Retrofit a back boiler, general heat spreading solutions

[marmaduke]

Hi all,

 

I'm thinking of ways that I can spread the heat from a small multifuel stove to other areas of the boat. I have an eco fan, but that doesn't get around corners. It also doesn't do much from what I can tell, but that's a different thread!

 

What I've been thinking is somehow to run the hot water pipes for shower/basins, past the multifuel stove in some way to pick up heat, then through a radiator in a distant cold part of the boat, then out to the shower/basins.

 

So a few questions:

 

- is it possible to buy some sort of back boiler that can be retro fitted to a small stove? Perhaps some sort of tank with an in and out that sits on the plate?

 

- i was also thinking of getting some copper tubing and wrapping that around the stove pipe to pick up heat, but that could well be expensive? Copper tubing being stolen from just about everywhere these days. Not to mention difficult to bend in a small space.

 

Water is currently heated by a gas boiler, so perhaps that might scupper any of these plans.

 

Alternatively to piping water around, I had thought of this instead:

 

- have a plastic pipe and a 12v computer fan to suck warm air from the back of the stove and pump it to other areas of the boat. I'm guessing this would have to be switched on constantly though.

 

If anyone has any comments on this, I would love to hear them. Thanks in advance,

 

Marmaduke

Edited September 11, 2013 by marmaduke

[Grace and Favour]

If you tell us what model the stove is - then I'm sure someone will be able to inform you whether a back boiler is available for it.

 

(though fitting what will be a centrel heating system retrospectively will require a deal of forethought and planning - AFAIK (I'm not a plumber!) it's not just a case of whacking a few copper pipes through - you'll also need to determine whether it'll be a pumped system or not.

 

I quite like your suggestion of using a fan-driven warm air system - I would take through a bulkhead, from close to the chimney at ceiling height to maximise the availability of heat.

 

Just a caution though - if you are successful in redistributing a goodly percentage of heat to the far points in your boat - just be awar that it won't increase the heat produced by your little stove - and your prime living area may then feel cooler of course.

[Paul C]

Back boiler and radiators is the obvious solution (well, 2nd most obvious - ecofan is 1st!) but it would require removing the stove, installation of pipework including rebuilding the fireplace, etc. And it would cost a fair amount of money and take many hours.

 

If its not too inconvenient, since you'd have to remove the stove anyway, could you reinstall it more in the middle of the boat?

[bizzard]

I think the simplest and cheapest way is to get as large as possible square shaped metal pouring funnel ( to collect as much heat as possible) and attach it to the side or back panel of your stove, the mouth square funnels mouth standing off about 1/4 to 1/2''. To the funnels spout attach your plastic pipe or lengths of flexible vacuum cleaner hose incorporating a computer fan to distribute the warm air.

Edited September 11, 2013 by bizzard

[peterboat]

Once upon a time they used to have trojan collars that went on the stove pipe. These copper pipes allowed water to be heated on working boats on the S & SY in the old days so it should work today?

 

Peter

[MtB]

There is a bloke on here who will make a back boiler for ANY stove. Send him the firebrick and he will make a back boiler to slot in the same space.

 

Can't remember who it is though, but I discussed a back boiler for my Epping stove a year or two back. I never followed through though....

 

 

MtB

[marmaduke]

Thanks all for your input, I'm probably going to go for the air pump idea in the end, seems like the least hassle. We shall see!

[Doodlebug]

I'm about to test an over engineered solution to the heating problems on narrowboats. I wont go into details yet, i'm sure people will give all sorts of reasons why it wont work, but I will post a new thread when its finished if it works. It involves a lot of copper piping being heated by the stove, a heat storage tank, and ducting that carries warm air into all the far corners of the boat.