Living with Oil Filled Rad

[DustyDave]

I am about to start staying on the boat a few nights a week. I am getting a stove fitted but it will be about a month before it is in. Is it possible to survive with an oil filled rad? I've got shore power. Will it eat electricity? How much do you think it will use per week? I'll be on it 4 nights a week. Currently I've just got the one 1500w heater but will probably buy a second just so I don't have to keep moving it.

 

Dave

Edited December 7, 2014 by DustyDave

[b0atman]

I knew one person who about 5 years ago (electric 20p per unit) he used £75 a week soon got a fire fitted.

[DeanS]

oil heaters/ any elec heaters....use a LOT of elec. It would be wise to live in 1 small room, and keep the elec in that section, and dont bother heating the whole boat till you get the stove in.

 

or...

 

where a jumper and a jacket, and you might be ok.

 

A boat can be seriously cold without proper heating.....

[magnetman]

If you have to survive on electric heating I would suggest a fan heater and a 500w panel heater like a slimheat or something. fan heater for when you are wanting to be warm and the panel heater for when you are under the duvet.

 

I would never advocate the use of electricity as a sole heating for a boat though, you simply MUST have solid fuel even if it is assisted by electric. I have solid fuel, diesel heating, electric radiators and fan heaters on my barge (on shore power at the moment) but I'd be fine if the electric and diesel failed because the solid fuel stove will keep the boat warm anyway - it'd just use more coal to do so.

 

Don't know about oil filled rads maybe they are really good but they seem a bit bulky to me

[Phil Ambrose]

My neighbours who are out at work heat their boat with electric and have bills in the region of £275 a quarter. I also know a couple who abandoned their boat to stay in a B&B because they could not keep up with the leccy meter.

Phil

[The Bagdad Boatman (waits)]

Read the label on the heater in watts then calculate the KWhour that you have to pay for.. An electric overblanket and a good duvett for the nights. and heavy curtains to keep a small area of the boat warm. Second hand heavy cutains always available.

 

[DustyDave]

Sounds like it's possible for a short time then. As I said the stove should be in within a month or so. I might try and get the mikuni running again. Can't say I'm a great fan of it.

 

Looking forward to trying a little living aboard.

 

Dave

[Taslim]

Read the label on the heater in watts then calculate the KWhour that you have to pay for.. An electric overblanket and a good duvett for the nights. and heavy curtains to keep a small area of the boat warm. Second hand heavy cutains always available.

 

What that man said.

 

If you have shore power electrick over blankets are cheap to buy (fleabay) and cheap to run.

 

I bounced out of my nice warm bed in the truck yo find the saloon temperature at -3. I was quick on with jeans etc.

[John V]

an oil filled rad with it's thermostat set very low is handy for just keeping the boat above freezing but as others have said electric blankets are your best bet.

I have done it before any heating was installed on Sabina at an early stage of fitting out...restrict the area by any means possible and never heat above "barely survivable" and hot drinks and straight to bed with a woolly hat on !!!

[magnetman]

Sounds like it's possible for a short time then. As I said the stove should be in within a month or so. I might try and get the mikuni running again. Can't say I'm a great fan of it.

 

Looking forward to trying a little living aboard.

 

Dave

 

Mikuni's are great if you know how to run them properly being on shore power with a battery charger means you will always have charged batteries which is the most important thing. If you can get a tank of clean diesel that helps too of course.

 

If you have any particular trouble with a Mikuni heater then post a topic on the forum - there are lots of people here who use them and the combined knowledge is quite impressive. People moan about this type of heater but they are actually quite good kit in my experience. I'd definitely get a coal fire in there as soon as possible but if a Mikuni is fitted I would prefer to run that than electric radiators, personally.

[crowkeldwitch]

Hi there we have an oil filled rad in the bedroom to take the chill off as the stove in the kitchen warms the main boat lovely ... She's 57 FT and 14 ft wide so takes some heating but our electric is only about £18 a month and that include all app licences inc the kettle

[magnetman]

Hi there we have an oil filled rad in the bedroom to take the chill off as the stove in the kitchen warms the main boat lovely ... She's 57 FT and 14 ft wide so takes some heating but our electric is only about £18 a month and that include all app licences inc the kettle

 

Is it an android kettle ?

[Naughty Cal]

We use a 600 watt oil filled rad to keep the boat well above freezing. As our boat is out of the water at the moment we have turned it up higher then we normally would as the boat is noticeably colder when ashore. On friday night we left it turned up as we knew it was going to be a cold evening but had to get up in the night to turn it down, it was stiffling in the cabin.

 

I don't think I would want to rely on one as my only source of heat though. Ordinarily on our mooring we use two £14 electric cards over the winter to run the rad and two tube heaters as well as our usual kettle boiling, phone charging and the electric oven.

 

Oh and electric blankets are the way forward for winter boating.

