Power Saving Tips

[Guest]

In addition to ventilation holes into the bilge, would it be a good idea to:

 

a. Remove the lining and insulation behind the fridge and below the water line?

 

b. Seal the front of the fridge aperture from the relative warmth of the cabin and vent the top of the fridge space to the outside?

 

I presume from this that your fridge has its rear against the side of the hull?

 

Removing insulation is not a good idea.

I suspect venting to outside would be very dodgy, and would probably contravene something!!!

 

If you cannot vent above the back of the fridge (You can get long narrow grill covers to disguise this) then your next best bet is to make holes either side of the fridge (Top and Bottom) into adjacent cabinets (So long as they are cooler!)

[Keeping Up]

Cutting some decent sized holes in the floor behind the fridge (I cut 4 x 3"dia) not only improves the fridge's efficiency (by allowing cold bilge air rather than warm cabin air onto the coil) but helps ventilate the bilges as the convection draws air through.

After cutting a hole in the floor, I fitted a small 12v computer fan over it to suck cold air up from the bilge and blow it up the back of the fridge. The fan takes virtually no current (compared with the fridge motor) and definitely reduces the percentage of time the fridge runs. The fridge (it's a Shoreline) has a connectio0n on the back which only powers up the fan when the motor is running, and I've also fitted an old room thermostat so that the fan doesn't start up until the temperature behind the fridge starts to rise.

[tomandsophie]

I'm not sure that stealing power from somebody else actually constitutes a power saving tip.

 

It certainly saves us a lot of power on the boat, in the same way that stealing waste wood from skips saves us money on heating.

[Chris Pink]

For some low level *mood* lighting I use solar LED garden lights. I bought them for lighting up the mooring pins so I could see them when stumbling home from the pub but found they are really useful placed inside the boat to give some extra illumination rather than than use the main lights. Put them outside to charge during the day and they'll last well into the early hours. I bought the small stick style ones and place them in holders just like candles. You can pick them up 4 for a tenner from places like Wilkinsons.

 

<rant>

 

Oh how i detest those lights with a passion. It is only by a thin thread of civilisation that I resist throwing every single one into the canal.

 

Are you scared of the dark? One of the loveliest things about the towpath at night is its true dark.

 

And then people stick these silly useless led lights outside their boats, no use to them but true pollution to me.

 

</rant>

[nb Innisfree]

<rant>

 

Oh how i detest those lights with a passion. It is only by a thin thread of civilisation that I resist throwing every single one into the canal.

 

Are you scared of the dark? One of the loveliest things about the towpath at night is its true dark.

 

And then people stick these silly useless led lights outside their boats, no use to them but true pollution to me.

 

</rant>

 

Especially the ones that change colour, thank god they don't play musak.

[Christine]

OK so I'm not on a boat but now living on a reduced income since I left my last job - I use a pressure cooker a lot. Bring up to heat and reduce the flame to a very low heat and let spuds/meat/vegetables/stew quietly sizzle for a while. Cheap meat is very tender this way.

(I inherited the pressure cooker so it was no cost to me ). Also I put any left over hot water from a kettle in a thermos flask to re-heat for cooking etc.

[Chris Pink]

thank god they don't play musak.

 

OMFG not even in jest, what a thought, that silly cold useless disorientating blue light is bad enough but a tune as well.....

[andywatson]

In addition to ventilation holes into the bilge, would it be a good idea to:

 

a. Remove the lining and insulation behind the fridge and below the water line?

 

b. Seal the front of the fridge aperture from the relative warmth of the cabin and vent the top of the fridge space to the outside?

 

They would both have a small effect but not enough to justify the disruption/hacking and making holes in the shell.

 

I would go no further than having a partial surround which channels the cool bilge air up the back of the fridge but allows it then out into the cabin.

[nb Innisfree]

OMFG not even in jest, what a thought, that silly cold useless disorientating blue light is bad enough but a tune as well.....

 

It's alright don't worry it's just a thought, it will probably never happen, deep breaths...

[deletedaccount]

Couldn't agree more. We've been using a slow cooker for years on board. Brilliant piece of kit and as you say, they hardly use any power.

 

Gibbo

 

This surprises me. I was going to dump mine, but I'm going to bring it aboard now.

 

yay

[kilravock]

Solar garden lights are a great idea. We are using garden "rock" lights which you can keep on the roof then either use them to illuminate mooring pins at night or bring inside to light the cabin. Maplins make a solar powered security light. We haven't tried this yet but it seems that could work well if you set the angle right to help getting aboard when staggering back from the pub.

Another feature we use inside are battery operated flickering candles. They are very authentic, take two C batteries but last months. It's nice to have flickering candlelight with out the obvious fire risk of using the real thing.

Consider too the tiffany style solar lamps you can get (if thats your thing and you have the space). They use a bring LED light and charge up quite well even on overcast days (not always that well - in which case a standard AA battery will last a very long time).

Just a few of the things we've found useful on this infinite learning curve that is canal boating.....

[churchward]

A copper kettle on the stove for hot water for washing up.

 

One thing I plan to do is to buy a netbook for surfing rather than using the super power draining laptop. Some of these have a nine hour battery life, so you could charge them up when the engine is on.

