To Heat or Not to Heat ?! Single Cabin Quandary

[NewCanalBoy]

I'm pondering how/whether to heat my single front cabin. I have a 40ft cruiser stern with a solid fuel stove in the living/kitchen area. This heats that area no problem although doesn't travel that well to other areas (my front sleeping cabin).

 

Now to introduce a Webasto/Eberspacher unit along with fuel line/electrics/vents seems a bit OTT for one room (& expensive!).

 

I have a Villager Puffin stove which has two outlets 'pre-stamped' in the back for a back boiler. Is it worth getting one (if I can get one which having just looked might be problematic!) and rigging this up to a single radiator. It's all on the same side of the boat and wouldn't need more than 10-12ft of pipe to the rad. I've heard a pump can be damn noisy and gravity fed systems aren't always they great ?!

 

Or - get one of those Chinese 'all in one' stand alone units and have it in the engine bay blowing warm air ? The boat did at one time have a heater in it so it has holes through the bulk head and in the base of the furniture for air vents. Although I would have to extend the vents and have it temporarily across the floor to the front cabin. Do-able but probably become annoying after a while.

 

Any opinions/other choices?

[LadyG]

I have a stove, centrally, in a 57ft NB which is well insulated At the moment I have thick curtains on front end, on back end, and on windows, so I'm heating only about thirty feet. The back boiler runs through the loo via a small radiator, and it then runs via  a fat pipe in the bed head, and on to the calorifier, I think.

Boat is toasty, though I am feeding smokeless fuel every four or five hours.

The Webasto came on this am, it was - 3C outside. Woke me up!

Two CO monitors at nostril height recommended.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by LadyG

[Sea Dog]

I shift warm air down the length of my boat with a usb-charged desk fan hanging on the curtain rail. It started as an experiment but works so well I'm looking at something more "built in". We're talking 57' boat, solid fuel stove at the front achieving 18c in the bedroom right down aft. Less than 20 quid, originally bought in a heatwave, where it had already more than earned its keep. Worth a punt perhaps.

[NewCanalBoy]

That's interesting Sea Dog (goes off to find his 12v fan and clothes pegs/string..........)

[Sea Dog]

Just now, NewCanalBoy said:

That's interesting Sea Dog (goes off to find his 12v fan and clothes pegs/string..........)

I hope it works for you. My missus now thinks I'm a magician! 

 

The only downside is feeling the cold air coming back over your feet...! 

[rusty69]

I got one of them all in one chinese things. I just this minute switched it on to take the chill off the bedroom area. Bit noisy, and high on startup current, but works ok if set up right.

[LadyG]

My bathroom is warmer if I close the door, I normally leave it open, so it is transferring heat down the boat, and the pipes in the bedhead heat the bedroom alcove. I've never been so warm in my life!

Edited December 9, 2022 by LadyG

[rusty69]

2 minutes ago, LadyG said:

My bathroom is warmer if I close the door, I normally leave it open, so it is transferring heat down the boat, and the pipes in the bedhead heat the bedroom alcove. I've never been so warm in my life!

I'm not surprised if you are loading the fire every few hours. Ours gets loaded once every 24 hours.

[LadyG]

11 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I'm not surprised if you are loading the fire every few hours. Ours gets loaded once every 24 hours.

I prefer shorts a T shirts to double pneumonia, anyway fire goes out if I don't keep topping it up, and then requires Firelighters and kindling, so in this weather i'd rather keep it going. 

PS I'm monitoring battery temps, down to 11.3C this am, currently 16.5C, as I've had the engine on twice. They obviously reflect the heat produced by the engine. 

Edited December 9, 2022 by LadyG

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, LadyG said:

I prefer shorts a T shirts to double pneumonia, anyway fire goes out if I don't keep topping it up, and then requires Firelighters and kindling, so n this weather is rather keep it going.

Must be a pain getting out of bed every 4 hours. 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

 

Don't knock gravity circulation from a back boiler. It can work very well, but you are limited on where the pipes can go. @Tracy D'arth will be along in a moment to say that pumps for stove back boilers are dangerous and the work of the devil and that gravity circulation is the path of righteousness. You may need more than one radiator to cope with the power and not boil up. This may, or may not be practical to retrofit, depending on your boats layout and the number of holes through bulkheads, kitchen units and what have you that would be required to get the smooth gradients for the large bore copper pipes required. I installed mine as part of the fit out, so things could be arranged around the pipework.

 

The Chinese blown air diesel heaters can be very good. To install properly, needs a couple of hundred more pounds spent on a marine exhaust, copper pipework, fuel tank take offs, filters, water separators etc. Depends on how the Boat Safety Scheme decide to treat them in the long term.

 

Having the stove right beside the bow door has always struck me as a dumb place. Moving the stove to the centre of the boat would be a sensible place, but is probably too much faff and upheaval.

