Winter boat heating cost.

[Ex- Member]

We've just had our second diesel fill from the diesel boat. Having separate tanks dedicated to the bubble stove we can quite accurately gauge our heating fuel costs.

 

We've just filled with diesel after 28 days usage and the refill was 103.5 Litres at £0.82ppl

 

This equates to 3.69 Litres per day on average, giving an average daily cost for heating fuel of £3.03 per day.

 

I don't think that's too bad, although not entirely sure. We can heat water as well with the stove but rarely do as we need to run the engine usually for an hour + a day through winter so that's enough to heat the water.

 

It has been very mild though and the stove has been run mostly on minimum setting except for a few colder nights, and to be honest a lot of the time we leave it running with doors open being too lazy to turn it off, so if we were we to be frugal fuel use would have been a lot less.

 

I should say it's not so much being lazy to turn it off, but more having to relight and then it takes ages to get the boat warmed up again, so we tend to just leave it running unless we go out or away for a day.

 

ETA

 

We had a propane gas bottle delivered as well. £25.49 is this the ball park price at the moment, I recall last feb it was £27 + per bottle.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Julynian

[Mike Tee]

So thats equivalent to just over two bags of coal a week - not as expensive to run as has been made out in the past. When we had one it was on 24/7 in the coldest weather and nearly always at the lowest setting. Kept the boat just right for us. Couldn't measure how much diesel we used as it was on the same tank as the engine. (That was about 12 years ago, so diesel was relatively cheap then).

[Ex- Member]

So thats equivalent to just over two bags of coal a week - not as expensive to run as has been made out in the past. When we had one it was on 24/7 in the coldest weather and nearly always at the lowest setting. Kept the boat just right for us. Couldn't measure how much diesel we used as it was on the same tank as the engine. (That was about 12 years ago, so diesel was relatively cheap then).

 

Hi Mike

 

That's why I thought the figures might prove of interest as we have separate tanks. The Bubble stove is quite well known for being quite economic, I recall a burn rate of 0.18 Litres per hour on low.

 

A good stretch of cold weather though would be a good test so if it happens then we'll see how much extra it's going to cost.

 

I'm really impressed with the fuel boat delivery service as well, I'm unsure of coal costs but "The Boatyard" fuel boat has loads of coal for sale, and if going by their diesel prices I reckon their coal prices will be pretty good too.

 

The boat is currently at Foxhangers if anyone needs fuel!

[Mike Tee]

Yes, ours was a Bubble as well (the triangular one!).

[Robbo]

I'm using a paraffin heater at the moment, been keeping accurate records of how long been on and how paraffin using. Recently for the past 4 weeks it's been an average of .18 to .19lph. Interior of boat is 11m x 3.6m.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Robbo

[Ex- Member]

Yes, ours was a Bubble as well (the triangular one!).

 

Ditto

 

Or corner bubble stove.

 

I read somewhere they've discontinued making this model due to it being a bit problematic which it is and has been

 

Having said that it ran all last winter without a hitch I recall. Funnily enough I had to renew that Nylon bush on the descaler the other day as fumes were leaking through it. Simple 5 minute job if you know how. Flame adjusting can be tricky, I think i now have it down to a fine art although I say so myself. Lynn has mastered lighting it though, so I've got out of that one

[Ex- Member]

I just noticed their coal prices for anyone interested.

 

Wild Fire 25k £8.15

Stoveglow 25k £8.95

Excel 25k £8.75

Supatherm 25k £9.90

Taybrite 25k £10.65

Homefire Ovals £11.75

[peterboat]

Hi Julynian,

 

Yes my first bubble was a backboiler bubble corner type as we have discussed it did far better on kero than diesel my second and current is a bb1 thats a square one and this is also very good on kero both for good running and economics. My boat runs on a mix of ways from 7 till 8.30 am the wispergen heats the rads and generates electric from 4 till 6 pm its on again. When I get in I light my backboiler woodburner and allow it to go out as I go back to bed, if its really cold I light the bubble in the bedroom for an hour or so. If I did not have a large amount of free wood I would not have bothered with the woodburner. The wispergen uses between .3 and .75 of a litre of kero an hour and the bubble is the same as yours. Allthough I like the woodburner I do not like the mess!!

 

Peter

[Ex- Member]

Hi Julynian,

 

Yes my first bubble was a backboiler bubble corner type as we have discussed it did far better on kero than diesel my second and current is a bb1 thats a square one and this is also very good on kero both for good running and economics. My boat runs on a mix of ways from 7 till 8.30 am the wispergen heats the rads and generates electric from 4 till 6 pm its on again. When I get in I light my backboiler woodburner and allow it to go out as I go back to bed, if its really cold I light the bubble in the bedroom for an hour or so. If I did not have a large amount of free wood I would not have bothered with the woodburner. The wispergen uses between .3 and .75 of a litre of kero an hour and the bubble is the same as yours. Allthough I like the woodburner I do not like the mess!!

 

Peter

 

My brother has the square one, I think it's a bit more powerful too, 5kw.

 

I've just had 2 fills in the bow tanks over the past couple of months, but I haven't added Kero yet, I must say the stove is running well, maybe as the diesel is better quality now the bubbles are performing better, possibly!

 

I do like your on board systems, you'll not be going cold anytime, that's for sure

[peterboat]

 

My brother has the square one, I think it's a bit more powerful too, 5kw.

