Return to boat after this freeze......

[system 4-50]

Don't invest in new heating technology just yet.  Wait a few days for them to perfect the new fusion technology.  It can already heat 0.15 - 0.20 kettles so it might be worth asking for kettles as christmas presents.

Edited December 13, 2022 by system 4-50
Water down my initial enthusiasm.

[Rob-M]

We will be arriving at our boat tomorrow evening, it will be a case of lighting the stove and sticking the eberspacher on as soon as we arrive.

[magnetman]

13 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

You're suggesting I buy a brand new set of tools every time I return to the boat? 🤣

 

Sounds like going away could get even more expensive! 

 

Do you handle your tools often ?

7 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

We will be arriving at our boat tomorrow evening, it will be a case of lighting the stove and sticking the eberspacher on as soon as we arrive.

 

I'm going to the off grid country estate boat on Thursday evening. Nothing on there except a wood burner and loads of firewood and batteries. no food to attract condensation.

 

First thing is to get food from shop and some beer.

 

Arrive at boat, short circuit a few lithium batteries and get the fire going. All will be well in the world.

 

It does have a water system with a tank but I've left that boat unattended over the winter a lot over the last 13 years and never had any issues other than the scumbag breaking in and nicking everything.

 

I don't understand the condensation problem on an unoccupied boat. Where is the moisture coming from?

 

[GUMPY]

52 minutes ago, blackrose said:

I just got back to my boat this evening after a couple of days away. Temp was 1C inside and that was with a mains oil filled rad set to 5C. 

 

The biggest issue I've found in getting the heating going and warming up the boat is that any heavy, dense objects like tools, cans of food or bottles of washing detergent in cupboards that are freezing cold don't warm up at the same rate as the air in the boat. Then the warm air in the boat begins to condense on the cold objects and the inside of cupboards can get quite wet if they're not ventilated.

The 22mm feeder pipes for my heating run both sides of the boat through all of my ground level cupboards, helps to warm up the tins, plates etc so tend not to suffer from this when we arrive, provided I remember to switch the eber on as I leave home.

 

[blackrose]

40 minutes ago, magnetman said:

 

Do you handle your tools often ?

 

 

Yes. Why do you ask?

Edited December 13, 2022 by blackrose

[magnetman]

That's very manly !

 

[blackrose]

1 minute ago, magnetman said:

That's very manly !

 

 

Ok. I'm not quite sure where you're going with this... Does the handling of tools turn you on or something? 🤣

[magnetman]

Not at all.

 

Where does all the moisture come from to get everything damp when you leave the boat for a couple of days? I've had boats with wet bilge unheated when not occupied but never come across this problem other than with items stored in the engine bay.

 

It is interesting. I think perhaps you don't have enough ventilation.

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

Temp was 1C inside and that was with a mains oil filled rad set to 5C. 

Not keeping up with it's brief then, is it. 

[magnetman]

Sounds like it might be pants.

[Sea Dog]

9 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Sounds like it might be pants.

Is there a greenie thing with a painful groan? 

[rusty69]

Just now, Sea Dog said:

Is there a greenie thing with a painful groan? 

A groanie you mean? Nah

[Sea Dog]

4 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

A groanie you mean? Nah

You can have two...

[TheBiscuits]

1 hour ago, system 4-50 said:

Don't invest in new heating technology just yet.  Wait a few days for them to perfect the new fusion technology.  It can already heat 15 - 20 kettles so it might be worth asking for kettles as christmas presents.

 

You must have smaller kettles than most people!  Ignition yield was 0.4MJ (about 0.1 KWh) net - if you ignore the 500MJ used by the lasers.

 

My electric kettle uses around 0.2 KWh to boil 1.7 litres.

[system 4-50]

1 hour ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

You must have smaller kettles than most people!  Ignition yield was 0.4MJ (about 0.1 KWh) net - if you ignore the 500MJ used by the lasers.

 

My electric kettle uses around 0.2 KWh to boil 1.7 litres.

Kettles adjusted.

[Sea Dog]

11 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

My electric kettle uses around 0.2 KWh to boil 1.7 litres.

Then you're very naughty. You should only be boiling one cup at a time! 

[rusty69]

Boiling cups is incredibly hard. I suspect he is boiling water for tea to go with his biscuits. 

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, rusty69 said:

Boiling cups is incredibly hard. I suspect he is boiling water for tea to go with his biscuits. 

