How do you make your boat warm in the mornings?

[viking]

We have been having exactly the same problems as T+S with our Squirrel, (no back boiler) - Devils own job to light - if you hold a lit match inside it, 90% of the time it will just go out. When it is alight it usually needs all vents open to keep it going (using Taybrite) and we have only once made it stay in all night, but even then it went out as soon as I tried to top it up in the morning. It certainly never gets hot enough to boil a kettle and the heat never gets anywhere near the back of the boat where we sleep. Up until last weekend I was not too worried as the Mikuni CH did the job for us, but last weekend it blew a fuse when starting and I didn't have one with a high enough rating to replace it with ( I do now) so we had a very cold morning. Luckily we were on our mooring which has electricity so we ran a fan heater for a couple of hours before resetting the fire in the Squirrel.

 

I'll be the first to admit that we do not have much experience with solid fuel stoves and it seems that is one of the requirements for success with them. But I will try the idea of removing the baffle plate to see if the space above it is blocked in any way and if that doesn't work I might also try lighting it with the ash tray door open to see how that goes.

 

Gotta get it working properly for our Christmas/New Year trip!!

[Pat]

The problem I have on my Oxford Bermuda is that it has windows everywhere! So even though I have a good little Aarow acorn stove, I get a lot of condensation on the windows and when it gets really cold... well the cold air just gets in. I have now started building 'shutters' out of 50mm thick styrofoam to put over the windows from the outside. Simply buy a big slab of the stuff, cut out the shape of your window, re enforce with thin ply wood if you like and thats it. My first shutter is fantastic and really keeps the cold out. It will hopefully also stop vandals throwing rocks through my windows, which to be honest has never happened to me but hey.

[ChrisPy]

I have now started building 'shutters' out of 50mm thick styrofoam to put over the windows from the outside.

how will you keep the shutters in place?

[Pat]

how will you keep the shutters in place?

 

At the moment I have it wedged against the window with a piece of wood. But I am planning to attach a hook on either side of the window and then strap an elastic across it, to keep it in place. My boat is made of fibre glass, so screwing hooks in is probably a lot easier than on a steel narrowboat...

[tomandsophie]

Ecofan arriving today hopefully...

[Pat]

how will you keep the shutters in place?

 

I came home from work yesterday to find my styrofoam shutter in the making had blown away, along with my Chimney hat, and my metal dustbin. A tree on the towpath side had also fallen over bloking the towpath and half the canal. So it looks like I'll have to buy more styrofoam and start again. And next time..... well I'll make sure I fasten them on properly. But it must have been a propper mini tornado to pick up my heavy dustbin and dump it in the canal... I spotted it this morning on the bottom of the canal on the other side of the boat. So it must have blown all the way over the boat. Anyone else had storm problems yesterday?

[John Orentas]

I came home from work yesterday to find my styrofoam shutter in the making had blown away, along with my Chimney hat, and my metal dustbin. A tree on the towpath side had also fallen over bloking the towpath and half the canal. So it looks like I'll have to buy more styrofoam and start again. And next time..... well I'll make sure I fasten them on properly. But it must have been a propper mini tornado to pick up my heavy dustbin and dump it in the canal... I spotted it this morning on the bottom of the canal on the other side of the boat. So it must have blown all the way over the boat. Anyone else had storm problems yesterday?

 

 

Pat.

 

At the risk of stating the obvious why don't you design and make some that you can fit on the inside, I have seen motor-homes fitted with similar things fitted in the wind-screen and side windows.

[Nige]

We have been having exactly the same problems as T+S with our Squirrel, (no back boiler) - Devils own job to light - if you hold a lit match inside it, 90% of the time it will just go out. When it is alight it usually needs all vents open to keep it going (using Taybrite) and we have only once made it stay in all night, but even then it went out as soon as I tried to top it up in the morning. It certainly never gets hot enough to boil a kettle and the heat never gets anywhere near the back of the boat where we sleep. Up until last weekend I was not too worried as the Mikuni CH did the job for us, but last weekend it blew a fuse when starting and I didn't have one with a high enough rating to replace it with ( I do now) so we had a very cold morning. Luckily we were on our mooring which has electricity so we ran a fan heater for a couple of hours before resetting the fire in the Squirrel.

 

I'll be the first to admit that we do not have much experience with solid fuel stoves and it seems that is one of the requirements for success with them. But I will try the idea of removing the baffle plate to see if the space above it is blocked in any way and if that doesn't work I might also try lighting it with the ash tray door open to see how that goes.

 

Gotta get it working properly for our Christmas/New Year trip!!

 

I have a Squirrell on my 62 footer and I love it to bits ! Took me a couple of weeks to get the hang of it - but since then it's never been a problem.

I use an anthracite based smokeless fuel called "Blaze" - it's in a yellow and black bag.

