How do you make your boat warm in the mornings?

[Amicus]

So how long, on average, ish, approx, does a 25 Kg bag of Taybright last. Or how many bag per week, ish

Edited December 1, 2005 by Amicus

[peasant]

I've always used Taybrite.The one occasion i used ordinary non smokeless fuel I had to sweep the chimney less than a week later.Never had a problem with lighting or staying warm all night. once the vents on my squirrel are set right.Have the people with problems got all the right fire bricks in place?

I used to wonder how effective eco fans were and i find out every night when she who must be obeyed lights a fag.I get endless "pleasure " seeing her second-hand smoke blowing towards me.

[Clarissa]

I was going to ask the question as to what height should a CO detector be sited at.

 

Anywhere near the dog leg.

 

Clarissa

[tomandsophie]

Taybrite is very good, but I've recently tried Pureheat. It was the same price from the same place, burns at the same rate, same heat output................. almost no ash at all. Lovely.

 

P.S. To refer back to the original point of this topic: our boat is now lovely and warm in the mornings. We simply bank the stove up with Taybrite/Pureheat just before bed, close the bottom vent to within half a turn of fully closed, and then I get up 1/2 an hour early in the morning and riddle the grate and open up the vent. When we get up 1/2 an hour later the boat is lovely and warm. Coupled with an Ecofan, we have solved all our heating problems!

[Pirate]

Taybrite is very good, but I've recently tried Pureheat. It was the same price from the same place, burns at the same rate, same heat output................. almost no ash at all. Lovely.

 

P.S. To refer back to the original point of this topic: our boat is now lovely and warm in the mornings. We simply bank the stove up with Taybrite/Pureheat just before bed, close the bottom vent to within half a turn of fully closed, and then I get up 1/2 an hour early in the morning and riddle the grate and open up the vent. When we get up 1/2 an hour later the boat is lovely and warm. Coupled with an Ecofan, we have solved all our heating problems!

 

 

Awww thats good news, The colds worrying me too, it`s just a matter of getting used to it I suppose?

 

I`m glad for you.

[ChrisPy]

no excuse for an early morning cuddle then ?

[DHutch]

no excuse for an early morning cuddle then ?

You need an excuse?

[ChrisPy]

You need an excuse?

at my age - yes !!

[Clarissa]

Chris P, or Chris Polley, sorry I'm confused. Anyway, where are you between Bristol and Bath, would it be near the Willow Queen? I grabbed a moor against her one night when it had got dark, the Avon was in spate and I kept seeing tree trunks sticking up out of the water. Willow Queen is near the pub the trip boats come up to from Bristol and the owners seem nice, but I didn't get to talk much. I see you're a musician, what do you play? I play sax, badly, but its got me thus far and wine's only one euro a litre so ... Hey, the best bit is the marina has broadband WiFi internet 24/7 so I can do stuff like this FREE! Travel broadens the mind and hey it IS fun.

Back on topic, How do you make your boat warm in the mornings? I turn on the fan heater, it's in with the mooring fee. And how much is the mooring fee, I hear you ask, 7 euros per day inc. electric, hot showers, WiFi and 24 hr security.

Little Britain is a rip off compared to this, ask me, I'll tell you.

 

Clarissa

[ChrisPy]

Chris P, or Chris Polley, sorry I'm confused. Clarissa

U must be mixing me with the other (Cris P?)

 

Me and my boat are Bristolian but I carnt play an instrument to save moi loife. And my boat is very much in the dry at the moment.

 

When my boat finally gets a wet bottom I'll be cruising up that way. See you in a while

[Roger Gunkel]

Just coming in on this thread for the first time.

 

Interesting hearing several of you talking about the ecofan. Having recently fitted a solid fuel stove in my wide beam, I too had the initial problem of getting the heat to the end of the boat. Our main lounge is at the bow end with the stove half way down and a corridor down the opposite side of the boat to the rear accommodation. My solution which has been remarkably effective, was to take a small CPU cooling fan from a dead computer and mount it on the ceiling at the lounge end of the corridor which seems to be a particularly warm area. These fans are ony about 40 cms diameter and 1 cm thick and made to run continuously. They also run on 12 volts at about 0.15amps, although I found it whined a bit as it runs at high speed. I decided to connect it to my system via an unused in-car 12 volt phone charger which steps the voltage down to 5 volts. This greatly reduces the fan speed which makes it virtually silent. The whole thing uses about 180 milliamps, so power consumption is not an issue, it is attached to the ceiling with a double sided sticky foam pad and has been a revelation in heat dispersion for us.

 

We also have large single glazed windows throughout the boat, which are great for heating the boat from the sun, but a terrible heat loss at other times. they were a constant cause of thermic air movement with cold air dropping down to the floor of the boat from the windows. A quick visit to the local discount store came up with an £8 packet of window glazing cling film and double sided tape. A few hours with scissors tape and hair drier has given us virtually invisible double glazing and completely eliminated the cold air movement as well as removing the condensation problems on the frames and glass. At £8 total, it can all be ripped off in the spring and maybe I'll sort out a rigid system for next year.

 

Roger and Claire

[Sue1946]

Hi TomandSophie,

This appears to be a long thread, and my apologies for not reading it at all thoroughly, but it seems the closest to one of our major problems. Anyone seeing our blog 'boatlife.blogspot.com' will know we finally took ownership of NB Seleus recently.

