Has anyone got a Bubble Diesel Stove?

[Guy Campbell]

Does anyone have this Bubble diesel stove installed: http://www.bubbleproducts.co.uk/info--(b1-half-pod-oil).html

 

If so how do you get on with it?

[cuthound]

Not a Bubble oil stove, but a Kabola Old Dutch one.

 

All oil stoves are much of a muchness in terms of ease of use and performance.

 

I have had experienceof both coal and oil fired stoves.

 

Once I worked out how to light it (took a call to the manufacturers, plus stripping the oil control valve down) I have found it to be easy to use.

 

Compared to a coal stove it has the following:

 

PRO's

Very controllable,

 

Clean (only needs cleaning every 500 hours rather this every day or two, and the flue rarely needs cleaning)

 

No heavy bags of coal to lug about.

 

CON's

Blue, rather than yellow flames.

 

Not quite as hot in very cold weather,

 

Slightly more expensive to run at current diesel prices.

 

Edited to change "three" back to "the".

Edited February 3, 2017 by cuthound

[Robbo]

One of the reasons it doesn't seem as hot as a solid fuel stove is that you can over fill a solid fuel stove so it goes over its Kw rating by quite a bit. You can't do this with a oil stove (unless faulty!).

 

If your the type of person that doesn't have a stove on 24/7 and lights it after work, etc then it may be better to get a more powerful oil stove than the equivalent solid fuel stove.

[koukouvagia]

I'm a great fan of diesel stoves. I regularly have to open the doors as the temperature in the cabin reaches 80 degrees!

 

Harworth has a very useful series of manuals on Bubble Stoves. link .

[WotEver]

I'm a great fan of diesel stoves. I regularly have to open the doors as the temperature in the cabin reaches 80 degrees!

 

Harworth has a very useful series of manuals on Bubble Stoves. link .

I have a niece who has one on a 70 footer. It's ever so cosy and warm.

[rgriffiths]

I love mine. It is old version of your link, and took a bit of setting up again a while back but now it is superb.

 

Very warm, can leave it on all the time if you want. No fuss with ash and sacks of coal. Popular when diesel was dirt cheap but less so now because of the cost increase over the years.

Edited February 3, 2017 by rgriffiths

[chevron]

We have a corner bubble one with a back boiler great dial the temperature in nice and warm all night no messing with ash and stoking it up to keep it in of a night

[Ex Brummie]

I have a Bubble with backboiler that runs a radiator on gravity at the front of the boat. The heat is constant and it is lovely to get up in the morning and it is as warm as when you retired. The fuel cost difference is minimal unless you burn any old logs found on the towpath. If you use a decent quality of coal, then you would not notice it. No ash, just an occasional decoke. A good chimney is needed for efficient operation.

[Tuscan]

We have one with a back boiler, only problem is if it's windy it can blow out but that's due it our flue set up. Easy to run.

[LEO]

Not a Bubble oil stove, but a Kabola Old Dutch one.

 

All oil stoves are much of a muchness in terms of ease of use and performance.

 

I have had experienceof both coal and oil fired stoves.

 

Once I worked out how to light it (took a call to the manufacturers, plus stripping the oil control valve down) I have found it to be easy to use.

 

Compared to a coal stove it has the following:

 

PRO's

Very controllable,

 

Clean (only needs cleaning every 500 hours rather this every day or two, and the flue rarely needs cleaning)

 

No heavy bags of coal to lug about.

 

CON's

Blue, rather than yellow flames.

 

Not quite as hot in very cold weather,

 

Slightly more expensive to run at current diesel prices.

 

Edited to change "three" back to "the".

 

Agree with all you have written - just to add, the OD4 has useful safety features - overboil cutout and flame failure cut off.

[Guy Campbell]

Thanks for your replies. Is your diesel gravity fed to the stove from a local fuel tank, or is it pumped some distance e.g. main diesel tank at the stern to a stove located in the front of the saloon?

[mrsmelly]

Does anyone have this Bubble diesel stove installed: http://www.bubbleproducts.co.uk/info--(b1-half-pod-oil).html

 

If so how do you get on with it?

 

I used to have a Dickenson which was rubbish, never had a bubble. The only major drawback is usualy a pump needs to run 24/7 to feed the fuel so this needs factoring in its not much power but it soon adds up whereas solid fuel need zero power.

[cuthound]

I used to have a Dickenson which was rubbish, never had a bubble. The only major drawback is usualy a pump needs to run 24/7 to feed the fuel so this needs factoring in its not much power but it soon adds up whereas solid fuel need zero power.

The drip type oil stoves use gravity, not a pump to deliver oil to the stove.

 

Only if you have the optional back boiler to heat hot water might require the use of a hot water circulating pump.

[Robbo]

 

I used to have a Dickenson which was rubbish, never had a bubble. The only major drawback is usualy a pump needs to run 24/7 to feed the fuel so this needs factoring in its not much power but it soon adds up whereas solid fuel need zero power.

