wibbly wobbler
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Posts posted by wibbly wobbler
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32 minutes ago, David Mack said:
Will make little difference. If you have the conditions for condensation to occur, then it will occur, and mould killer and anti-mould paint will only defer the reapperarance of mould for a short time.
I did have quite a lot of condensation when the temperature dropped but didn't have the stove operational at the time. Touch wood I've got to grips with it now and I'm ventilating properly.
2 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:Not likely to be a construction shortfall then. You could ask Simon, maybe he is feeling helpful?
I was actually contemplating emailing piper boats and asking them if this issue was known to them.
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3 hours ago, CanalRetentive said:
Seeing as you had a leak previously and now damp/mould problems it's probably safe to say the boat never dried out properly. That should be your priority, drying the boat out. Run the stove 24/7, put your dehumidifier in particularly bad spots until it's collecting less water and then move it to another. Just concentrate on drying the boat out. Until the damp issue is fixed fighting the mold is just starting a never ending battle that you'll never win.
That's what I'm afraid of. I have temperature and humidity monitors at each end and in the middle and try not to let the humidity get too high. Moisture catchers all over the place and have now placed a small dehumidifier in the engine bay. I did suck the leaked water out with a wet vac, maybe I missed a little bit.
3 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:What is the boat? Builder? Fit out? Some are known for short cutting insulation.
It's a 2007 piper boat and fit out.
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1 hour ago, Slow and Steady said:
Were there signs that this has been a historical problem with your boat? If not, it's probably lack of ventilation/heat and you might be in the same situation with the next one! In a steel box, normal house rules are exaggerated and you need to be ready to "waste" a certain amount of heat to keep dry.
I don't really mind the cold so much, I run my stove primarily to stave off the damp. That's 24/7 through the winter.
There was mold on the ceiling from the bathroom through bedroom to around rear hatch but not noticeable until months after I bought it. I cleaned it all with mold killer and re painted with anti mold paint. I have only had the boat since August last year so don't know if there have been issues with mold in the past.
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4 hours ago, MtB said:
I still think getting the stove jumping hot and keeping it that way for a couple of weeks is the surefire solution.
Currently I'm thinking selling the boat is an even better solution, though I suspect given it's present state, no-one would touch it with a barge pole.
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4 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:
Getting rid of mold spoors is tricky, you need to treat not only the black areas but any other place where it may spread to. Unventilated corners, areas with cold bridging to outside etc.
I have been reading soo much about it. And believe I'm well out of my depth. I've had to leave the boat after only starting to treat it (due to covid), so dread to think what state it is in now and how much further it has spread. 🥺
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4 hours ago, MtB said:
There seems to be a trend in women to shave their eyebrows off and paint them back on in makeup of some sort.
My GF did this and I told her she'd painted them on a bit too high.
She looked surprised.....
🤦♀️ 😂😂
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6 hours ago, cuthound said:
Yes you should mop up any surplus diesel before relighting, otherwise the stove can run away and glow bright red until it has burnt off the surplus fuel and it will burn with yellow flames until it has.
You need either an "H" cowl or the type supplied by Kabola, where the top is effectively an oversized inverted can so it takes air from underneath to prevent down draughts from blowing them out in windy weather.
Mine uses about 0.25-0.33 litres per hour on settings 1-3, so my 60 litre tank last up to 10 days between refills when left oncontinuously. My tank is located in the port bow locker and can be refilled directly from its fill pipe or from the main engine tank via a pump. The latter requires two people, one at each end of the boat, as the button for the pump is by the helm. 😦
Oh no, I certainly couldn't cope if my stove ran away 😱 😉
The stove is definitely the life force of the boat and I'm trying to do my best to look after it.
I'm going to sneakily Google a H Cowl so I can pretend I know what that section is referring to.
I keep meaning to fill the tank up completely so I can get a proper measure of usage but at the minute I'm just using Jerry cans to top up levels.
