Coal Inserts for Squirell Stoves

[Sabcat]

A duct would be very easy to make work and it wouldn't necessarily have to be right by the stove just taking air from the room where the stove is and moving it to the back of the boat past any obstacles. If there were no obstacles a fan would work I imagine.

 

Unless it gets really cold then setting the mushroom vents up at that start of the winter - close them down at the front by the stove, open the furthest vent from the stove at the back of the boat - does a good job of moving warm air along the boat. I'm going to ponder where I could run a duct with a fan in it.

[MtB]

I've just bought a second hand Truma fan from ebay (common on caravans) to experiment along similar lines with ducting.

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TEB2-auxiliary-blown-air-fan-control-switch-fully-working-Truma-TEB-2-S-H-/151498355967?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item23460174ff

 

Being a radial fan it will be quieter and more powerful than an axial fan drawing the same current.

 

 

MtB

[Sabcat]

It'd be quick and easy to rig something up to test whether ducting will do the job although I can't imagine it wouldn't, the principle is exactly the same as with radiators, take heat from one place and put it in another. Something as simple as a boxed in length of drain pipe going from near the stove in the saloon to the back of the boat with a computer case fan mounted inside it would no doubt produce a result. In fact using drain pipe, if you wanted rigid and boxed in, would mean that going round corners, or taking the input to the pipe from just under the gunwales by the stove and then running along the floor would be easy because all the joints are off the shelf.

Taking it a step further, could an eco fan be butchered to provide the power to a duct fan of some sort?

[gary955]

 

 

Yes the downside of a back boiler is you have to have the pump running 24/7, and the stove boils over if it fails. Or try to rig up a convection system which doesn't easily work if the stove is at the front of the boat and therefore higher than the back.

 

 

 

MtB

I'm often puzzled by the claim that convection systems wont work with a falling pipe run.

My system is all in 22mm pipe with the outlet of the back boiler rising to gunnel hight as it leaves the stove. From there it falls gently with the trim of the boat past two radiators with normal (lockshield?) valves, to the cauliflower some 35 feet away before returning at floor level. Both radiators get hot and the water temp in the cauliflower will rise to about the mid 30s

In four years the system has never boiled or made any noise suggesting that it's about to. I would have thought that once the water leaves the stove and rises to the highest point, it will begin to cool and be slowly be displaced by by more hot water leaving the stove. Once it reaches the first radiator some 10 feet away i expect the circulation velocity will increase as the cooling water sinks dragging whe warmer water through.

[bottle]

Going back to fans and ducting, you may be surprised at the size (power) a fan needs to push air along a duct, a bit like water and pipes.

 

No expert but I am sure it has been mentioned on here before.

[rgreg]

 

The circular griddle burns out anyway. Ours is lit 24/7 over winter because we live on the boat and the pattern for it with our use is it's fine for the first year, the second year it starts to deform and sometime in the 3rd or fourth year it falls to pieces. Not an expensive part or one that's hard to replace.

 

If the rest of the stove follows the same pattern as yours I'll be buying a new one in 3 years. I think 15 years is a good run for any piece of kit that gets used as much as a stove on a liveaboard. Works out at about £50 a year.

The riddle grate on mine needs replacing every year as it deforms over time (and I always keep the ashes in the pan clear of it). The first thing you notice when it's failing is small pieces of coal in the ashpan where they have slipped through the widened gaps. Other than that, I've replaced the glass once in 10 years and re-fitted the air- wash cover above the glass on the inside of the door where the screws rotted.

[bottle]

Five seasons use, 24/7, November to March still as good as new, except for glass discolouration.

[Loafer]

We don't know how old ours is, so every winter it is a bit of a gamble. It has been great so far though. One new glass and a new riddle plate in 5 years.

 

BTW, have you all seen Morso's blurb about removing a part in the upper inside of the stove, just under the flue exit?

[Sabcat]

We don't know how old ours is, so every winter it is a bit of a gamble. It has been great so far though. One new glass and a new riddle plate in 5 years.

 

BTW, have you all seen Morso's blurb about removing a part in the upper inside of the stove, just under the flue exit?

 

I've never seen it, have you got a link (because I'm far too lazy to go looking myself)?

[Loafer]

I'll be back. Just having me tea.

[Loafer]

Here's the thread on here that I read about it.

 

'Fruity,

The rounded cup you refer to is, I think, called a smoke hood. I don’t know which Morso stove you have, but if you look up the installation instructions for your stove on the Morso site, for example, a Morso 1410,

http://morso.co.uk/w...40-DS-EN_UK.pdf on page 5 it states that

“The smoke hood must not be fitted if the stove is installed on a boat where the flue height is likely to be less than 4.5M. On our boat I found that the smoke hood was fitted, I've now removed it, but when I first checked it, I found mill scale from the flue chimney as well as soot accumulated in the half moon smoke hood, the amount of crud resting inside the smoke hood was worrying.'

I've removed mine and it's fine.

[Sabcat]

I'm pretty there isn't one on ours, I'll check though. Maybe the stove will get even better than it already is

[Taslim]

Not quite on topic but the timing of this topic was spot on. I maintain cast iron stoves crack up 'cause people rush them rather than letting them heat up 'in their own time'.

 

I have a Squirel, had second hand twenty or so years ago. Its been in various wagons and houses since and has been great. Until yesterday.

 

I got back from work to find my guest had lit the stove. I could hear it roaring as I walked through the front door!!

 

The poor stove was doiing its crust and there was a yellow streak across the top plate. It had cracked. I don't know what the legal term for killing guests is.... but no. It's no use crying over spilt milk.

 

Solution was to strike while the iron (stove) was hot. Gouge a 'v' down the crack, brace the top and reduce the gap with a sash cramp and hit the top with a spark stick. By good fortune i had the right welding rods.

 

It worked and my guest spent time today cleaning up the mess I made as pennance.

[MtB]

I think you could well be right. I am in the habit of arriving at a freezing boat and getting the stove going as fast as possible. Maybe I was lucky getting just the left hand lip crack off. Not a safety issue as the glass rope seal under the top remains intact and in place.

 

A warning to others, and me though.

 

MtB

[Alan Saunders]

The lower section of the firebasket retainer has broken on one side of my Squirrel. I have tried fixing it with car exhaust pipe cement but with limited success.

How did you repair yours? (Putting another interlocking above it makes it relatively secure but more awkward to load up with fuel).

 

Thanks

Tony

I did Copperkins one by getting a new bit. The retaining screw was solid, but I found I could remove the bust one and fit the new one by gentle use of the mooring hammer and WD40/

 

Iain

I purchased a new bracket from the stove shop in Devizes (~£8?). They are not Moro agents but had the commonly needed parts in stock.

 

Not only was the retaining screw solid but very difficult to access and I feared shearing it off; judging where to drill through from the front impossible. I removed as much rust as I could, gently tapped the new bracket in with a small hammer, removed it, noted the witness marks and removed rust from that area. Finally I smoothed the new bracket, applied a mear of grease and carefully tapped it home.

 

Alan

[Edders]

I purchased a new bracket from the stove shop in Devizes (~£8?). They are not Moro agents but had the commonly needed parts in stock.

 

Not only was the retaining screw solid but very difficult to access and I feared shearing it off; judging where to drill through from the front impossible. I removed as much rust as I could, gently tapped the new bracket in with a small hammer, removed it, noted the witness marks and removed rust from that area. Finally I smoothed the new bracket, applied a mear of grease and carefully tapped it home.

 

Alan

Thanks for the info.

 

Job to do when I can let the fire go out for a while!

 

Tony