How cold is cold?

[songbird2]

Hi everyone

I read a post the other day from a boater who said how cold he was on his boat now that the temperature had dropped below zero.Since this is the only question anyone ever asks me when I announce I want to live on a narrow boat I thought I would ask the people who know. Does a sold fuel stove heat all of the boat, say 55" in length or do you need central heating with radiators really?

I would appreciate your experiences : )

[mrsmelly]

Hi everyone

I read a post the other day from a boater who said how cold he was on his boat now that the temperature had dropped below zero.Since this is the only question anyone ever asks me when I announce I want to live on a narrow boat I thought I would ask the people who know. Does a sold fuel stove heat all of the boat, say 55" in length or do you need central heating with radiators really?

I would appreciate your experiences : )

 

Hi

 

A solid fuel stove will easily heat that size narrowboat. There is absolutely no need for central heating.

 

Tim

[bowten]

Tims right but just to add that you must be able to keep the fire burning for 24 hours 7 days a week.If not a secondary source of heating is justifiable especially spring and autumn.

[songbird2]

thanks for that Tim. This post was saying how cold the end of the boat was especially the side of the boat when he was in bed! It went on to talk about foil insulation etc...just made me think

[Dekazer]

See my Twitter biog

Edited December 3, 2012 by Dekazer

[Bod]

Our 55ft boat with stove at front, (last saturday, no heat all week.)

20 mins from stove lit, coats off, 1 hr jumpers off, 2 hrs stove on tick-over.

 

Bod

[Gazboatman]

Hi everyone

I read a post the other day from a boater who said how cold he was on his boat now that the temperature had dropped below zero.Since this is the only question anyone ever asks me when I announce I want to live on a narrow boat I thought I would ask the people who know. Does a sold fuel stove heat all of the boat, say 55" in length or do you need central heating with radiators really?

I would appreciate your experiences : )

No need for a stove, you could probably heat a boat that size with a candle or two.

 

[songbird2]

No need for a stove, you could probably heat a boat that size with a candle or two.

 

lol thanks for that! and every one else too. Off to see another boat on Wednesday. Maybe this one will be the one : )

[Grace and Favour]

OP - we have a Morso Squirrel keeping us toasty on a 60' widebeam

[Gazboatman]

OP - we have a Morso Squirrel keeping us toasty on a 60' widebeam

Is that just the one room or area where the stove is located, or the entire boat?

[matty40s]

70ft boat, morso squirrel (with ecofan) and epping at the rear. Have never needed to use my central heating in 4 years of living aboard.

[Guest]

60ft NB with Morso in lounge - toasty warm in the (front) living area and galley - cold beyond that unless we fire up the Diesel central heating.

 

PS the same whether we use the Ecofan or not - but that's another debate....

[Caprifool]

I see this as my second chance to ask what temps you all keep during winter. For example, how many degrees Celsius it this "toasty" you all claim to be? I am asking because I don't do heat very well and start to get cranky above 16C in wintertime.

[Gazboatman]

Does anyone else find the area of the boat below the water level is hard to warm up when it's freezing outside?

 

Might have been because we were using crap smokeless coal though.

[BlueStringPudding]

When I'm home all day, so the stove is on full blast, it heats my whole boat well (65ft boat with maybe 50ft of that being interior cabin space heated by a 4kw Boatman stove). However when I'm asleep, so the stove is turned down low, I often pull across a sliding door that halves the length of boat being heated. That is then enough to keep that end (where the sitting room, bathroom and bedroom is) comfortably warm. The colder end of the boat (galley and studio) can be very noticeably colder than the warm end when the stove is not on full blast all day and night.

 

I think the best heating combo for you will depend a lot on your lifestyle, whether you're out a lot (so stove turned down low) or home most of the time, and how much of your boat is interior space. It will also depend on whether like me, you don't like to be too hot, or whether like a certain boater I know, you need to recreate the tropics!

 

I see this as my second chance to ask what temps you all keep during winter. For example, how many degrees Celsius it this "toasty" you all claim to be? I am asking because I don't do heat very well and start to get cranky above 16C in wintertime.

 

I like to get the boat up to a roasty toasty 23 degrees or so while I'm up and about, but then I let it cool right down at bed time. I sleep best with the boat at between 15 and 18 degrees, I'd say. Much warmer and I'll be restless and open the sliding door to let some of the heat escape into the colder end of the boat, cooling the bedroom down quickly (matron)

[Guest]

I see this as my second chance to ask what temps you all keep during winter. For example, how many degrees Celsius it this "toasty" you all claim to be? I am asking because I don't do heat very well and start to get cranky above 16C in wintertime.

 

I have no evidence to confirm but I reckon our lounge/galley can get up to 20 to 23 degrees with the Morso on full tilt.

[Grace and Favour]

Is that just the one room or area where the stove is located, or the entire boat?

 

The entire boat - - -

 

Open-plan galley & saloon, two separate cabins & heads.