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7 hours ago, MtB said:
My GF from a few years ago had a diesel-fired Squirrel that was the same - chucked out a load of heat on lowest setting but tended to blow out when it was windy outside. Once this happened she used to insist on leaving it an hour or two to cool down then mop up the diesel slopping about inside, then twart about re-lighting it from scratch. I was always up for just re-lighting it immediately with a blowtorch but she was very protective of it and would never let me near it!
Drank like a fish too. The stove, that is not the GF. It had a separate diesel tank on the bulkhead outside and filling it was awkward and another disincentive to lighting the stove.
Haha, I was going ask to which one you were referring 😂
To be fair, that's the one think the guy from lockgate did say, always make sure the stove has completely cooled down before lighting it again. I did try once without waiting and boy did it not go well. Not only did it not stay lit, it sounded like it was going to blow up and nearly took my eyebrows off.
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7 hours ago, cuthound said:
If the flame is primarily blue once it has been on for 10-15 minutes then the stove is working properly. Due to the short flues on narrowboat it is not usually possible to get them to burn blue on the highest settings. That said the boat would be uncomfortably hot on the highest settings. I find mine keeps a 60 foot boat comfortably warm on settings 1-2 during a typical British winter.
Providing it has a flame failure device (red button that you have to press in for a minute whilst lighting it) and the surrounding area doesn't get too hot they can be safely left on for long periods. They need cleaning every 500 hours of operation, so once a fortnight if left on continuously.
Turning it on and off a lot will decrease the time between cleanings.
Yes the flame is predominantly blue. It's only really yellow when I wake up (having left it on overnight around no. 3-4 (when freezing outside)), but I turn it down to 2 and it soon goes back to blue. I find it struggles a bit on lower settings when it's freezing outside and doesn't burn consistently, so I need to put it on 3 or 4. I didn't have the issue with coking before the temperature dropped but the burner net now has a layer on top after every use (which I clean, otherwise the flame does not burn well and it sometimes lets off fumes). The diesel is different from what was being used before and I've changed the brand of methylated spirits I use, is that likely to cause this effect? Do you add additives to your diesel or cleaning tablets in your burner pot?
Thank you for all this, it helps greatly. As you can probably tell, I am absolutely clueless 🤦♀️
7 hours ago, cuthound said:Lockgate are UK agents for Refleks stoves.
Yep, totally knew that 🤦♀️🤣
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Brilliant, thank you 😊
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52 minutes ago, MtB said:
Yellow flame = bad, blue flame = good!
I seem to remember they start off yellow when cold and first lit, but I've never owned own myself to have a good fiddle with.
Chances are the chimney extension she mentioned is actually needed, or it would not have been made. Fish it out and bung it on!
I will definitely fish it out and swap it when I get back, and need to pay more attention to the flame and try leaving it on for longer periods. Thank you 😊
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7 minutes ago, wibbly wobbler said:
Yes.
Well it's actually a lockgate stove.
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2 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:
Is it a Refleks though?
Yes.
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5 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:
If it is "coking up" it is not burning properly and will be producing dangerous fumes. It must burn with a blue flame, never yellow. This could be the root of your problem along with poor sealing.
You may need a longer chimney to make the flue pull better, at the moment it could be suffering from inversion of the products in the flue due to insufficient draught. Dangerous.
Oh you're joking 🤦♀️ I really do need to get someone to look at it. The flame is blue once it gets going, it's only really yellow briefly on start up and when I wake up in the morning (I thought that was because it was on too high a heat as the outside temperature had risen). I've been soo ingrossed in trying to sort the mold I haven't really paid much mind to the stove, just grateful it's working. I'm sure the woman said there was a longer spare chimney attachment, I will try to find it and see if that makes a difference. Thank you soo much for your help, greatly appreciated.
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4 hours ago, Phoenix_V said:
ha ha make model supplier?
No idea off the top of my head I'm afraid (I don't have it to hand to check), I think it was Addis. Just a cheap one that has a true hepa filter, which allegedly catches mold spores (all about the filter).
