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Mini oil radiator on timer


Ghemmie

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32 minutes ago, Mike Hurley said:

As long as you remember the blanket when you return and start the engine. 

Many years ago my old Dad used to do that on his car. He gave up the practice after one morning he forgot  to take it off again .

31 minutes ago, Athy said:

Good point! It is fairly obvious though, as it's, er, on top of and around the engine.

If you have an engine room yes, but our engine is under the semi trad stern deck board.

Edited by Alway Swilby
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3 hours ago, Mike Hurley said:

Only if you lift the boards to see it. This used to be the thing to do back in the 60/70s with cars, not unusual to see a car on the side of the road with the driver trying to remove a tangled blanket from the belts.

:D

We have no such worries, as the engine stands proud and is not normally covered.

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4 hours ago, Athy said:

We do some of the abovementioned things - but no one has yet mentioned putting a blanket over the engine, which we do. II can't remember who advised us to do this, years ago. is it not recommended?

No, it's not - you'll make the damned thing lazy!  Just wait til you want to get away fairly early one morning only to find the damned thing is having a lie in.  It'll end in tears I tell ye!

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4 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

Once again:-

 

A while ago it was reported here than one marine insurer had said using non-marine approved heating devices while the boat s unattended invalidates the cover so please check.

 

Personally I just run the tank and taps s dry as they will go, remove the shower mixer and leave all the taps open. I doubt anyone here can drain all the low level pipes fully. Been fine, even when the boat ass held solid in ice but there is always a first time.

 

My personal view is that there is nothing wrong with using shoreline powered greenhouse tube haeters or oil filled radiators but i would not leave any other electrical heating running unattended.

I sent an email complete with a photo and details of the green house type heaters I would be using to my insurers and they confirmed they are safe to use would not invalidate my policy.

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2 hours ago, tosher said:

I sent an email complete with a photo and details of the green house type heaters I would be using to my insurers and they confirmed they are safe to use would not invalidate my policy.

That was the correct thing to do because other insurers may very well take a different view This is why I repeat the advice to check. Imagine how a boater would fell if they had an otherwise valid claim rejected simply because of such a heater being used unattended.

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I've used oil-filled radiators on Consort for quite a few years whilst the boat was undergoing internal re-fit AND whilst living aboard. Lekky bill is high but c'est la vie. I have a largish one near the front of the boat and a dinky one (Dunelm) with its own thermostat near the engine room/bathroom. Both are permanently on along with the immersion. Temp in the boat remains at 18-20C.

Now installing regular rads with a domestic style electric Flow Boiler. We're fortunate as our mooring has full house-style electricity supply along with smart meter. The only limitation is the boat's isolation transformer which is 7KW. 

Oil-filled radiators are pretty reliable BUT as Tony says, can't be sure what the insurer would say ?If anyone has had a green light from their insurers for Oil-filled radiators, please let us all know

Stephen

 

(Not sure what a greenhouse heater looks like. Maybe post #33 answers my question)

Edited by Stephen Jeavons
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12 minutes ago, Stephen Jeavons said:

Not sure what a greenhouse heater looks like. Maybe post #33 answers my question)

Mine are 6 foot long grey plastic tubes, about 4" in diameter with a 230v cable coming out of the end.

I have one each side of the engine room.

 

Can just be seen on these pics (on outboard side of each engine) & on the RH side of each picture - one with 'orange lead, and one with a white lead.

 

 

CAM00306.jpg

CAM00320.jpg

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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On 01/12/2019 at 21:19, system 4-50 said:

For winter I :

Drain the freshwater plumbing as far as possible.

Leave taps etc open

Drain the FW pump

Put non-toxic antifreeze in the toilet bowl/sump & shower drain & pump it through a bit

Drain the WMC

Put the plug in the sink

Block off the Morco chimney & drain the Morco at the drain point.

Block all vents

Open an air valve into the watertanks takeoff so that syphoning can't take place if there is a downstream leak (the takeoffs are in the top of my tank).

Empty the kettle

Empty the emergency 5L bottle of drinking water

Put all water-based bottles of fluid in a bowl

Drink all remaining wines & beers

 

I don't have a shoreline but I would still do the above if I did as I would not trust the shoreline not to fail during the winter.

 

 

I do most of that, but certainly don't block all the vents - surely you want the boat well ventilated to stop condensation?   You always leave some moisture in the air unless you've avoided breathing or cooking for several hours.   And please excuse my ignorance  - I've thought hard but can't work out what a WMC* is.  

Only extra thing is if you have a raw water cooled engine like I have, make sure all the water is drained/pumped out.  I also add a small dose of antifreeze to make sure  (yes I know that this is toxic to the aquatic environment, but the dilution when pumped out will be 1 in many millions  -  homeopathic amounts).

 

*Apart from Working Men's Club, that is.

Edited by Mac of Cygnet
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We moved off full time liveaboard last year - and just as well as the new marina owners don't allow it and we only winter moored anyway.