 

The stove is situated centrally on the boat, against the main bulkhead. A wide side companionway allows heat down to the cabins

 

I see this as my second chance to ask what temps you all keep during winter. For example, how many degrees Celsius it this "toasty" you all claim to be? I am asking because I don't do heat very well and start to get cranky above 16C in wintertime.

 

Our Saloon/galley spends the day between 21 ~ 23C, whilst the cabins run at 16 ~ 18C

[Richard10002]

60ft NB with Morso in lounge - toasty warm in the (front) living area and galley - cold beyond that unless we fire up the Diesel central heating.

 

PS the same whether we use the Ecofan or not - but that's another debate....

 

Similar here....

 

45ft cruiser stern. Boatman in loung at front, open to kitchen, then a narrow alley where the shower room is, then bedroom and steps to stern.

 

The lounge and kitchen vary between about 20C and 30C with the Boatman closed down to opened up - close to freezing outside. Bedroom a bit chilly such that I put the gas warm air on for about 20 mins before getting up in the morning.

 

Even with the Ecofan running full pelt, and the stove at full heat, the bedroom remains significantly colder than the lounge - the fan can't get the warm air to flow along the corridor.

 

It's all relative - for about £15-£20 a week on coal, and £25 a month on gas, the boat is kept warm and toasty.

[Pentargon]

Hi everyone I read a post the other day from a boater who said how cold he was on his boat now that the temperature had dropped below zero.Since this is the only question anyone ever asks me when I announce I want to live on a narrow boat I thought I would ask the people who know. Does a sold fuel stove heat all of the boat, say 55" in length or do you need central heating with radiators really? I would appreciate your experiences : )

 

Pentargon 36'LOA 25' cabin has a door midships to insulate the aft living area from the forard sleeping quarters. The hampshire charcoal burner has been trialled sice Feb14th last and can now hold the 'bedroom' to a comfortable 16ºC overnight which I've found it very nice with a tog13 duvet. I dress fully on rising and before venturing aft.

 

For me it would be very wasteful to heat the whole boat 'cause that's who I am. Today I was by co-incidence in a 55' boat with a solid fire on coal and the whole boat was very warm with OAT at +8. Owner told me he likes to sleep 'coolish' like me and banks and damps the fire at night to that end.

 

Heat costs you money. How hot you want to be? LOL

Edited December 4, 2012 by Pentargon

[nb Innisfree]

More than once in bitterly cold weather I have taken my eye off the stove and after the temp hit 30c or above and I had shut it down and opened the side doors we've had to go outside in shirtsleeves to cool off in blissfull below freezing weather!

 

Easily done with anthracite.

[MtB]

Hi everyone

I read a post the other day from a boater who said how cold he was on his boat now that the temperature had dropped below zero.Since this is the only question anyone ever asks me when I announce I want to live on a narrow boat I thought I would ask the people who know. Does a sold fuel stove heat all of the boat, say 55" in length or do you need central heating with radiators really?

I would appreciate your experiences : )

 

My Squirrel, right at the front of a 68ft boat, in sub-zero weather heats the top of the boat up to about 40 degrees C and the floor of the boat to about 5 degrees C.

 

That's WITH the Ecofan, Its worse without.

 

MtB

[Caprifool]

I would die! Keep 15C downstairs and 9C in the bedroom in our house. I think I can recalculate my future coal expenses now.

[luctor et emergo]

I would die! Keep 15C downstairs and 9C in the bedroom in our house. I think I can recalculate my future coal expenses now.

 

You'd like my boat. Only half insulated, and with large gaps at both side hatches. My boatman stove gets it warm enough to wear just a t-shirt and jeans. Probably mid tens or thereabouts.

I can get the stove right up if needed, but then it gets uncomfortable.

[system 4-50]

42.5 ft cabin on 60 ft boat. 4Kw Puffin keeps lounge at 21C and bedroom comfortably lower on a quite low setting. Fully spray foamed insulation including sides and bilge. Stove mounted as low as physically possible. Definite tendency to stratification, hotter warm layers and lower cooler layers, but improved by occasionally walking up and down of a couple of minutes, waving arms about. Stove capable of taking the temperature up to really uncomfortable high levels if allowed.

Above 21 C I get lazy and stop work.

And stove positioned centrally in boat.

[Dave_P]

In response to the OP, it's not just the stove itself that matters, it's also the layout of the boat. Some boats are quite open-plan, others are very compartmentalised. A boat with lots of little 'rooms' and a stove at one end is likely to be much colder at the other end. A fairly open boat with a centrally located stove will provide a more even heat throughout.

 

Another common thing is the cold floor effect. I can easily have a ten degree temperature difference between the floor and the ceiling. Before living on a boat i never wore slippers. I do now!

 

Also, when buying a boat, good insulation is probably more important than a good stove. The stove is much easier to replace! A poorly insulated boat is likely to be cold, damp and draughty irrespective of the stove you have.

 

Finally, if it was -5 outside and I decided i wanted something akin to a sauna inside, I could probably crank up the stove to raise the temp inside to about 40 degrees! Not that I ever have.