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2 hours ago, Jim Riley said:
Having a couples tenanted houses where tenants do not ventilate when drying washing indoors etc and being called in to deal with the ensuing black mould, I can recommend HG Mould Remover. We've tried several.
I will have a look at that, thank you.
55 minutes ago, Loddon said:Heating-cooling-heating-cooling-heating-cooling and so on will cause condensation
What you are doing is possibly the worst thing you could do.
If a boat stays cold all the time it will be fine
If a boat stays warm all the time it will be fine.
I used to leave my diesel heater (Kabola Old Dutch) on all the time in the winter.
Unfortunately I have to go to work and do not want to leave the stove on for long periods of time unattended. I have oil filled radiators on timers to try to stop the temperature dropping too much.
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3 hours ago, cuthound said:
If you are on Facebook apply to join tne Refleks Diesel Stove group. They offer excellent advice on Refleks and other oil drip stoves, amd will probably be able to resolve your coking up problems by showing how to clean the stove and if necessary set up the
I deactivated my Facebook last year to keep my sanity. I have previously emailed the manufacturer and they have been very helpful, I didn't want to keep bugging them but it might be a good idea, thank you.
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2 minutes ago, MtB said:
Subject to what Tracy said about checking the flue is clear (which it almost certainly will be on a diesel stove), I suggest keeping it running 24/7.
There must be something seriously wrong I reckon with this boat. None of mine get wet like yours seems to if I leave them unheated, unless perhaps for months at a time.
The woman I bought it off had left it unattended for about a year and a half, I don't know if that had anything to do with it. Either that or I'm doing something seriously wrong . I'm beginning to think that I'm way out of my depth and possibly made a really bad decision.
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4 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:
Check the flues and seals on your diesel stove, any fumes venting into the boat will cause bad condensation. You may not see or smell them, but they will contain water vapour.
Ok, thank you. I think I need to get it looked at anyway because it is coking up after every use which I'm pretty sure is not meant to happen.
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15 hours ago, MtB said:
i've only briefly scanned the thread but no-one has asked if you have a solid fuel stove. If you have, LIGHT IT and keep it going 24/7 until the warm weather arrives.
This is probably all that is required. The flue will draw plenty of fresh air in to ventilate, and the heat will dry out the dampness. virtually all liveaboard boaters keep the stove alight all winter.If you don't, this could well be the cause of the problem
It came with a diesel stove which I put on when I get in from work and leave on until I go to work the following day but I cannot leave it on 24/7 as I work full time. I might try leaving it on 24/7 on my days off, but I fear the mold might have spread to far already.
10 hours ago, john.k said:Id be a bit careful with bleach ,as its got a similar action to concentrated salt water......in other words,spilt bleach will rust the crap out of your steel hull......Vinegar may be just as bad.
That's what I'm concerned about, plus I don't want anything harmful to end up in the canal.
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2 hours ago, Cheese said:
With calm conditions at present it can be difficult to properly ventilate a boat when stationary. How often do you move? Cruising, even for a short distance, can be quite effective at clearing out damp.
I have not taken it out for months. I was going to take it out on the day I discovered the mold (discovered it while checking my levels) and thought better of it, thinking heating the engine up in the cold weather would only create more damp afterwards.
3 minutes ago, MtB said:Does. this boat have a solid fuel stove?
Are you keeping it alight?
It has a diesal stove that I put on every night when I get in from work. Unfortunately I couldn't get it to work for a while so that didn't help.
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3 hours ago, Phoenix_V said:
what did you buy?
An air purifier
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2 hours ago, Keeping Up said:
Sounds promising. Fingers crossed that it works OK for you.
Thank you 😊
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I have bought a dehumidifier and a cheap air purifier (it catches mold spores) to put in there. Thank you
Mold mold and more mold 😱
in New to Boating?
Posted
Thanks 🤦♀️ I do breathe yes but cooking is a rarity and I've not used the shower once as it needs resealing (and yes I do wash 😜 ).
Judging by the colour of the wood in the bathroom, I suspect there may have been an undetected leak for a while from ages ago, I wonder if that had something to do with it.