I simply wad up fairly tightly about half a dozen pieces of newspaper - the double opened out sections - and then bang on a load of thin kindling wood. Put a match to this, and with the bottom vent fully open - close the door once its got going a bit.

Once the wood is well and truely burning, and you can see red embers below the burning wood, put some coal on - not loads - I use an old dustpan and one shovelfull is enough. Once this is established and is nicely glowing red - usually in about 20 - 30 mins in my case I start to bank it up and get a real good fire going.

 

Come time for bed, I close the bottom vent (and top one if it's been open) and put about 3 or 4 shovelfulls of "Blaze" on. This banks the fire up nicely and it stays in all night. I find if I get up for about 8ish all I have to do is put some more "Blaze" on and it sparks right up again.

 

Cheers,

Nige

[tomandsophie]

Ah yes, got our Ecofan. Brilliant little piece of absolute genius. We got it on Wednesday (ordered it on Tuesday from www.pufferparts.co.uk for £75) and rushed home to sit it on top of our stove. Lit the stove and after about 5 minutes the fan suddenly started to turn. Within about 10 minutes the living room was warm - this usually takes at least an hour. Within an hour the whole boat was warm. I had turned the radiators off in every room (just as a test), so the only heat was coming from the Squirrel stove with the Ecofan on top in the living room, right at the front of the boat. Even the bedroom (40ft away at the stern and separated by three bulkheads - only the corridor was allowing air circulation) was warm. It was amazing

The best bit though is that now the whole room is a roughly equal temperature - no hotspot near the stove or the ceiling. This means that we are no longer shivering on the sofa and then sweating when standing!

The other great thing is that we are now only using half the amount of coal as the heat is distributed evenly, whereas before we would have to chuck on loads and loads to get enough heat at waist level.

Buy an Ecofan, they're worth every penny, plus they look great.

 

p.s. no, I don't work for Caframo!

[Bones]

Fantastic Guys - well done!!! Can you post a piccy of the ecofan so we can all see what they look like? It sounds fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tomandsophie]

Will do my best to take a pic soon...

[dor]

Try:

 

http://www.caframo.com/ecofans.htm

 

 

I said they were good!

[viking]

I have a Squirrell on my 62 footer and I love it to bits ! Took me a couple of weeks to get the hang of it - but since then it's never been a problem.

I use an anthracite based smokeless fuel called "Blaze" - it's in a yellow and black bag.

I simply wad up fairly tightly about half a dozen pieces of newspaper - the double opened out sections - and then bang on a load of thin kindling wood. Put a match to this, and with the bottom vent fully open - close the door once its got going a bit.

Once the wood is well and truely burning, and you can see red embers below the burning wood, put some coal on - not loads - I use an old dustpan and one shovelfull is enough. Once this is established and is nicely glowing red - usually in about 20 - 30 mins in my case I start to bank it up and get a real good fire going.

 

Come time for bed, I close the bottom vent (and top one if it's been open) and put about 3 or 4 shovelfulls of "Blaze" on. This banks the fire up nicely and it stays in all night. I find if I get up for about 8ish all I have to do is put some more "Blaze" on and it sparks right up again.

 

Cheers,

Nige

 

The only way we can light ours is with a firelighter. Rolled up newspaper just goes out, it doesn't even set light to kindling let alone coal!

 

I am on the boat this weekend so I will do some more experiments. I think the open ash tray door might be favourite, it obviously isn't drawing enough air through. (and yes we do have plenty of ventilation - more than I want at this time of year!)

[AJLintern]

I was just wondering - what do you do with all the ash generated by your stoves? I remember before our house had central heating, the Parkray used to produce loads of ash which we just put in a galvanised rubbish bin outside (unless it was windy, then half of it would blow back into ones face with hot sulphurous fumes ) When the bin was full we just dumped it down the garden, not an option on a boat...

[Pat]

I was just wondering - what do you do with all the ash generated by your stoves? I remember before our house had central heating, the Parkray used to produce loads of ash which we just put in a galvanised rubbish bin outside (unless it was windy, then half of it would blow back into ones face with hot sulphurous fumes ) When the bin was full we just dumped it down the garden, not an option on a boat...

 

Good question. I used to let it cool down and then put it in the rubbish, but I was recently told that it is absolutely fine to just dump the ash overboard. Is this true?

[Keeping Up]

The only way we can light ours is with a firelighter. Rolled up newspaper just goes out, it doesn't even set light to kindling let alone coal!

 

Anthracites are often difficult to get going, and may need the heat of a coal fire to start with. We use firelighters to start a small quantity of "Coalite" which catches extremely easily and very quickly but is expensive, then when it's going we throw on some Taybright and use that for as long as we want to keep it going.

[dor]

1: Ash When it has cooled, drop it in the bottom of a hedge. It is a bit acidic, but it doesn't seem to do the hedges any harm. And yes, I have been known to drop it in the cut.