 

I've just had 2 fills in the bow tanks over the past couple of months, but I haven't added Kero yet, I must say the stove is running well, maybe as the diesel is better quality now the bubbles are performing better, possibly!

 

I do like your on board systems, you'll not be going cold anytime, that's for sure

We used to have a saying in the ARMY any fool can be cold....................

 

Peter

[Ex- Member]

We used to have a saying in the ARMY any fool can be cold....................

 

Peter

 

Absolutely

 

We are thinking of adding an Eber D4 or even just a D2 just to achieve some more instantly controllable heat.

 

Interestingly though we've noticed how hot it gets when we cook using the oven. Even the grill chucks out a fair bit of heat, but the oven is fan assisted.

 

Some days ago we had to go out early, the night before was really warm so we had turned off the Bubble stove. In the morning though it was freezing, so we switched the oven on, the boat warmed up surprisingly quickly, I thought it would cause condensation, It didn't. So on a couple of occasions now when getting back to the boat late, we pop the oven on for some quick heat, and then light the fire.

[dmr]

I just noticed their coal prices for anyone interested.

 

Wild Fire 25k £8.15

Stoveglow 25k £8.95

Excel 25k £8.75

Supatherm 25k £9.90

Taybrite 25k £10.65

Homefire Ovals £11.75

 

Did you notice if the Homefire Ovals were also 25kg, or have they slipped in a 20kg here?

And I assume this is Spencers coal boat???

That is an amazing price for HomeFire Ovals, less than I pay at the coal yard!!!!!

Will be down the western end after Christmas!

 

.......Dave.

[Ex- Member]

 

Did you notice if the Homefire Ovals were also 25kg, or have they slipped in a 20kg here?

And I assume this is Spencers coal boat???

That is an amazing price for HomeFire Ovals, less than I pay at the coal yard!!!!!

Will be down the western end after Christmas!

 

.......Dave.

 

Hi Dave

 

All bags are 25k we were given the price list earlier.

 

Spencer& Victoria's coal boat, the Boatyard @ Hilperton, nowt to do with Hilperton marina I don't think.

 

You can phone and register with them, they then text you their next delivery route. You can also order gas and chandlery stuff, they seem to stock quite a lot.

 

I think their website is being updated, so not much about the coal boat.

 

http://www.ukboatyard.com/

[Ange]

Foraged wood costs nowt

 

We haven't had to pay a penny on heating this year and have enough wood to last us a while yet.

[davidc]

well my costs are 15 pound a week electrics I am on a marine hook up.

 

I have a 1.5k oil filled rad which is on just over min when am at work and 3/4 through the night,

and a run a 1.5k fan heater when I come in and that runs for about 4 hours during the week and 9 hours at week ends, so I am not doing to bad.

[dmr]

Foraged wood costs nowt

 

We haven't had to pay a penny on heating this year and have enough wood to last us a while yet.

 

We were on the Eastern K&A last year and there was a LOT of free wood about. One boater,, who was actually "sitting" a boat for a friend, piled up a whole lot on his cruiser stern. This was a little springer type boat with air intake vents at the back just above the waterline. You know where this story is going...and yes it did sunk! The wood was indeed free but also very expensive.

 

.............Dave

[John C]

Interesting to read the OP's fuel costs for heating, is that is just space heating and not hot water? Same as what it costs, give or take a few pence, for me to heat my house and hot water (3 bed semi) . Fuel is coal.

 

I guess it shows the difference between a well insulated house and a narrowboat that cannot be anywhere near as well insulated. I also guess it shows that the cost of living on the water versus on the land is not much different.

[Ex- Member]

Interesting to read the OP's fuel costs for heating, is that is just space heating and not hot water? Same as what it costs, give or take a few pence, for me to heat my house and hot water (3 bed semi) . Fuel is coal.

 

I guess it shows the difference between a well insulated house and a narrowboat that cannot be anywhere near as well insulated. I also guess it shows that the cost of living on the water versus on the land is not much different.

 

I didn't think it was too expensive considering it's on a boat £21.00 per week or a pint of beer a day. I recall renting a property many years ago with oil central heating and back then it was costing around £5 a week.

 

BTW it's not heating our hot water all the time, but could if we wanted. I think we've used it for hot water on about 5/6 days in total.

 

Remember also it's been extremely mild, so when some harsher weather arrives we'll expect this figure to rise somewhat.

[Ricco1]

I've averaged a 20KG bag of coal a week since the start of November. Would probably be 2 a week if it was colder. That's on a 35ft boat.

[blackrose]

It's very difficult to make cost comparisons between different boats using different heating fuels. There are just too many variables:

 

Size of boat

Levels of insulation

Number and size of windows

Number of people living on board

Animals living on board

Number of non-closeable vents

The fact that some people block those vents

Some boat dwellers prefer it warmer than others

Some people stay on board while others are out at work

Some people keep their stove in all day while others let it go out

Some people burn free wood

Etc, etc.

 

How can you possibly make any sort of reasonable comparison?

Edited December 22, 2013 by blackrose

[johno38]

Anyone have experience of Alde c/h boilers

[MtB]

Anyone have experience of Alde c/h boilers

 

A little. What did you want to know?

 

They run on gas so are inherently about three times the price to run as smokeless fuel in a stove.

 

 

MtB

 

Edit to add... The upside is they are very controllable, you can turn them On and OFF just like a house central heating system. Another downside is they need electricity to work.

Edited December 25, 2013 by Mike the Boilerman