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Narrowboat Heating - What's Best?


Nb Smudger

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Hi Everyone, 

Hope you're all keeping safe & well. I've posted a few queries on here and always had a great & helpful response.

I am now looking at a few winter jobs and would be grateful for some feedback. My 1989 20ft Springer has a 

Carabo Solid Fuel Stove which has probably been on the boat from the start. The chimney is showing wear & tear

and in a couple of places requires fire cement and of course there's the lighting & cleaning etc etc.... It does chuck

out a nice bit of heat and warms the boat through being only 20ft but it's showing it's age and I was thinking of 

replacing it but with what? 

A few boaters have commented about Paraffin or Oil Heaters thus doing away with the stove and chimney but I'm

not sure on heat output? Would it warm the boat through the same? I have seen online the Portable Buddy Heater

which uses a Propane cylinder, reviews look fairly good.  Then there's the LPG stand alone heaters. Any ideas /

suggestions would be great. Thanks everyone, look forward to hearing from you.

NB Smudger.

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A 20 foot Sringer should be really easy to heat. Our 70 footer gets really cold in the middle and back 😀.

Solid fuel stove is the only way to go, don't even think about anything else if you are a liveaboard. Paraffin will fill you full of condensation.

If you find the right person a new heavy single skin flue will not cost too much, its only a bit of steel pipe. 

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An unflued paraffin or gas heater is a no no on a boat.They will fill the boat with poisonous fumes.If you open enough windows to let the fumes out,most of the heat will escape.

Paraffin and gas also cause condensation.

A multifuel stove or (and) a diesel warm air heater is the best way.

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1 hour ago, Nb Smudger said:

A few boaters have commented about Paraffin or Oil Heaters thus doing away with the stove and chimney but I'm

not sure on heat output? Would it warm the boat through the same?

 

I have seen online the Portable Buddy Heater which uses a Propane cylinder, reviews look fairly good.  Then there's the LPG stand alone heaters. Any ideas / suggestions would be great.

 

Liveaboard or not?  I'm assuming not on a 20ft Springer on the Lanky.

 

Solid fuel or diesel stove is best.  The differences are if you like fire or aren't really bothered.  No electricity use, simple, understood by most places for fixing/servicing.

 

If you want to replace the stove, look at something like the Boatman stove from Eddie. ( http://boatmanstove.co.uk/ )  In a 20ft boat you really don't need something as big as a Morso Squirrel!

 

Second best by a long way for your boat would be Webasto or Eberspacher blown air diesel heating ( or a chinese knockoff but be careful of quality and installation safety).  Fast, effective but very electric hungry - some people need an extra battery installing to run them continuously overnight.

 

Nearly last is LPG blown air - work much the same as the diesel blown air, but LPG prices have gone stupid recently.  The units are cheaper but the running costs are much higher.

 

Absolute last is LPG unflued heating.  It costs a fortune, it fills your cabin with condensation and it can quite easily kill you ... what's to like? ;)

 

 

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Do not even consider any form of unflued heater.

All combustion produces carbon monoxide, and water vapour, and consumes oxygen.

The water vapour just makes your clothes go mouldy,  but carbon monoxide and oxygen deficiency kill. 

Boats have very small volume of airspace relitive to floor area which concentrates those nasties easily up to lethal levels. 

 

Edited by DandV
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13 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Liveaboard or not?  I'm assuming not on a 20ft Springer on the Lanky.

 

Solid fuel or diesel stove is best.  The differences are if you like fire or aren't really bothered.  No electricity use, simple, understood by most places for fixing/servicing.

 

If you want to replace the stove, look at something like the Boatman stove from Eddie. ( http://boatmanstove.co.uk/ )  In a 20ft boat you really don't need something as big as a Morso Squirrel!

 

Second best by a long way for your boat would be Webasto or Eberspacher blown air diesel heating ( or a chinese knockoff but be careful of quality and installation safety).  Fast, effective but very electric hungry - some people need an extra battery installing to run them continuously overnight.

 

Nearly last is LPG blown air - work much the same as the diesel blown air, but LPG prices have gone stupid recently.  The units are cheaper but the running costs are much higher.

 

Absolute last is LPG unflued heating.  It costs a fortune, it fills your cabin with condensation and it can quite easily kill you ... what's to like? ;)

 

 

Absolutely loved the Boatman on our previous boat. And Eddie is a good guy. He'll deliver to your boat.

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Our boat is for all year round leisure use. 38' which is about 28' of cabin.

 

We went down the route of a Refleks diesel stove. The actual usage is fairly small, we already have a day tank and we don't have anywhere sensible to store coal or wood.