 

As well as all of the above [though we do leave enough for a hot toddy when we return during the winter!] the Internet of Things is proving to be an excellent way of managing the amount of leccie usage.  There is a permanently "On"  tube heater in the engine room alongside the block, with a sleeping bag over the3  heads. Two oil filled low wattage radiators, positioned in engine room and galley/saloon are connected via separate "TP Link" sockets plugged into the wall.  A third socket has a "Clever Dog" internet camera trained on a weather station which reads inside and outside temperature. All this is Wi-Fi linked to the boat's router and everything is controlled via a smart phone.  You can set schedules for the heaters to switch  on/off throughout the night or override to be permanently on if the weather does take a turn.  I aim to keep the inside between 6-8 deg.  Over the last 30 days it has cost 85p per day on average.

 

A friend of mine also uses wireless remote to switch his diesel heater when needed. 

 

If it all goes t*ts up, the marina team have a spare key and I can be there within 3 hours if necessary.  The TP link plugs are around £25-30, Clever Dog camera £25, Weather station £25.  Plus a Wi-Fi dongle and reliable mobile signal.

 

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Another vote for tube heaters. 

I dont try to heat the boat  up to a comfortable temperature,  just frost protect. With a thermostat set around 5 degrees they have used  little energy in recent winters.

I do have a Meaco dd8L dehumidifier which keeps the interior feeling comfortably dry and prevents mould.

That uses about £20 per month from just now - early  December to mid March.

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On 01/12/2019 at 21:45, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

First of all, can you confirm whether you live aboard or not, and whether you are on a mooring with shore power, or not?

 

Until we know this info, no-one can give you any properly tailored advice, other than electric oil filled rads virtually never explode or catch fire. 

 

 

 

 

 

Afternoon,

 

No, we don't live aboard.  We have a mooring on the side of the canal with a shore power connection.

Thanks for all the replies everybody.  I am going to go plug my little oil filled radiator in this evening and keep it around 5 to 6 degrees.  I will no doubt have more than a few sleepless nights worrying about it burning my boat down, but I'm currently having sleepless nights worrying about pipes cracking.  At least there are two safety shut offs on the heater. 

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2 hours ago, MartynG said:

Another vote for tube heaters. 

I dont try to heat the boat  up to a comfortable temperature,  just frost protect. With a thermostat set around 5 degrees they have used  little energy in recent winters.

I do have a Meaco dd8L dehumidifier which keeps the interior feeling comfortably dry and prevents mould.

That uses about £20 per month from just now - early  December to mid March.

 

I do something similar. 2 x 700 watt oil filled radiators supplied from a thermoststic plug through adaptor set to 5°C, one by the wardrobe with the calorifier in it, and one by the galley/bathroom partition, where the water pumps are. 

 

Then a Meaco DDL8 dehumidifier amidships to keep everything dry, with the drain piped overboard. You need to block the  vents (folded bath sponges for the mushrooms and blu tac'd cardboard for the low level louvres, plus have all windows closed or the dehumidifier will try to dry the world.

 

No issues in the 6 winters I have been doing this, even with prolonged outside temperatures of -10°C. Inside temperature has never dropped below 2°C.

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3 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Then a Meaco DDL8 dehumidifier amidships to keep everything dry, with the drain piped overboard. 

 

I let the dehumidifier fill it's own tank. But the boat is within mile from home so I can visit regularly.

 

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On 01/12/2019 at 21:38, blackrose said:

 

Presumably you don't live aboard? I'm living aboard but stay away for a couple of nights most weeks for work. I couldn't possibly do all those things you do every week.

I worked away in the week during a very cold winter, so cold the Llan froze, all I did very early Monday morning was, switch off electrics, turn water stop cock off, open taps and drop the shower head in the tray.

 

I also used to top up the fire, thinking an extra day of background heat might stave off the worst.

 

In fact the worst thing to happen was the olive oil going cloudy :)

 

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1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

How often is that then, once every two days?

Depending on weather conditions the tank in the dehumidifier could be full after two days.

However a mid week and a weekend visit are usually achievable .  It has proven to be sufficient in terms of keeping the boat free of any damp issues. 

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For the first time in years I brought home the contents of the 'larder' the other day. Opened this topic in the middle of sorting it out (2 plastic crates full and 4 Tesco strong plastic bags full). Surrounded by  tins and jars. Some in date, some out of date, some opened. What the he** do I do with it all? Looks like Christmas dinner this year is salmon and corned beef with a liberal coating of curry sauce. :help:

The oldest was an opened bottle of Branston Relish with a best before date of 02/13 :ninja:

Edited by Slim
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2 hours ago, Slim said:

The oldest was an opened bottle of Branston Relish with a best before date of 02/13 :ninja:

If it wasn’t furry then it’ll be fine ;)

 

A member of management from Heinz once told me that many of their products would be unlikely to spoil in the fridge after even a decade, but food labelling and safety regs caused them to give only a 12month life. 

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