Winter Ain't Cheap!

[nbfiresprite]

In cold weather I use three bags of Blazers Fuel logs (Compress Sawdust) which cost £12 for the three bags. Over the summer the old gas locker is packed to the top with 22 bags, 24 bags if I pack more carefully. Easy to light and half a log lasts about three hours. Due to going OTT (According to other moorers) with the spray foam insulation (4" Deckhead, 3" Cablin sides and 5" below the gunnels),  under flooring insulation and also having only portholes.  Which gives a greatly reduced rate of heat transfer to the out side, it takes about 18 hours for the inside temperature to drop to the outside ambient temperature  

[chubby]

5 hours ago, bizzard said:

Shanghai I believe. The Chinese knew him as Lobinson Clusoe. His pal Man Fliday prayed for them arso.

Careful Sir 

Some may consider this a rittle bit  lacist ....

Besides i thought Defoe was an actor . Im sure he was in Platoon ... 

 

Edited January 31, 2018 by chubby

[canals are us?]

I'm using 2 bags of coal a week atm on my 50ft trad narrowboat with backboiler heating 2 rads. Mostly burning 24/7. I too like it warm 20-23 degrees but bedroom around 15 degrees.

The worst ever has been 3x 25kg bags when we get -10 weather and below freezing during the day for a sustained spell.

I also sometimes use the webasto ttc for an hour some days.

James

 

Edited February 1, 2018 by canals are us?

[brassedoff]

3 minutes ago, canals are us? said:

I'm using 2 bags of coal a week on my 50ft trad narrowboat with backboiler heating 2 rads. Mostly burning 24/7.

I also sometimes use the webasto ttc for an hour some days.

James

 

Hmmm maybe I need a back boiler fitting.

 

That good going 2 bags a week.

[Phil Ambrose]

1 hour ago, chubby said:

Careful Sir 

Some may consider this a rittle bit  lacist ....

Besides i thought Defoe was an actor . Im sure he was in Platoon ... 

 

You jest of course; Biz is a legend and far far away from racist 

Phil 

[Phil Ambrose]

24 minutes ago, brassedoff said:

Hmmm maybe I need a back boiler fitting.

 

That good going 2 bags a week.

60ft boat, both retired so on board all the time and we use 2 bags a week, 3 when it turns biting cold. Normal dress is T shirt and just a 4 tog duvet.

Phil 

[brassedoff]

10 minutes ago, Phil Ambrose said:

60ft boat, both retired so on board all the time and we use 2 bags a week, 3 when it turns biting cold. Normal dress is T shirt and just a 4 tog duvet.

Phil 

I don't know how you do it Phil.

I wear t shirts and have a 15 tog cover.

3 1/2 bags a week easy with curtain shut..

[Phil Ambrose]

May be the boat, we are all 11" potholes with 2 Houdini hatches all with secondary double glazing  so very little chance for heat to escape  .

Phil 

[mrsmelly]

8 hours ago, brassedoff said:

I don't know how you do it Phil.

I wear t shirts and have a 15 tog cover.

3 1/2 bags a week easy with curtain shut..

Do you have decent insulation? Just as a for instance our first boat was a 60s built and had zero insulation. We burnt a bag a day and burnt a grate out every twelve months just to keep the front half habitable. Insulation is a main contributer to comfort. I looked at a new shell being solid as a sailaway which included so called spray foam insulation at a well known marina  a few short years ago and the foam could be seen through in several places and whole panels were at about a quarter of an inch thickness!! 

[TheBiscuits]

9 hours ago, brassedoff said:

3 1/2 bags a week easy with curtain shut..

Have you tried playing with different fuels and different settings on your stove?

Everyone seems to have their own favourite technique and fuel, as every stove behaves differently.

Some fuels want a deep bed of burning coals topped up little and often.  Some want a good shovelful every 8 hours or so and don't mind being ignored for the rest of the time.

Check your stove door seals are in good nick too - if the ropes are tired you can burn a lot more fuel and the stove won't get as hot as it should.  The correct air adjustment on a stove makes a massive difference to how long it burns and how hot it burns.

[TheBiscuits]

We like using supertherm on our boat, even though it makes loads of ash, it stays in and toasty for 16 hours or so.

A friend who also has a Morso Squirrel can't stand the stuff as he can never get it hot enough to start burning properly on his stove.

We even shared a bag with him to see if he was on a bad batch of supertherm, but it was fine on our boat and dire on his.

 

About backboilers: they use more fuel, because you are heating all the pipes and radiators too, but they send the heat to the other end of the boat so instead of having a sauna at one end and a freezer at the other you get more even heat throughout. 

I don't think you are getting too hot near the stove though! 

[canals are us?]

If when I bought the boat the previous oil stove hadn't been at the front of the boat by the bow doors then I would of fitted it 15ft further up the boat. The backboiler on my stove is small at around 8,000btu (domestic hot water boiler)but output more like 4,000btu on smokeless so only gets the 2 rads warm, not hot, but enough to make the bedroom and bathroom pleasant if stove lit all day. Much better with coal and logs as flames envelop the boiler. Today I didn't bother keeping the fire going as out and as was glowing from last night. I can turn off the valves to the rads and if wanted switch on a pump to the backboiler to heat the calorifier. I don't bother as either use immersion or webasto and if cruising engine.