 

I would echo the point that you want the heat to be radiated from the flue within the boat, so single skin is better. What I do like about the Refleks is the perforated heat shield which serves the purpose of letting the heat out without you being able to accidentally touch the inner flue. I haven't seen something equivalent for a solid fuel stove, but I think I might be inclined to set something like that up if I had a solid fuel stove where there was much much likelihood of accidentally touching the flue.

 

Alec

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1 hour ago, agg221 said:

I would echo the point that you want the heat to be radiated from the flue within the boat, so single skin is better. What I do like about the Refleks is the perforated heat shield which serves the purpose of letting the heat out without you being able to accidentally touch the inner flue. I haven't seen something equivalent for a solid fuel stove, but I think I might be inclined to set something like that up if I had a solid fuel stove where there was much much likelihood of accidentally touching the flue.

 

Alec

 

They are around, here's two on ebay

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324313260428?hash=item4b8293a18c:g:GVYAAOSwaIRZskFO

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153736090819?hash=item23cb6294c3:g:~YUAAOSw5mFd2YX8

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Both or those are radiators to extract more heat from the flue gases, and ugly to boot. I assume @agg221 was referring to protective screens, like these produced by Redshaws for engine exhausts.

243191591_4635588733160378_4373773458509

https://m.facebook.com/vintagediesels/photos/a.794074247311865/4635588769827041/?type=3&source=54&ref=page_internal

 

 

Edited by David Mack
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3 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Both or those are radiators to extract more heat from the flue gases, and ugly to boot. I assume @agg221 was referring to protective screens, like these produced by Redshaws for engine exhausts.

Yes - I was thinking of something like the screens produced by Redshaws, which is essentially the same idea as what is supplied by Refleks - https://refleks-olieovne.dk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/BROCH-GB-FR-SPNY.pdf (see p.10). So far I haven't seen one a suitable size for the standard stove flue pipes. I wouldn't bother with one if the flue was tucked away in a corner, but where it's easier to brush against it or reach out and touch it when passing I would definitely want a guard.

 

Not sure I would want the extra polishing of a brass or copper one though - quite enough already on the engine and soon to add the portholes!

 

Alec

 

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3 hours ago, JoeC said:

I was told that BSS standards for stove flues have changed. If you have to replace a flue then it has to be double skinned.

You were told wrong. Always best to look at the actual requirements, not some ones opinion of what the requirements are. That includes the opinion of some boat safety scheme inspectors!

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59 minutes ago, Cheshire cat said:

On a 20ft boat a solid fuel stove is surely the only way to go.

 

Why is the length of the boat relevant to the fuel used? I know a bloke with a diesel fired stove on a 25ft boat. He gets on very well with it.

 

I would personally go with solid fuel too, but that's irrespective of boat length.

Edited by blackrose
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Another vote for the boatman stove. Quite compact and easy to control. Heats my 57 foot boat fine. The guy who makes them also fitted it for me along with a new flu about three years ago and I’m still happy with it. Can’t recall exactly what it cost all in but recall thinking the price was very reasonable at the time.

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Hi Everyone, 

 

Thanks for all your very helpful comments, really great! Some useful info regarding the diesel stoves but

maybe the boatman and a new flue maybe the way to go, will have a think.

Thanks again everyone! 

Cheers, NB Smudger

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I've never had a diesel stove, always solid fuel. Judging by the steady trickle of Facebook posts on the subject over the years, it seems diesel stoves are a bit more prone to issues and breakdowns plus I just don't like the idea of relying on fuel hidden out of sight in a tank for heating. Bags of coal and wood are so much simpler and easier to source and carry.

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I have just removed my bubble stove, not because they are no good but because a "friend " filled up the fuel tank with water over the summer! The tank was empty so was the toby valve. I will be repairing it and draining the tank however I have bought a very nice wood burning stove to replace it as I get wood for free. This isn't my main heating that's a Rayburn with radiators, its solid fuel and wood. 

However I have to say that the bubble stove has been fantastic easy to light and relatively cheap to use and very clean in comparison to solid fuel 

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14 minutes ago, Ex Brummie said:

I trust that all your free wood is less than 20% moisture content 😏 

I realise how conscious of the environment you are.😉

I have about 10 tons of Hawthorne its over 2 years old getting older by the week, seems to burn very clean and hot.  The stove was 2k new and Defra approved so I think it will be ok. I have to say it's a revelation how much better than multi fuel stoves  burns for longer and much cleaner and is so controllable awesome and at 400 squids secondhand a bargain 

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