Edited December 9, 2022 by Jen-in-Wellies

[David Mack]

With your stove towards the back of the boat and the unheated cabin at the front, the usual bow up attitude of a narrowboat will help the gravity circulation from a back boiler. Much easier to do like this than if the stove is right up the front.

[rusty69]

Agree with both of the above. If you have a backbolier, gravity circulation is very effective.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

I have a stove, centrally, in a 57ft NB which is well insulated At the moment I have thick curtains on front end, on back end, and on windows, so I'm heating only about thirty feet. The back boiler runs through the loo via a small radiator, and it then runs via  a fat pipe in the bed head, and on to the calorifier, I think.

Boat is toasty, though I am feeding smokeless fuel every four or five hours.

The Webasto came on this am, it was - 3C outside. Woke me up!

Two CO monitors at nostril height recommended.

 

 

At least now you know where the hot water flows from your back boiler

[LadyG]

1 hour ago, rusty69 said:

Must be a pain getting out of bed every 4 hours. 

Well, unfortunately it's a necessity at my age, I have a shovel loaded for stoking the stove, it's only once every eight hours, if you see what I mean

[LadyG]

54 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

At least now you know where the hot water flows from your back boiler

I'm not sure if it goes in to calorifier, it's gravity fed.

[Bod]

20 hours ago, NewCanalBoy said:

I'm pondering how/whether to heat my single front cabin. I have a 40ft cruiser stern with a solid fuel stove in the living/kitchen area. This heats that area no problem although doesn't travel that well to other areas (my front sleeping cabin).

 

Now to introduce a Webasto/Eberspacher unit along with fuel line/electrics/vents seems a bit OTT for one room (& expensive!).

 

I have a Villager Puffin stove which has two outlets 'pre-stamped' in the back for a back boiler. Is it worth getting one (if I can get one which having just looked might be problematic!) and rigging this up to a single radiator. It's all on the same side of the boat and wouldn't need more than 10-12ft of pipe to the rad. I've heard a pump can be damn noisy and gravity fed systems aren't always they great ?!

 

Or - get one of those Chinese 'all in one' stand alone units and have it in the engine bay blowing warm air ? The boat did at one time have a heater in it so it has holes through the bulk head and in the base of the furniture for air vents. Although I would have to extend the vents and have it temporarily across the floor to the front cabin. Do-able but probably become annoying after a while.

 

Any opinions/other choices?

Eco fan. 
Some will say waste of money. 
Some say works well. 
For us in a 55 footer stove at the bow, eco fan does make a difference along the whole length of the cabin. 
 

Bod

[reg]

19 hours ago, rusty69 said:

I got one of them all in one chinese things. I just this minute switched it on to take the chill off the bedroom area. Bit noisy, and high on startup current, but works ok if set up right.

Got one. For the money brilliant bit of kit but i only run it when I'm awake. I actually find the noise quite comforting in the same way a clock noise can be reassuring.

At night i just go to bed in the cold but i do open the connection door from the kitchen, where the heater is, to the bedroom for 15 to 30 mins first. Mornings are a bit of a mental challenge though.

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, reg said:

Got one. For the money brilliant bit of kit but i only run it when I'm awake. I actually find the noise quite comforting in the same way a clock noise can be reassuring.

At night i just go to bed in the cold but i do open the connection door from the kitchen, where the heater is, to the bedroom for 15 to 30 mins first. Mornings are a bit of a mental challenge though.

I reckon I've been unlucky with mine.Its good when it woks, but it keeps going wong.

[reg]

2 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I reckon I've been unlucky with mine.Its good when it woks, but it keeps going wong.

Nice thing about them is you can almost just buy another one. 

[rusty69]

2 minutes ago, reg said:

Nice thing about them is you can almost just buy another one. 

I did. Because the last one was flaky too. As I said, I reckon I've been unlucky. Most people sing their praises.

[Alan de Enfield]

1 hour ago, Bod said:

Eco fan. 
Some will say waste of money. 
Some say works well. 
For us in a 55 footer stove at the bow, eco fan does make a difference along the whole length of the cabin. 
 

Bod

 

 

Do still go for long holiday breaks in that big old Manor house, where the servants, all dress in white and give you a cold bath every morning, and at other times you wear that weird jacket with the arms strapped behind your back ?

[blackrose]

With cheap, very low power consumption electric fans available these days which can move a lot more air than an ecofan, even the ecofan aficionados must start to wonder what the benefits of stove top fans are?

[Bod]

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

Do still go for long holiday breaks in that big old Manor house, where the servants, all dress in white and give you a cold bath every morning, and at other times you wear that weird jacket with the arms strapped behind your back ?

As you may notice AdE is an Eco fan denier.

Eco fans generate as much conversation as the pump-out v's cassette idea.

 

Bod

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, Bod said:

As you may notice AdE is an Eco fan denier.

Eco fans generate as much conversation as the pump-out v's cassette idea.

 

Bod

 

Moi ?