back boilers

[Ally Charlton]

Play nicely boys

 

or someone will take your toys away

 

I'm just hear to learn from people who have more experience, until I have enough of my own.

 

Thanks to everyone for your opinions and advice, it's much appreciated

 

happy new year to everyone !!

[Charlotte Burnett]

I've got a 70' boat with a Squirrel and back boiler, currently no other heating. No coldwaterfryer attached, 3 rads and towel rail. All get hot. The system design is a shocker - pipes under floor etc. All pump fed (230v one). Sometimes I forget to turn the pump on. It takes hours to vent if there has been a problem. The back plate of the stove has corresponding warpage….Smiley Pete's ideas have me thinking although much boat would need moving to install a heat dump radiator.

 

Would not swap it for another system for ease of use/reliability though :-)

[PaulJ]

I've got a 70' boat with a Squirrel and back boiler, currently no other heating. No coldwaterfryer attached, 3 rads and towel rail. All get hot. The system design is a shocker - pipes under floor etc. All pump fed (230v one). Sometimes I forget to turn the pump on. It takes hours to vent if there has been a problem. The back plate of the stove has corresponding warpage….Smiley Pete's ideas have me thinking although much boat would need moving to install a heat dump radiator.

 

Would not swap it for another system for ease of use/reliability though :-)

I have similar setup to yours- but,like many others, use a pipe thermostat (Honeywell L641) located near the boiler to control the pump. It switches the pump on when the water gets to temperature and even better switches the pump off when water falls below that temperature. Been working for about 15 or so years so think its reliable.

[FadeToScarlet]

I've got a 70' boat with a Squirrel and back boiler, currently no other heating. No coldwaterfryer attached, 3 rads and towel rail. All get hot. The system design is a shocker - pipes under floor etc. All pump fed (230v one). Sometimes I forget to turn the pump on. It takes hours to vent if there has been a problem. The back plate of the stove has corresponding warpage….Smiley Pete's ideas have me thinking although much boat would need moving to install a heat dump radiator.

 

Would not swap it for another system for ease of use/reliability though :-)

How's the Gardner? We used to moor next to Roe in Cambridge, and on the one time I saw it move, it was laying a smokescreen and sounding like a bag of spanners!

[Supertramp]

I was concerned about the 'dangers' of a pump failing on the back boiler circuit, so have rigged a couple of relays and thermostats to switch in the 240v pump, or the 12v pump if the mains fails.

I've also added an extra thermostatic relay set at high temp to force the 12v pump to operate, - this covers the 240v pump failing internally.

 

Sure - any system can fail, but adding a few extra backup steps can help lengthen the odds.

[Peugeot 106]

I have a morso squirel in my house. It has one radiator in another room above it working off it by gravity with 22mm copper pipes. Originally I had the Morso backboiler. It was huge, the stove wouldn't take as much wood and all the heat went to the radiator so the stove was cool and didn't warm the room. I got a local fabricator to make me a stainless steel boiler the same size as the rear fire brick which it replaces. It cost around £40 and I can use the deflector plate and there is far more room in the fireplace. The stove and radiator (42" x 21" double with fins) are now ideally matched and both rooms are warm. Somebody in Wales used to make these small boilers I gather as I wasn't the only one with this problem. I only found out after I had had mine made! This info may help someone.

[Stilllearning]

I've got a 60' narrowboat. It's fitted with a Squirrel Morso, with backboiler, feeding two rads. The whole run is 40'. The Squirrels can be fitted with a backboiler or bought with boiler. Mine has one, but came with printed plans to locate the positions that holes need to be cut in the rear of the stove. The boilers, I think, are made of stainless steel and cost about £240 to buy from Midland Chandlers.

 

Stoves can easilly be kept in for 24hrs, without attention.

 

Retro fitting a backboiler usually means plumbing that can be a pain to fit through various layouts to the rads, if not fitted as part of an original fitout. There's usually going to be cupboards or such like in the way.

 

The backboiler arrangement I have does not require a pump and is silent. The stove and boiler heats the boat really well. It does take a few hours for the system to heat the boat from a start. Once it's going, it easilly maintains that heating throughtout.

 

If you know someone handy, the cost is the backboiler, radiators and plumbing.

This is pretty much exactly what I was going to say.

Have had a 55 foot boat heated by a Villager C multifuel stove giving about 5 or 6 Kw with back boiler running 2 rads for the last 5 years.

Keeping the fire in is no problem, Excel coal seems to be best.

Sadly that boat is now for sale, and the boat we have bought has everything else we wanted except for a back boiler, and retro fitting is indeed a total pain!

Good luck with the search for the right boat

I was concerned about the 'dangers' of a pump failing on the back boiler circuit, so have rigged a couple of relays and thermostats to switch in the 240v pump, or the 12v pump if the mains fails.

I've also added an extra thermostatic relay set at high temp to force the 12v pump to operate, - this covers the 240v pump failing internally.

 

Sure - any system can fail, but adding a few extra backup steps can help lengthen the odds.

You don't need a pump in a properly set up back boiler thermo syphon system.

[ditchcrawler]

http://www.narrowboatworld.com/index.php/features/6487-then-cam-the-winter

[She25]

I've just purchased my 57ft nb, and the guy who fitted it out intended to retire on it but changed his mind. Included in the sale is the existing stove (not sure of the make but looks like this - http://www.yeomanstoves.co.uk/stove/county-wood-burning-and-multi-fuel-stove/) and 3 radiators fitted throughout the boat plus a towel radiator in the bathroom. The back boiler is also included, but nothing is plumbed in. He has left space just behind the stove for it to be put in place.

 

As I can't use the stove to cook on I'm intending to change it for a Morso Squirrel at the end of the summer.

 

Would you recommend that I plumb in the back boiler or is it more hassle than its worth - and if so, should I wait until I change the stove anyway?

[Stilllearning]

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations on buying your boat.

The Villager stove mentioned in my earlier posting comes with a flat top option, and a back boiler. In my experience it is better than a Morso, but that's just my opinion.

There are so many stoves on the market, it may be worth spending the time between now and when you are planning on changing the stove, on looking round at what suits you best. Stoves that can be cooked on as well should probably be taller, and may be bigger, than other stoves. Their only drawback is that they make the boat very hot to use in the summer.