Why was the Dickinson rubbish? I'm looking at these type of stoves so please go into detail.

[mrsmelly]

Why was the Dickinson rubbish? I'm looking at these type of stoves so please go into detail.

 

It looked great but was an absolute nightmare to light and regulate. When it worked it was fine but never generated enough hot water for liveaboard use, the water heating coil is simply not up to the job its very small. The so called oven was also a non starter for regular use. It sooted up horrendously. I had it proffesionaly fitted ( not cheap ) and did everything as advised by supplier all to no avail. If I had pereseverd for ever I may have got there but went back to squirrel for heating on my next boat and alternative water heating and cooking and will never do anything diesel again especialy after having seen the interior of narrowboat " Switched off " which had a diesel leak that wrecked its interior and had to be replaced. I am talking Dickensons here as asked and have never used a bubble. I think we have at least one member on here with a Dickenson......I cant say who it is as it wouldnt be fair to him

[Robbo]

 

It looked great but was an absolute nightmare to light and regulate. When it worked it was fine but never generated enough hot water for liveaboard use, the water heating coil is simply not up to the job its very small. The so called oven was also a non starter for regular use. It sooted up horrendously. I had it proffesionaly fitted ( not cheap ) and did everything as advised by supplier all to no avail. If I had pereseverd for ever I may have got there but went back to squirrel for heating on my next boat and alternative water heating and cooking and will never do anything diesel again especialy after having seen the interior of narrowboat " Switched off " which had a diesel leak that wrecked its interior and had to be replaced. I am talking Dickensons here as asked and have never used a bubble. I think we have at least one member on here with a Dickenson......I cant say who it is as it wouldnt be fair to him

Cheers for the details, it was the only a stove I was looking at, not the cooker and it sounds like the regulating issue you had caused the coking up. The reflek for me is still top of this list due to its min setting.

[LEO]

Thanks for your replies. Is your diesel gravity fed to the stove from a local fuel tank, or is it pumped some distance e.g. main diesel tank at the stern to a stove located in the front of the saloon?

Hi

The Kabola OD4 I have is gravity fed from a dedicated 15 gallon tank, running on its lowest setting it has been running for 2 weeks continuously, providing heat and hot water. The hot water is heated to 85C. and returns at about 35/40C (based on thermo cycling figures).

Other than fuel, they need a few things - learning how to light them!, cleaning and an Ecofan.

[Mitchellmoxo]

I have a bubble stove and think it's brilliant. They all take A bit of getting used to but once you understand how the OCV works you will be fine! The main benefit is being able to turn it on a low heat while you are out and when you get back in simply turn it up rather than messing about with coal etc.

 

I have never found that there is a problem lighting mine, I simply turn it on and wait 20 secs for the fuel to flow in and then I light it with a lighter, put the catalyst back on and shut the door.

Edited February 4, 2017 by Mitchellmoxo

[cuthound]

To light my Kabola Old Dutch I was advised by Kuranda (the UK agents) to remove the catalyser, set the Toby valve to position 2, turn on the oil and manually overide the thermocouple until the oil has made an old penny (or 50p piece) sized puddle on the floor of the stove.

 

Pour in 1 or 2 capful (10-20ml) of metholated spirits, replace the catalyser and then drop in a lit match.

 

Wait until the meths has almost burnt off (its purpose is to warm the flue), manually operate the thermocouple again for a minute or so and then leave alone for 15 minutes before moving the Toby valve to the desired setting.

 

Works every time.

[frahkn]

Thanks for your replies. Is your diesel gravity fed to the stove from a local fuel tank, or is it pumped some distance e.g. main diesel tank at the stern to a stove located in the front of the saloon?

 

My diesel stove (a Refleks) is in the front cabin - about 50' from the diesel tank. It does have a pump but once running for a bit, it will still continue whether the pump is on or not.

 

You do need the pump to light it initially.

[nikvah]

There was a bubble diesel corner stove installed when I bought my boat but it was one of the compromises I made from my wish list. I looked into converting it to a multi-fuel stove (not possible) which I was used to. Now I have been converted instead. It's cleaner and easy to light or keep on lowest setting until a boost is needed and if the boat gets too warm it responds almost instantly to being turned down. Insides need a stiff brush and vacuum now and then.

[Terryb]

I'd also have to agree with all the "pros" and state that listening to others that use coal I find using mine for around 6 hrs 3 in morning and 3 after 4pm the boat is then comfortable for me. Over the last couple of months I've used it like this every day exept one, and its working out around £1 a day.

With regards to the wind causing problems, they do require a taller chimney with a wind deflector, mine (corner Bubble) has only ever blown out once, caused by being so close to buildings creating a down draft.

[nikvah]

After a short stint on the boat last week I have to report that a big negative for the diesel stove is that cruising with it lit, with the whiff of diesel in the air, is not anywhere near as pleasant as with woodsmoke.