Adapting your gas cooker into a heater?

Anything that burns with a yellow flame is fairly well up the 'incomplete combustion' stakes.
Stove with chimney
Eberspanker
Cocoa
Thermals
Exercise :-)
 
CO

I had a Pascall Atky charcoal stove on the boat. It was great- once alight it chucked out a significant amount of heat and usually stayed in all night. then I bought a CO alarm and realised that it was also producing near dangerous levels of CO especially in the first hour of operation. I got rid of it and fitted a Webasto. I still have the alarm. CO isn't called the "silent killer" for nothing.
 
I had a Pascall Atky charcoal stove on the boat. It was great- once alight it chucked out a significant amount of heat and usually stayed in all night. then I bought a CO alarm and realised that it was also producing near dangerous levels of CO...

But those heaters have a flue, so unless you hermetically seal the boat and have a faulty flue I don't see how that can be right, even then wouldn't it just go out (stop burning)?
 
Would not the Dorado`s. I have 6 on board, provide enough ventilation

We use a small Kerosene heater no smell no fumes and runs on paraffin there are sizes from 12,000btu`s to 30,000 BTu`s
 
Anybody have experience of using a paraffin lamp in the cabin?

Was thinking of getting one for this reason - if I have the stove on for even a few minutes to make tea the heat builds astonishingly - so I wondered if a hurricane lamp would be enough to keep snug?

Tilley lamp gives out quite a bit of heat,

I was given one and it works a treat, pity SWMBO doesn't like the smell:rolleyes:
 
Must admit that I use a 240v fan heater when on shore power and when not I use my trusty Honda EU10i 1kw genny to drive my fan heater. Of course I don't run it all night but going to bed warm is a huge advantage. Then if it is a cold morning, on goes the genny. It is so quiet that it doesn't disturb others in an anchorage. Oh, I have an Eberspacher but that is not running at present...........
 
I seriously would advise against doing this. A teenager died recently at a local campsite from having a smoldering charcoal barbeque in the awning of her tent. So the threat from carbon monoxide is very real and deadly. A powerful open flame device should not be used in a confined space for an extended period and particularly if you go to sleep. Boiling a kettle or cooking is safe enough as the duration is not long enough to deplete oxygen sufficiently to cause a problem. Once you put your head down and nod off you are seriously at risk.
 
I seriously would advise against doing this. A teenager died recently at a local campsite from having a smoldering charcoal barbeque in the awning of her tent. So the threat from carbon monoxide is very real and deadly. A powerful open flame device should not be used in a confined space for an extended period and particularly if you go to sleep. Boiling a kettle or cooking is safe enough as the duration is not long enough to deplete oxygen sufficiently to cause a problem. Once you put your head down and nod off you are seriously at risk.

It's not about oxygen depletion, the fatal level of carbon mon is measured in parts per million, there will still be about 19% oxygen in the air when you are dead.

In a typical year, about 50 people in the UK die of CO poisoning.
 
But those heaters have a flue, so unless you hermetically seal the boat and have a faulty flue I don't see how that can be right, even then wouldn't it just go out (stop burning)?

I appreciate that. My point is that any heater is potentially dangerous and I suspect that live flame heaters of any sort in the accomodation are the most dangerous. As has been stated, the concintration of CO does not need to be that high to kill you. The stove in question had a flue, was cleaned regularly and was maintained. It nevertheless leaked enough CO to be dangerous. I had two dorade vents forward, two over the saloon and lovres in the companionway doors, so there was plenty of ventilation. If you are going to use a live flame heater then for god's sake get a CO alarm and replace it at the stated interval.
 
(snip)
In a typical year, about 50 people in the UK die of CO poisoning.

That's about the same risk as winning the lottery then?

Bearing in mind that every house in the country is heated (OK so SOME will be all electric, but the rest will be oil, gas, coal or parafin heaters) plus all the caravans, motorhomes & boats (inc inland waterways) that have some form of heating for the season start & end. It's just not that likely is it?

Like gas explosions, the consequences may be devastating, but the risk is REALLY LOW - especially if you take sensible pprecautions.
 
That's about the same risk as winning the lottery then?

.....

No.
Millions do the lottery, relatively few use primitive heaters in confined spaces.
Lots of people win the lottery, £20 or so.
Carbon mon has only two prizes, death and neuro damage.
 
That's about the same risk as winning the lottery then?

Bearing in mind that every house in the country is heated (OK so SOME will be all electric, but the rest will be oil, gas, coal or parafin heaters) plus all the caravans, motorhomes & boats (inc inland waterways) that have some form of heating for the season start & end. It's just not that likely is it?

Like gas explosions, the consequences may be devastating, but the risk is REALLY LOW - especially if you take sensible pprecautions.
Domestic gas boilers nowadays have balanced flues so do not take air from the room and do not discharge products of combustion into the room.
 
The tragic death of a 6 year old girl from Gosport, on a camping trip in the New Forest, illustrates the fatal qualities of carbon monoxide. They had move a charcoal barbeque inside the tent because it was cold.
 
Cabin heating

Heat the bricks in the oven. Switch off leave door open paraffin lamps need to have round wicks for best light and heat
 
I don't understand how candles could be used to heat a boat however efficiently the heat was used. I'd guess the heat output of an average candle to be about the same as a CFC bulb - around 10 watts. They might create a psychological warmth but the amount of actual heat is surely negligible. I don't see how flowerpots, bricks and bolts can change this.
 
no water

There is no water in the pots. The pots are on a metal rack, upside down and all three held together with a nut, bolts and washers. I now use four tea candles, the type you use in aromatherapy and they are placed under the pots. yes very ambient glow as you suck a glass of port. Now if my inside temperature is say 8 deg centigrade, after 45 mins of heating the pots my cabin temperature rises to 16 deg centigrade. I cannot touch the UNGLAZED terracotta pots with my hand.
Yes I still have to wear warm clothes and yes I do allow ventilation. my main cabin is about 2.2 metres by 3.2 metres and 2 metres tall. I doubt at my latitude of 31.2 deg south I get temperatures many of the people posting do but this little heating idea suffices me.
 
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