He is, its @Sea Dog who suggested he should be doing cups

[gatekrash]

So we got back to the boat today after 2 weeks back home. We'd left one small greenhouse heater placed next to the calorifier and running on a stat set to low, one oil rad in the middle of the boat also set to low, all the pipework was run empty and then the taps blown down to get as much water out as possible and taps left open, but water tank was left about half full with the main stopcock closed.

 

The marina is frozen solid and the ice is about 2 inches thick. Inside the boat the temperature was sat at 1 degree C. All pipes were clear apart from the kitchen cold supply - I suspect this was the inline filter after the pump which has frozen up as it's attached at the back of a kitchen cupboard right on the waterline. The water tank was clear of ice.

 

Took about 2 minutes to 'recommission' in general but about 2 hours before we got water out of the kitchen tap. I was quite relieved as it's the first properly cold spell we've had since we've owned the boat and I wasn't sure whether we'd done enough.

 

Now all we have to do is pay the £25 electric bill the heaters have used in the last few days....

[magnetman]

It is good to find no damage. 2 inch thick ice is quite impressive.

 

It is only one inch thick on Limehouse Cut today but that is in the inner city with a lot of buildings about so slightly less low minimum temperatures.

 

That would be a good poll. How thick is the ice where you are, measured with a dial caliper (If you can safely break and retrieve pieces).

 

[GUMPY]

29 minutes ago, magnetman said:

2 inch thick ice is quite impressive.

Worst I've seen was late 90s iced in at Lock 14 on the Aylesbury Arm it was 8 inches thick. Drilled through it with a bit and brace just to find how thick it was.  It was also the year that the pound between 58 anf 59 on the GU froze which it normally didn't do because of the sewage farm, since BW opened the weir opposite the farm it now freezes above 59 on a regular basus.

[Norm55]

1 hour ago, gatekrash said:

So we got back to the boat today after 2 weeks back home. We'd left one small greenhouse heater placed next to the calorifier and running on a stat set to low, one oil rad in the middle of the boat also set to low, all the pipework was run empty and then the taps blown down to get as much water out as possible and taps left open, but water tank was left about half full with the main stopcock closed.

 

The marina is frozen solid and the ice is about 2 inches thick. Inside the boat the temperature was sat at 1 degree C. All pipes were clear apart from the kitchen cold supply - I suspect this was the inline filter after the pump which has frozen up as it's attached at the back of a kitchen cupboard right on the waterline. The water tank was clear of ice.

 

Took about 2 minutes to 'recommission' in general but about 2 hours before we got water out of the kitchen tap. I was quite relieved as it's the first properly cold spell we've had since we've owned the boat and I wasn't sure whether we'd done enough.

 

Now all we have to do is pay the £25 electric bill the heaters have used in the last few days....

Exactly same here.   But pipes solid, washing up bowl solid with ice  and icicles hanging off every tap.

Put heating on and boiled kettle using steam to de frost waste pipes under each sink. 

Pump frozen and tripping on circuit breaker, eventually thawed out and water began to circulate.    Warm water eventually coming through.

Had put tubular heater in engine compartment to keep calorifier thawed and 1 in bathroom.  Wc had a few mm of ice in bowl however.  Now has antifreeze in the bowl.  Left the boat now with gate valve from near empty water tank closed, pump off , heaters on and all taps open.  Electric bill for last 8 days about £9.  Marina is on a 30p / kw rate.

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Loddon said:

Worst I've seen was late 90s iced in at Lock 14 on the Aylesbury Arm it was 8 inches thick. Drilled through it with a bit and brace just to find how thick it was.  It was also the year that the pound between 58 anf 59 on the GU froze which it normally didn't do because of the sewage farm, since BW opened the weir opposite the farm it now freezes above 59 on a regular basus.

Our fire mains froze offshore with sea water in them

[GUMPY]

19 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Our fire mains froze offshore with sea water in them

Seawater frozen on the beach at Westward Ho! Today

Only needs to be at -2degC to freeze

 

[Momac]

The last couple or three days have consumed the greatest energy (frost protection on an unoccupied boat) from my shore power compared to previous days of the big freeze.

No doubt frost upon frost has taken its toll. It was minus 5 this morning which is the deepest recent frost hereabouts.

Thankfully the thaw is almost with us and above freezing temperatures are forecast in the week ahead .