[craftycarper]

As long as the oil filled rad has a thermostat you will be fine some of the figures given above are frankly absurd I leave one on a low setting in my bedroom running all winter and it probably uses about forty quid at most I turn it up higher when I,m on board and leave it on low when I'm away, even if I stay for a week and run it hard with the other everyday electric items I might get through a tenner a week so go for it and enjoy the warmth

[Phil Ambrose]

Don't get this electric blanket thing, we only ever have a 4 tog (summer weight) duvet on the bed and we're never cold

[Naughty Cal]

Don't get this electric blanket thing, we only ever have a 4 tog (summer weight) duvet on the bed and we're never cold

We like to get into a warm bed. Our bed can have a tendancy to be a bit chilly after it has not been slept in for a few days. The electric blanket warms it up nicely.

 

I must also admit, and I know we shouldn't, but on Friday night when it was quite cold we slept with it on the lowest setting to keep us a bit warmer.

[Alan de Enfield]

If you are using the oil filled radiator to try and achieve "normal" room temperatures of around 20^o it will be running continuously - its output is unlikely to keep up with the heat-losses.

 

1500 watts is 1.5 units per hour - cost will depend on your marinas unit charge - say 20p, therefore it will cost you about £5 per day or £150 per month

[craftycarper]

If you are using the oil filled radiator to try and achieve "normal" room temperatures of around 20^o it will be running continuously - its output is unlikely to keep up with the heat-losses.

 

1500 watts is 1.5 units per hour - cost will depend on your marinas unit charge - say 20p, therefore it will cost you about £5 per day or £150 per month

. I only have a yogurt pot so not the best insulated vessel in the world but it would still be impossible to try and run an oil filled radiator flat out for two reasons, first they turn themselves off when they reach tempature and the hot oil inside keeps them warm and secondly it becomes uncomfortably hot if run above halfway for any length of time apart from the first hour to take the chill out the room, I think some people may be confusing electric fan heaters with oil filled rads ?

[ditchcrawler]

Screwfix http://www.screwfix.com/ has issued a recall on two of their heaters http://www.screwfix.com/images/general/grx/ProductRecallRads.pdf

Edited December 8, 2014 by ditchcrawler

[Ssscrudddy]

I see no reason why an oil filled radiator wont keep up with the heat losses. Prior to living on my boat, I spent the last 10 years living in a big old mansion house. The 3 rooms I used were 700 years old, with windows that just didnt shut, & gaps in the walls that were incredibly draughty when it was windy outside.

That bad winter we had with all the snow, I went away for a week & someone had turned my oil filled radiators off. It took 4 days to get my rooms heated to a sensible temperature again. Once up to temp though it was ok.

Definitely use the ones that have a thermostat on. I had a 3kW heater for my living room, a 1.5kW heater for the kitchen, & a 1kW heater for the bedroom. All 3 rooms were approx 20ft x 20ft. The bedroom was less draughty.

I dont know about cost because I didnt pay the electric bill, but the company had a clause saying that if my electric usage was deemed excessive then I would be billed. They never did bill me for it. The company in question (Camelot Property Management) are the most money grabbing tight fisted sods I have ever come across.

[DustyDave]

Weather is in my side this week. I have plenty of electric heating plus I now have the mikuni working. The stove is on order but won't appear until after Christmas. Never thought I would have so many heating options.

 

Dave

Edited December 17, 2014 by DustyDave

[blackrose]

Neighbors living on 2 different boats near me only use electricity for heating their boats all winter. It can be done depending on the size of the boat and how well it's insulated (and how cold out gets outside!)

 

The couple on a small Dutch barge don't intend to move unless the weather is good so they say they don't need any other form of heating. He tells me he uses about 30 quids worth of electricity per week (was 12.5p/kWh but has just gone up to 14.5p). I probably spend £20 on coal and another £10 on electricity, but my boat is bigger and I've got a washing machine (they don't).

 

The point is that coal isn't cheap either.

Edited December 20, 2014 by blackrose

[blackrose]

Weather is in my side this week. I have plenty of electric heating plus I now have the mikuni working. The stove is on order but won't appear until after Christmas. Never thought I would have so many heating options.

 

Dave

The more options the better.

 

If you have to survive on electric heating I would suggest a fan heater and a 500w panel heater like a slimheat or something.

 

Don't know about oil filled rads maybe they are really good but they seem a bit bulky to me

Thermostatically controlled oil-filled rads are much better than fan heaters. Yes they are bulky but then so is a solid fuel stove.

Edited December 20, 2014 by blackrose

[Naughty Cal]

We feel a bit badly done too at the moment. We are being charged £1.20 per day for electric whilst we are ashore.

 

We don't use anything like that when on our own berth even with the tube heaters and oil filled rad on 24/7.

[b0atman]

Always makes me laugh not supposed to charge above Electric suppliers rate .

Marinas certainly found the loopholes in that

On the boat I am using less than a pound a day at 19p a unit that's plenty of kettle boils, TV, battery charger etc.