We've not had the slightest problem keeping the stove going overnight with Taybright, and re-started within minutes of returning from Sue's (my) house last week - just newspaper, kindling and Taybright. NO - our problem is DRAFTs - of the windy type thro' ill-fitting metal front and rear doors and side hatch. We can see daylight from the bedroom cabin to the steering deck!!

We plan to line the door channels with carpet tile cut-offs to fill these gaps and hope it is successful. However, if this does not work it will at least cut down some drafts. I know we require a certain amount of fresh air inside, but I would rather be the instigator of this source of cold air!!

We are presently back in my draft-free but unsold bungalow for a couple of days to pack up more gear for the boat, also to see my lovely Bedford Blues given a short, sharp shock by Nottingham!

[DHutch]

Our problem is DRAFTs - of the windy type thro' ill-fitting metal front and rear doors and side hatch...

This is defonatly worth a thread of its own....

- Also, i guess that i depends partly on the design/shape of the doors/boat what the best way of going about it is.

 

As i see it, there are two basic ways of solving the problem, eather altering the boat/doors to close up the gap. Or to somehow block up the gap with somthing. The latter proberbly being the most feasable if you boat is already painted/fitted-out/etc.

- Do you have any photos of the doors? What make of hull is it?

 

 

Daniel

[dor]

Or to somehow block up the gap with somthing.

 

But remember that you NEED "drafts", or at least ventilation, both high & low level.

 

I know I've gone on about this before, but CO poisoning, either from solid fuel stoves or gas appliances, is lethal, and it becomes much more likely to occur if you cut off the ventilation.

 

I Know: the previous owner of my boat blocked up the ventilation on a cold windy night in September - he was dead by morning.

Edited February 26, 2006 by dor

[Breals]

That's awful. I think it would freak me out knowing my boats previous owner had died onboard.

 

I think Sue meant sorting out the drafts which were unintentional, where the door doesn't fit the frame, rather than the BSS-required door vents.

 

Would curtains (over the door vents) be ok, or would they restrict the air circulation too much do you think?

Edited February 26, 2006 by Breals

[Keeping Up]

Would curtains (over the door vents) be ok, or would they restrict the air circulation too much do you think?

Our front curtains cover the door vents - but they're not like a seal, plenty of ventilation still gets past them, although it's not like a draught so I reckon it's OK. Plus the fact that when the curtains are drawn they also cover up the little notices that say "Ventilator. do not obstruct".

[Bones]

I have a hefty draft coming through my doors, but find long curtains covering them reduce it to a sufficient amount. However, I am not sure I am the best person to comment as I haven't shut my windows yet... hmm.... perhaps I should not post.

 

However, I don't have a problem with condensation, so perhaps I have the amount of airflow correct (Bones notes the visitor clutching his hair before it flies off)

Edited February 26, 2006 by Bones

[Sue1946]

We appreciate those comments, and I apologise for mis-spelling 'draughts'!! (THOUGHT IT LOOKED WRONG....). The off-cuts of carpet tiles has done the job very well at both front and rear doors by glueing strips into the metal channels of the frames. No interference to regulation vents was ever intended. We like the idea for cutting down condensation - how does it work? Does it touch the glass?

[Rob@BSSOffice]

I think Sue meant sorting out the drafts which were unintentional, where the door doesn't fit the frame, rather than the BSS-required door vents.

 

Would curtains (over the door vents) be ok, or would they restrict the air circulation too much do you think?

 

The examiner can have taken 'fixed ventilation' eg gap between doors, frames and floor into account in making his/her calculations for ventialtion needs. You should be able to check this with the examiner.

 

See section 8.9 of the 2nd edition of the BSS Essential Guide on www.boatsafetyscheme.com

Regards

Rob

[Baron & Mrs Boater]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Eco-fan-narrow-boat-...1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Thought you might be interested !

 

Eco fan on ebay.

[mr toad]

ecofans - Im still a bit sceptical about whether these things work or not! and cant justify spending 75 quid on one until ive seen one working - one of the chandlers round here demonstrates a stove, perhaps will give them a call and ask if possible for a demo! at moment I use solid fuel stove in saloon and 800w heater in rear of boat from genny.

Edited March 21, 2006 by mr toad

[bottle]

ecofans - Im still a bit sceptical about whether these things work or not! and cant justify spending 75 quid on one until ive seen one working - one of the chandlers round here demonstrates a stove, perhaps will give them a call and ask if possible for a demo! at moment I use solid fuel stove in saloon and 800w heater in rear of boat from genny.

 

Not used one myself but from previous posts on the forum they do work.

[Lavender]

Hi folks, this is sort of relevant.

 

In our house we installed a new wood burning stove that has a fan attached to the back, to blow air from underneath. This is our only form of heating.

 

It has made such a difference, we had no hot or cold spots in the lounge this yr. Its designed to keep the temp even all over in the room. Not too hot at the top and not too cold at floor level. I would recommend them.

 

Lavender

[Juan Saponatime]

My wife and I live in a Spanish finca with a large living room and a fairly long corridor (narrowboat like) off the living room, to the bedrooms.

 

During the winter we use a logburner stove and, placed on top of it, an Ecofan bought for us by our son who is a narrowboat owner and also a member of this forum.

 

The difference the Ecofan makes in our home is tremendous. Warm air is circulated round and across the room and along the corridor.

 

From past personal experience of using Matt's narrowboat in the colder months , I know that his Ecofan works as efficiently circulating heat from the solid fuel stove in the narrowboat, all along it's length.

 

Regards,

 

Juan Saponatime.