Stainless Steel Flu Pipe.

[rusty69]

7 minutes ago, magnetman said:

The 70mm flue was an experiment based on the fact my other fire has an 80mm flue. 

The pipsqueak, which looks a similar size to yours suggests an 80mm pipe.

 

I went down a size on our SS one this time to give a bit more room in the roof collar.

[magnetman]

I was a little surprised how good the flue is. It exits the back of the fire using a 76mm 316 stainless mandrel bend TIG welded then the 70mm flue slots into that. Handy as the whole flue arrangement can be lifted out. I have a new CO monitor nearby and it went up to 11ppm once but usually sits at zero. 

 

It just 'works' we also put an angled removable baffle plate to keep more heat in the fire. 

 

The flue is two  1 metre lengths with swaged ends. 

 

If anyone is intending to get a 316 mandrel bend then you might end up with two. 

 

I have bought these for other jobs from an eBay exhaust parts seller. Ordered the 316 and they sent the 304. Now I wonder if it was deliberate. Mentioned it on a message and they sent me a 316. So I ended up with two. 

 

Tried it again same thing happened. I think they are deliberately sending out the 304, which is a bit cheaper, hoping people don't notice. 

 

304 or 316 is clearly printed on the item. 

[Alan de Enfield]

6 hours ago, blackrose said:

70mm diameter? That is tiny. Must be a very small stove?

 

Mine was 70mm.

About 3.5Kw stove and more than enough for a 30 footer.

[magnetman]

Yes a smaller fire is better in a lot of ways as one can run it hot without making the Boat too uncomfortable. 

 

My main cabin on this Boat is about 12ftx8ftx6ft I can make it far too hot very easily even in proper cold weather. 

 

Big windows. 

 

gobbles up the wood ! 

 

 

 

 

A good fire for a shedroom. 

Edited December 31, 2023 by magnetman

[rusty69]

Whilst I am sure these tiny stoves are fine in smaller boats, they certainly would be no use on ours. The size of the firebox alone means you would be severely limited to what you could get in there, and forever feeding the beast. Not to mention that they are almost impossible to keep in overnight, one would imagine. Did I mention that.

 

Still, I suppose it is a problem that all smaller boat owners have (the boat, not the owner). Too big and it will either overheat your cabin, or be run on too low a settings, physical restrictions aside. Too small, you have a full time job tending to it.

 

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by rusty69

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, rusty69 said:

Not to mention that they are almost impossible to keep in overnight, one would imagine. Did I mention that.

 

Our Pipsqueak easily stayed in ovenight - in fact it once stayed in for over 24 hours without attention,

 

Simply fill it by putting in 10 ovals of smokeless and shut it down.

It certainly could not be classed as a 'log burner', more a 'twig burner'. I did buy some of those 4" diameter compressed sawdust type logs to try but they wouldn't fit thu the door - I ended up with them on the pontoon trying to break them up using a cold chisel and a lump hammer . They are more solid than you can imagine.

[rusty69]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Our Pipsqueak easily stayed in ovenight - in fact it once stayed in for over 24 hours without attention,

 

Simply fill it by putting in 10 ovals of smokeless and shut it down.

It certainly could not be classed as a 'log burner', more a 'twig burner'. I did buy some of those 4" diameter compressed sawdust type logs to try but they wouldn't fit thu the door - I ended up with them on the pontoon trying to break them up using a cold chisel and a lump hammer . They are more solid than you can imagine.

Wow, thats impressive. Though I guess that helps with the faffing about not having to re light the thing the next morning, I can't imagine 10 bits of smokless will give you much heat output in the depths of winter. Probably ok in autumn or spring.

[Alan de Enfield]

14 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

I can't imagine 10 bits of smokless will give you much heat output in the depths of winter. Probably ok in autumn or spring.

 

That was with the fire shut-down.

open it up and it obvioulsy burns more quickly.

Once did a test to see how hot we could get the boat.

We got to 53 degrees C at waist height and could barely breathe - no idea what the temperature was at head height and had to shut down the experiment and open all doors and windows and go for a walk.

 

Like any heat source, the hotter you want to be the more fuel you will use, but just having it on 'simmer' overnight was sufficient.

[magnetman]

41 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Whilst I am sure these tiny stoves are fine in smaller boats, they certainly would be no use on ours. The size of the firebox alone means you would be severely limited to what you could get in there, and forever feeding the beast. Not to mention that they are almost impossible to keep in overnight, one would imagine. Did I mention that.

 

Still, I suppose it is a problem that all smaller boat owners have (the boat, not the owner). Too big and it will either overheat your cabin, or be run on too low a settings, physical restrictions aside. Too small, you have a full time job tending to it.

 

 

My fire will stay in for about 15 hours when filled with Homefire or similar. We did put a grate in it. 

 

But yes burning wood it is a bit of a 'lifestyle' fire ! 

 

 

41 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Whilst I am sure these tiny stoves are fine in smaller boats, they certainly would be no use on ours. The size of the firebox alone means you would be severely limited to what you could get in there, and forever feeding the beast. Not to mention that they are almost impossible to keep in overnight, one would imagine. Did I mention that.

 

Still, I suppose it is a problem that all smaller boat owners have (the boat, not the owner). Too big and it will either overheat your cabin, or be run on too low a settings, physical restrictions aside. Too small, you have a full time job tending to it.

 

 

 

If I had a 70ft Narrow Boat I would get another fire the same made up and have one at each end. My Boat is not actually 'small' at 40x9ft. I think the Pipsqueak is a bit small but a taller fire holds more fuel. 

 

 

 

 

We even made it with a removable top plate so one can in fact feed in 15 inch long logs vertically if one wishes. I just use the porthole though. 

It also has a stainless steel boiler in the form of a 1 inch BSP tube welded through the back of the firebox. With the right pump it would happily heat a remote radiator or calorifier. 

Next job is to get a thermoelectric generator on it cooled by river water. 

Edited December 31, 2023 by magnetman

[rusty69]

5 minutes ago, magnetman said:

If I had a 70ft Narrow Boat I would get another fire the same made up and have one at each end

I thought having a stove at each end of our (69ft) was the solution a few years ago, so installed a second squirrel. In practice, it hardly ever gets used unless we have access to free wood as its just too expensive to keep two stoves running.

 

As I am a lazy sod at the best of times, what I want from a stove is something that I can light in October and run through to April without much intervention. I certainly wouldn't want to be faffing about lighting two stoves, but can see your point that two smaller stoves might work if you dont mind loading them both twice a day. I load our stove once a day.

[magnetman]

I'm the opposite. The fire is like an extension of the self. Its my 'thing'. I love getting up on a cold morning and lighting the fire. Because of the design the heat comes out very quickly so within a few minutes one is warm. 

 

 

This obviously wouldn't suit everyone.