 

2: Lighting the squirrel : I have no problem with lighting with a few sheets of newspaper and dry knidling, then put a shovel of coal on top once the kindling has lit. I do this with the bottom door open though, then when I see a bit of flame coming through the excel I colde the bottom door and open the vent about 2 - 3 turns. Once it is going, turn it down to 1.5 - 2 turns.

 

Proper anthracite however is a bugger to get going just from kindling.

[DHutch]

We make a 3/4 binliners of ash a week when where on the move, a large propotion of this ends up in BW bins, but if where stuck and need to get rid of some we have no problem with spreading over a lenght of hedge or the edge of the twopath.

- We only have to empty every other day or so, so we just do it in the morning about 10mins after the fires been lit, and carfully shovel it into bin linners.

- We do it after the fires lit, becuase causes a drought, so with the bin linner right up against the door any loose ash gets drawn back, rather than drifting rounf the engine room as sticking to all the moving parts of the engine and foming a nice acidic grinding paste on all the slideways etc!

 

 

Daniel

[Bones]

Talking of squirell stoves and staying warm, I have a leak in mine - I think smoke is coming through from the door seal - what do I do about it?!?!?!?!?!

[DHutch]

Talking of squirell stoves and staying warm, I have a leak in mine - I think smoke is coming through from the door seal - what do I do about it?!?!?!?!?!

You can get replacment door seals (the glass rope)

- This should cure any leak there.

- Also, leave the door ajar when you not using it, this helps the seal last longer.

 

 

Daniel

[dor]

alking of squirell stoves and staying warm, I have a leak in mine - I think smoke is coming through from the door seal - what do I do about it

 

Something quick!

 

Leaking solid fuel stoves are a major potential source of carbon monoxide poisoning.

 

If it is the door seal it is quite easy, you just need to replace the "string" that sits in the groove. Any chandler or stove centre will stock the rope seal. Get a length, also a little pot of special adhesive. Pull out the old rope and put in the new with a bit of the glue behind it.

 

You may find the door very tight to close to start with - be careful you don't force it too hard and crack the fire cement round the flue - another potential source of CO. I prefer using black high temperature silicne to seal this bit.

Edited November 26, 2005 by dor

[Bones]

Something quick!

 

Leaking solid fuel stoves are a major potential source of carbon monoxide poisoning.

 

If it is the door seal it is quite easy, you just need to replace the "string" that sits in the groove. Any chandler or stove centre will stock the rope seal. Get a length, also a little pot of special adhesive. Pull out the old rope and put in the new with a bit of the glue behind it.

 

You may find the door very tight to close to start with - be careful you don't force it too hard and crack the fire cement round the flue - another potential source of CO. I prefer using black high temperature silicne to seal this bit.

 

Ta!

I think I shall phone up the place I got it from as its new... Doesn't sound too big a job though - phew!

[John Orentas]

Ta!

I think I shall phone up the place I got it from as its new... Doesn't sound too big a job though - phew!

 

 

Leaks in your stove are not as dangerous as you may think, within reason the stove will suck rather than blow, after all the various vents could be seen as 'leaks'. Often leaks merely prevent some degree of regulation.

Edited November 26, 2005 by John Orentas

[Bones]

Leaks in your stove are not as dangerous as you may think, within reason the stove will suck rather than blow, after all the various vents could be seen as 'leaks'. Often leaks merely prevent some degree of regulation.

 

I phoned up the supplier who will give me a new bit of door seal stuff to fit it.. they were fabulous about it, and apparently it's quite rare - typical its on my stove!!!!!!

[dor]

Leaks in your stove are not as dangerous as you may think, within reason the stove will suck rather than blow, after all the various vents could be seen as 'leaks'. Often leaks merely prevent some degree of regulation.

 

John : Your advice here is potentially fatal. The poster said he had smoke leaking. It is not too difficult to infer from this that there is a leak OUT - not in. If the stove is "sucking" it would not be leaking smoke.

 

Believe me - if smoke is leaking from a solid-fuel stove, then you have a potential carbon monoxide leak. SF stoves, by their very nature, burn fuel under restricted oxygen supply - just the way you efficiently produce carbon monoxide.

 

And John - If you want to say again that I don't know what I am talking about, you might like to know that the previous owner of my boat died of CO poisoning -- on the boat; - When it comes to CO poisoning I DO know what I am talking about and a stove, or any sort of fire e.g. gas fires, are a potential source of CO poisoning.

 

CO poisoning is an insidious disease that creeps up on you without you knowing anything about it. That might be good news to you, as you just don't wake up, but it is bad news for the surviving relatives - assuming they were not with you and did survive.

How many people leave their kids sleeping on the floor of the saloon?

 

Please do not make statements that underestimate the potential dangers of CO poisoning - if smoke is leaking from a solid fuel stove, so is CO!