radiator should be provided sized to the turn- down output of the appliance (usually 25% of maximum output). The stove primary pipework should always be designed so that in the event of a pump failure, heat can circulate by gravity (thermosiphon) to the store or to the heat leak radiator. Where the primaries are pumped, a bypass should be fitted to the pump to facilitate an unrestricted cold feed to the appliance (10mm diameter). Important note: A stove should never be connected to an unvented cylinder unless two tiers of safety can be provided in accordance with Part G of the Building Regulations. Guidance should be sought from the manufacturer of the system

Wish I did will be worth a fortune!!

UK building regs state that it is permisable to fit a solid fuel stove to a pressurised system provided it is approved by the manufacturer .The problem is you wont find a stove manufacturer or calorifier manufacturer who does. The reason is its very dangerous even more so on a boat . However there is hope on the horizon but its not currently available but hopefully will be soon http://www.fhtstoves.com/ . The designer is a guy called Simon Redford. The FHT stove is 100% safe in the event of pump failure, and is designed to be integrated into a pressurised system. It seems to tick all the boxes as far as boat installation is concerned.

I am afraid back boilers should never ever be fitted into a pressurised system. I know people do, but it breaks every rule in the book and is extremely dangerous. I have been looking for ages for a way of using our stove heat to heat our water. We are very fortunate to be on mains power so we use a 1kw immersion heater for water heating ,we also have a eberspatcher hydronic running on kerosene and a Firfox multifuel stove. I recently discovered the FHT stove designed by a guy named Simon Redferd . It appears to tick all the boxes and can be easily retrofitted into existing systems. Unlike a backboiler it is designed to be fitted into a pressurised system and cannot overheat if the circulation pump fails. Its main design feature is a fan assisted heat exchanger . I would advise all livaboards to check out the FHT stoves website, the stove is not yet on sale but you can express interest in the product by contacting Simon Redferd. http://www.fhtstoves.com/index.html