The biggest waste of energy is having the ash pan door open and fire roaring as the air drawn into the fire is sending the heat up the chimney, so I close the ashpan door once fire established.

James

[chubby]

18 hours ago, Phil Ambrose said:

You jest of course; Biz is a legend and far far away from racist 

Phil 

of course i jest only sir 

[brassedoff]

10 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Do you have decent insulation? Just as a for instance our first boat was a 60s built and had zero insulation. We burnt a bag a day and burnt a grate out every twelve months just to keep the front half habitable. Insulation is a main contributer to comfort. I looked at a new shell being solid as a sailaway which included so called spray foam insulation at a well known marina  a few short years ago and the foam could be seen through in several places and whole panels were at about a quarter of an inch thickness!! 

Yes I have spray foam insulation and the boat is only a few years old.

I have eberspacher as well but I can't afford to keep it on all day.  The back of the boat is freezing without the three radiators on.

 

8 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

We like using supertherm on our boat, even though it makes loads of ash, it stays in and toasty for 16 hours or so.

A friend who also has a Morso Squirrel can't stand the stuff as he can never get it hot enough to start burning properly on his stove.

We even shared a bag with him to see if he was on a bad batch of supertherm, but it was fine on our boat and dire on his.

 

About backboilers: they use more fuel, because you are heating all the pipes and radiators too, but they send the heat to the other end of the boat so instead of having a sauna at one end and a freezer at the other you get more even heat throughout. 

I don't think you are getting too hot near the stove though! 

Yes I use Supettherm as well, it's good coal I think.

 

[brassedoff]

47 minutes ago, canals are us? said:

 

The biggest waste of energy is having the ash pan door open and fire roaring as the air drawn into the fire is sending the heat up the chimney, so I close the ashpan door once fire established.

James

Thanks James, I do the same as you.

 

Thanks everyone for your advice.

 

Much appreciated.  

I have the flu today so sorry for my late reply.

[bastion]

33 minutes ago, brassedoff said:

Yes I have spray foam insulation and the boat is only a few years old.

I have eberspacher as well but I can't afford to keep it on all day.  The back of the boat is freezing without the three radiators on.

 

Yes I use Supettherm as well, it's good coal I think.

 

The hire boats at the wharf where I work have Ebers fitted and I am surprised at how long they take to put heat through the radiators compared to my Webasto.

[brassedoff]

14 minutes ago, bastion said:

The hire boats at the wharf where I work have Ebers fitted and I am surprised at how long they take to put heat through the radiators compared to my Webasto.

Yes it takes a good 25-30 minutes to get hot.

I only use it when it's really cold.

Someone told me they use 1 litre of diesel every hour.

[mrsmelly]

7 minutes ago, brassedoff said:

Yes it takes a good 25-30 minutes to get hot.

I only use it when it's really cold.

Someone told me they use 1 litre of diesel every hour.

Ive said it for donkeys years and will reiterate it again. Living in a house is cheaper than living on a boat. I live on a boat as I prefer it, nothing to do with finance luckily for me although I am a pauper.

[brassedoff]

15 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Ive said it for donkeys years and will reiterate it again. Living in a house is cheaper than living on a boat. I live on a boat as I prefer it, nothing to do with finance luckily for me although I am a pauper.

Am skint too, but I will never go back into a house if I can help it.

They will have to drag me out of the boat dribbling.

Edited February 1, 2018 by brassedoff

[smileypete]

I hate hot stuffy over heated spaces, feels like I'm being suffocated.

Summer is OK as I can get a nice breeze going through the boat, and ice cold drinks help.

Edited February 1, 2018 by smileypete

[Guest]

On Wed Jan 31 2018 at 10:10, mrsmelly said:

I don't keep count but use about 4 quid a day in fuel so not much different to you then. My boat is always warm ( very ) all day and I let fire burn slowly all night.You may be like me and actualy have a properly warm boat. I go on others and they are in my opinion often cold and the fire isn't glowing bright red through the glass. My boat is well insulated and fitted so this helps.

Pretty much the same here. We do go finding logs which makes a big difference. We have no other heating (except for rare engine running-we are in a marina at  present.) We can heat our small house for the same cost as our narrow boat!

[Guest]

1 hour ago, mrsmelly said:

Ive said it for donkeys years and will reiterate it again. Living in a house is cheaper than living on a boat. I live on a boat as I prefer it, nothing to do with finance luckily for me although I am a pauper.

Especially true if generating one's own electricity.

[brassedoff]

4 minutes ago, catweasel said:

Especially true if generating one's own electricity.

Definitely avoided !

[Robbo]

9 hours ago, brassedoff said:

Yes it takes a good 25-30 minutes to get hot.

I only use it when it's really cold.

Someone told me they use 1 litre of diesel every hour.

If it uses 1litre an hour it will be around 10kw device.   If your boat needs a constant 10kw to keep it warm then you either have a very big boat or no insulation.  Whoever told you was wrong.

Edited February 2, 2018 by Robbo

[Nightwatch]

We started a 20kg bag of Supertherm on Monday lunchtime. About two shovels full left. Saloon too warm at times, aft end can get chilly,not cold, when not cooking. And we have a cheaply eco fan!!! Put central heating on occasionally to boost warmth. We are hardy boaters. Don't like cumbersome jumpers on indoors. Quite often have to have window hoppers open in the saloon.