We do much the same when the stove is in use there is always a full kettle on there to get some hot water. during the day we also go for a bit of one pot cooking sometimes and a casserole slow cooked on the stove for a few hours can be very tasty in the evening. Also it doesn't take long to do a few chicken breasts etc wrapped in some foil.

 

I have even bakes some bread in a large biscuit tin on top of the stove one time as an experiment. It worked a treat although the bottom of the loaf was a bit burnt and dry it was very tasty above the first 1/2 inch or so though. Next time I may need to get more air gap under the tin to get a lower and more even heat.

[Chris Pink]

Solar garden lights are a great idea. We are using garden "rock" lights which you can keep on the roof then either use them to illuminate mooring pins at night or bring inside to light the cabin. Maplins make a solar powered security light. We haven't tried this yet but it seems that could work well if you set the angle right to help getting aboard when staggering back from the pub.

 

Another one scared of the dark.

 

What makes you think you have the right to pollute my environment with your lights?

 

What do you really want? streetlights all the way along the towpath?

[deletedaccount]

They are pretty low powered lights to be fair.

[Chris Pink]

They are pretty low powered lights to be fair.

 

Not to me.

 

They are aesthetically displeasing.

 

They violate the comforting darkness.

 

When cycling they are disorientating.

 

I do not like them Sam-I-Am

[Guest]

Another one scared of the dark.

 

What makes you think you have the right to pollute my environment with your lights?

 

What do you really want? streetlights all the way along the towpath?

But you have the right to pollute others environment with diesel fumes etc?

[Chris Pink]

But you have the right to pollute others environment with diesel fumes etc?

 

not in the middle of the night. One of the reasons i live in the countryside is the quiet and the dark, being sensitive to everything around, not trying to blot it out by spraying light everywhere.

 

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/11/...linkenborg-text

[Black Ibis]

We read in bed by a string of white 'fairy' LED lights that I got in Homebase as Christmas lights. They run on 2AA batteries and they are still going strong, 9 moths later and we use them for maybe 30mins every few days.

[Chertsey]

We read in bed by a string of white 'fairy' LED lights that I got in Homebase as Christmas lights. They run on 2AA batteries and they are still going strong, 9 moths later and we use them for maybe 30mins every few days.

Ah, they kill moths too!

[nb Innisfree]

not in the middle of the night. One of the reasons i live in the countryside is the quiet and the dark, being sensitive to everything around, not trying to blot it out by spraying light everywhere.

 

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/11/...linkenborg-text

 

Deep breaths...

[Guest]

not in the middle of the night. One of the reasons i live in the countryside is the quiet and the dark, being sensitive to everything around, not trying to blot it out by spraying light everywhere.

 

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/11/...linkenborg-text

Well I will go on record as agreeing about light pollution, and I too have spent most of my life in't country. That said, I think it is foolhardy to take a "holier than thou" approach because somebody chooses to bung a couple of LED lamps on their mooring pins. BTW your diesel fumes and other pollutants are still there at night, long after your engine/heating/generator/other polluting items stop, but I think you probably knew that.

Edited September 2, 2009 by Guest

[mayalld]

It certainly saves us a lot of power on the boat, in the same way that stealing waste wood from skips saves us money on heating.

 

No it doesn't.

 

Stealing waste wood from skips costs the owner of the waste wood nothing. It may even save him some money, as he won't need to have the skip emptied as often and/or her can get more of his rubbish into the skip.

 

If you charge a battery pack up at work, your employer is paying for the electricity.

 

Doubtless we can claim that it is a tiny amount of electricity, but what if every employee decided to charge upm a battery pack every day?

[Guest]

No it doesn't.

 

Stealing waste wood from skips costs the owner of the waste wood nothing. It may even save him some money, as he won't need to have the skip emptied as often and/or her can get more of his rubbish into the skip.

 

If you charge a battery pack up at work, your employer is paying for the electricity.

 

Doubtless we can claim that it is a tiny amount of electricity, but what if every employee decided to charge upm a battery pack every day?

His employer would probably do the same though if the situation was reversed

You should have seen some of the stunts that certain business owners pulled when I used to work on the metering department at the 'leccy board

[g-man]

<rant>

 

Oh how i detest those lights with a passion. It is only by a thin thread of civilisation that I resist throwing every single one into the canal.

 

Are you scared of the dark? One of the loveliest things about the towpath at night is its true dark.

 

And then people stick these silly useless led lights outside their boats, no use to them but true pollution to me.

 

</rant>

 

Did you misread my original post perchance? I was talking about using solar lights as an alternative to using battery power for lighting the INSIDE of the boat. And no I'm not scared of the dark but a couple of solar LED's just adds a bit more illumination when I'm scrabbling my way to the loo.

[Smelly]

It certainly saves us a lot of power on the boat, in the same way that stealing waste wood from skips saves us money on heating.

 

It's not stealing if there in't a fence around it... Section 10, Theft Act '68... Ave it!

 

I'd rather keep the fire in all night though, it keeps the water hot for morning and the rad in the bedroom will be cosy and warm when I get up to brew up.

 

LED lights is a good un, as is not staying up til nearly 2am surfing