Coal - How long does it last ?

[Joshua]

Hi,

 

Have just joined the forum.

As soon as our house is sold, my partner and I are going to try living on the canals as continuous cruisers.

We first tried to do this in 1988 but were forced to abandon the project after 12 months of careful planning due to the pressures of my work.

We are now in a much better position to make this work and pending the sell off of all our possessions, are steadily gathering information that will help with the choice of boat we buy or have built.

 

What is the position regarding the use of wood as a solid fuel on a narrow boat?

 

Our current home is heated very efficiently by 8 wood burners so we know a bit about burning wood!

We own over 25 acres of woodland around our property so we also know a bit about felling trees, logging and seasoning.

 

We would love to continue to use wood to cook and heat our future boat but not if its going to be a pain in the arse!

 

Experience has taught us that the quality of the wood is the essential ingredient and we would not normally consider burning anything seasoned for less than 3 years.

 

I appreciate it’s a bit of a broad question, but how accessible is seasoned fire wood on the canal system?

 

Is there any canal side demand for an experienced woodsman that might make this easier to manage?

 

Its bulky stuff so I imagine would need frequent ‘collecting’ for such a small living space.

 

Anyone have experience ?

 

Cheers,

 

Joshua

Edited January 7, 2011 by Joshua

[blackrose]

I cant believe how long you guys make a bag of coal last

 

 

I know. When someone says they only use 1 bag a week I wonder what I'm doing wrong? I can burn 3 bags a week in this weather - mind you my boat is bigger than most and I'm burning Stoveglow (formerly Barge Nuts) at £8/25kg bag, so it's not the best stuff.

 

I think this small survey shows that whether using diesel or coal, some of us are spending sums approaching that of heating a house. Something isn't right and it's basically all down to the inefficiences of our boats: inefficient insulation, including single glazing and the fact that we have non-closeable mushroom & low level vents that just let the heat out. Inefficient stoves and diesel heaters that put most out the heat out of the flue rather than into the boat.

 

(All of which makes any notion of "green living" on boats frankly laughable.)

 

Despite many of us having modern insulation (though often inadequately applied), I think we are still relying on comparatively old-fashioned technology at a time when energy efficiency is becoming of paramount importance. There's obviously a need for research into more efficient heating and heat retention systems on boats and I really don't think it will be like this in say 15 or 20 years time.

Edited January 7, 2011 by blackrose

[jelunga]

Thanks for that.

If the reflekx burns approx 3 litres per day than that seems to me to be about equal with what most people are saying for coal costs. but cleaner sounds good.

 

Wondering now how the deisel twin burner ranges work out as presumably the money sved on gas would equal the extra cooking element on them ?

 

edit to ask..... do you get any deisel smell from these stoves ?

 

We have a Bubble Stove, which is a drip feed diesel stove, but with no back boiler. Boat is 60ft, stove is fitted in the forward end of the saloon, which is also at the forward end of the boat. The manufacturers spec says 4cc of oil a minute at the lowest setting. That equals about 5.7 litres a day at a nominal 1.6kW output. On the full setting, which is 5kW, it uses 12cc a minute = 17.28 litres a day.

However, even during the recent extreme cold, once the temperature had been brought up to an acceptable level, even the lowest setting was sufficent in our saloon, to sit in shirt sleeves most of the time.

 

Now I do not know what the current price of diesel is, after the VAT, Duty and low sulphur fuels have been taken into account, but let us say it is now 90p/L then the bubble should cost just over £5 a day to run.

 

Oh, and yes we do use an Ecofan!

[blackrose]

 

I appreciate its a bit of a broad question, but how accessible is seasoned fire wood on the canal system?

 

Is there any canal side demand for an experienced woodsman that might make this easier to manage?

 

Its bulky stuff so I imagine would need frequent collecting for such a small living space.

 

Anyone have experience ?

 

Cheers,

 

Joshua[/size][/size]

 

It very much depends where you are. In some urban locations the only wood you might see is driftwood, while in other places there's wood available, but there may also be lots of other boaters who will gather and chop anything they find. So there is competition and you will end up having to go further afield, so you need a van too.

 

I generally don't pay for wood and just burn what I find to supplement my coal use. However, collecting and chopping wood can be very time consuming, so I would certainly pay for the service if it came in cheap enough (but I suspect it probably wouldn't).

Edited January 7, 2011 by blackrose

[County4x4]

Hi,

 

 

What is the position regarding the use of wood as a solid fuel on a narrow boat?

 

 

We would love to continue to use wood to cook and heat our future boat but not if its going to be a pain in the arse!

 

I appreciate it’s a bit of a broad question, but how accessible is seasoned fire wood on the canal system?

 

Its bulky stuff so I imagine would need frequent ‘collecting’ for such a small living space.

 

Anyone have experience ?

 

Cheers,

 

Joshua

 

Hi Joshua,

 

We sell and deliver firewood briquettes regularly to a number of boats locally as well as further afield.

 

Our briquettes occupy a fraction of the volume of traditional logs, and they are extremely consistent so you know exactly what you'll be getting, unlike with logs which can be hit and miss at best! One of our regulars (one of several who are members here) keeps over 100 kilos under a bench seat and this will keep him going for a good while. We also burn them ourselves at home in our stove and a single pack normally does us for two afternoons up until bedtime in a Squirrel. They will burn on very low air settings so you could eke them out for even longer I would imagine. Also, unlike most other briquettes available in the UK, ours don't expand or fall to bits, but form proper embers which continue to give high levels of heat for a good while after the flames have died down. Several of our customers use them to keep their stoves in overnight. In energy terms, they contain up to four times the available energy of average air dried logs. If you have the storage space to buy by the pallet load, they also work out a fair bit cheaper than logs too, as well as being much cleaner and easier to use.

 

Cheers,

 

Andy

[gilby]

Our boat is poorly insulated (20yr old, rockwool and too much big glass). At 65ft we have two stoves, squirell mid saloon and a small boatmans at the back end of the boat.(not engine room). Both have been on 24/7 lately and we are burning no more than 75kg a week. If it continues to get milder the back stove only goes on of an evening to keep chill out and we'll be back to 50ish kg. Also have an Alde ch set up but that's set up for hot water/bath room rad and not to heat the boat except as a back up.