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Central heating.


Gerry underwood

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On 10/10/2019 at 14:55, Gerry underwood said:

Our widebeam only has a wood/coal burner at the moment. Thinking of having central heating installed. Any suggestions on good reliable systems and also cost. 

 

I think you have had little advice because you are so sketchy about your requirements from a CH system. 

 

Let's start with what fuel you envisage running it from. And how many radiators?

 

Do you want every part of your widebeam to be maintained at 25c or just the chill taken off? Are you keeping the wood burner? And do you expect it to provide hot water too? What do you current have for hot water?

 

 

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I'd be inclined to suggest a separate system from your solid fuel rather than go down the back boiler route to provide you with 2 sources of heat. My diesel Eberspacher powered radiator central heating system is great at getting the boat warmed up quickly whilst the solid fuel stove gets up to speed. After that, the solid fuel stove keeps the boat cosy. Diesel is the obvious choice as its cheaper than gas and you have a ready supply aboard.

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23 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I think you have had little advice because you are so sketchy about your requirements from a CH system. 

 

Let's start with what fuel you envisage running it from. And how many radiators?

 

Do you want every part of your widebeam to be maintained at 25c or just the chill taken off? Are you keeping the wood burner? And do you expect it to provide hot water too? What do you current have for hot water?

 

 

Probably looking at a diesel system with no more than 3 radiators. We will be keeping the burner. The water is heated through an immersion. 

 

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2 minutes ago, Gerry underwood said:

Probably looking at a diesel system with no more than 3 radiators. We will be keeping the burner. The water is heated through an immersion. 

 

 

Ok so 'sketchy' remains your style....!

 

 

 

 

 

  • Haha 1
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17 minutes ago, Gerry underwood said:

The water is heated through an immersion. 

Is this a 'mobile' boat or a fixed installation ?

 

I simply ask as I cannot see how you would power an immersion heater without a shore-line.

 

I left my immersion heater 'on' once (by accident) after we left the mooring, so it was being powered by the inverter - it flattened the 1200Ah battery bank very quickly.

 

How do you power your immersion ?

How big is your battery bank ?

How do you generate power to replace that used from the batteries ?

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9 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Is this a 'mobile' boat or a fixed installation ?

 

I simply ask as I cannot see how you would power an immersion heater without a shore-line.

 

I left my immersion heater 'on' once (by accident) after we left the mooring, so it was being powered by the inverter - it flattened the 1200Ah battery bank very quickly.

 

How do you power your immersion ?

How big is your battery bank ?

How do you generate power to replace that used from the batteries ?

Our system only powers the immersion when on shore line. Wish it did the same with the fridge and  freezer!

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What you propose in having a different heating system to give diversity is very sensible. For that reason we have a solid fuel stove & a diesel one on our NB. We use the first for long term heat, the diesel as back-up & for a quick burst of warmth when that's all we need.

Do you not have your calorifier heated by your engine cooling system? This is a great source of free hot water when you run the engine, but probably not important if you don't do that a lot. We also use it to heat the radiator system sometimes as when the engine is going the calorifier acts as a heat exchanger, warming the heating circuit quite effectively. Good when boating when it's not worth lighting a stove.

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On this boat I have a webasto thermo thingy, it is exellent and reliable. The proper heating is done by a multi fuel stove which is the ONLY way to do the job properly. We use the webasto for an hours blast for showers in the morning or when we have been off the baot for quick warm up on return such as yesterday after a weekend away. One observation is you say 3 radiators, this is not enough unless they are humungous as the webasto or similar will soon cycle as it gets up to heat, cycling on and off  buggers them up. My system is four double rads various sizes, about a dozen fin rads, a large cauliflower and about 200 feet plus of 22 mil pipe. I am more than happy to show you the instalation which is first class if you are ever nearby. It never cycles and gets very hot.

Edited by mrsmelly
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21 minutes ago, Gerry underwood said:

Looking at £1500 hopefully. Normally hooked up but we will be cruising. 

 

 

With a budget of only £1,500 I think your only chance is to add a back boiler to your wood/coal burner and some convection radiators. This assumes you are looking to employ someone to install it rather than DIY.

 

Even then you will be up against it on budget I suggest as installation alone is likely to be three days at £300 a day.

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2 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

With a budget of only £1,500 I think your only chance is to add a back boiler to your wood/coal burner and some convection radiators. This assumes you are looking to employ someone to install it rather than DIY.

 

Even then you will be up against it on budget I suggest as installation alone is likely to be three days at £300 a day.

What kind of cost would we be looking at for everything including fitting if we went for a Webasto system? 

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Just now, Gerry underwood said:

What kind of cost would we be looking at for everything including fitting if we went for a Webasto system? 

 

I'd guess about £3.5k, provided your existing diesel tank is suitable.

 

If you want a separate diesel tank so you can burn (cheap) red diesel in the webby, add a further £1k.

 

 

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1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

On this boat I have a webasto thermo thingy, it is exellent and reliable. The proper heating is done by a multi fuel stove which is the ONLY way to do the job properly. We use the webasto for an hours blast for showers in the morning or when we have been off the baot for quick warm up on return such as yesterday after a weekend away. One observation is you say 3 radiators, this is not enough unless they are humungous as the webasto or similar will soon cycle as it gets up to heat, cycling on and off  buggers them up. My system is four double rads various sizes, about a dozen fin rads, a large cauliflower and about 200 feet plus of 22 mil pipe. I am more than happy to show you the instalation which is first class if you are ever nearby. It never cycles and gets very hot.

Where are you moored? And what kind of cost is involved? 

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2 hours ago, Gerry underwood said:

Where are you moored? And what kind of cost is involved? 

I am on the south Oxford near Banbury. If you want a look feel free. As to cost that will depend on if u are doing it yourself or if you have someone do it, there is quite a lot of parts required and time to do it all, especialy if its a retro fit which takes much longer than if thought about and done from new. If you want a full breakdown of costs pm me and I will go through it with you. :cheers:

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