ducked
Well-Known Member
Probably rust through rather quickly. They are quite thin,
How small can a solid fuel stove be?
- Thread starter Greenheart
- Start date
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Are Davys still going they sold solid fuel stoves
DangerousPirate
Well-Known Member
Hm. That might be an option. The current set up is a diesel pump going from the main tank. Not sure where I can put a drip feed tank though? Can I mount that inside or does it have to be outside too for safety reasons?
zoidberg
Well-Known Member
Does that mean the UPPER bowl is in the 'Catch Rainwater' position...?
noelex
Well-Known Member
It can be inside.
Porthandbuoy
Well-Known Member
Yes.
ducked
Well-Known Member
Also in the "rust rather quickly" category, part of a light truck exhaust pipe I saw by the roadside.
Didnt retreive, but thought of it, with the idea of cutting a door for adding solid fuel in the silencer section and removing baffles and any sound deadening glass wool as appropriate.
Of course there are stainless exhausts, but less likely to be lying by the roadside.
Perhaps another time.
Didnt retreive, but thought of it, with the idea of cutting a door for adding solid fuel in the silencer section and removing baffles and any sound deadening glass wool as appropriate.
Of course there are stainless exhausts, but less likely to be lying by the roadside.
Perhaps another time.
Refueler
Well-Known Member
Many years ago - I looked at a Stella - with idea to buy ... this had a 'parafin stove' set into the fwd part of main cabin ... the base was slotted into the cabin sole to prevent its falling over.
I remember that we went on and seller lit the stove ... within just a few minutes the cabin was cosy and warm .. allied with that wooden boat aroma ...
On the subject of wood burners ... my house in Latvia - is an old typical Latvian Forest house with wood burning 'Pitchkers' .... large ceramic affairs that are about 1m wide and extend from floor to ceiling. Originally there were 4 of them as the house was divided into 4 family units. We removed 3 and the 4th, in the kitchen, was re-modelled to take a 16Kw glass fronted wood burner ..... above it having a large air chamber. On the 2nd floor - is a ventilator / fan that draws hot air from the air chamber - distributing via trunking to the upstairs rooms.
In the large 'party room' we have an open fire - again a wood burner ...
The Kitchen fire along with the party room open fire - can have the house easily at 20 - 21C in dead of winter with it -10, -20C outside ...
We do have gas central heating as well as a back-up which auto switches on if house temp falls below about 15C ....
I do like the look of open fires and the glass fronted sets off the kitchen nicely.
Back to boats and solid fuel fires ? With the later cabin designs is it a feasible idea ?
I remember that we went on and seller lit the stove ... within just a few minutes the cabin was cosy and warm .. allied with that wooden boat aroma ...
On the subject of wood burners ... my house in Latvia - is an old typical Latvian Forest house with wood burning 'Pitchkers' .... large ceramic affairs that are about 1m wide and extend from floor to ceiling. Originally there were 4 of them as the house was divided into 4 family units. We removed 3 and the 4th, in the kitchen, was re-modelled to take a 16Kw glass fronted wood burner ..... above it having a large air chamber. On the 2nd floor - is a ventilator / fan that draws hot air from the air chamber - distributing via trunking to the upstairs rooms.
In the large 'party room' we have an open fire - again a wood burner ...
The Kitchen fire along with the party room open fire - can have the house easily at 20 - 21C in dead of winter with it -10, -20C outside ...
We do have gas central heating as well as a back-up which auto switches on if house temp falls below about 15C ....
I do like the look of open fires and the glass fronted sets off the kitchen nicely.
Back to boats and solid fuel fires ? With the later cabin designs is it a feasible idea ?
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Just a little physics!
The surface area of a stove varies as the square of the linear dimensions, the volume as the cube. So a stove twice the width will hold 8 times as much fuel but only have 4 times the surface area. A stove 10cm on a side will have a volume of 1000 cc and a surface area of 600 cm squared, but a stove 20cm on a side will have a volume of 8000 cc but a surface area of 2400 square cm - 8 times the volume but only 4 times the surface area, so it generates 8 times the heat but loses only 4 times as much through the stove walls. So, basically a bigger stove can burn hotter, enhancing the flow up the chimney. A small stove will lose proportionally more heat through the walls of the stove, lessening the flow up the chimney. This is in accord with those who have said that small stoves like the Pansy are difficult to get to draw properly. And if the stove isn't drawing properly, there's a danger of the flow reversing, with all the dangers of CO poisoning that entails.
No doubt someone with all the relevant information to hand could calculate where the balance between size and ability to maintain a draught up the chimney is struck, but it's going to depend on variables like which fuel is being used and the diameter of the flue as well as the dimensions of the stove. But smaller stoves need a hotter burning fuel to maintain an adequate draught. So a small stove is less likely to be successful with wood gathered from the foreshore; it may require coal or good-quality charcoal to work properly.
I can state from experience that a firebox about 2'x2'x2' works very well, and if fed with dry wood, will soon be glowing red hot! But that was in a hut in the Arctic, fed with wood from tree trunks that had been freeze-dried for an unknown but probably long period! But the downside is that we spent a few man-hours a day chopping wood for it
The surface area of a stove varies as the square of the linear dimensions, the volume as the cube. So a stove twice the width will hold 8 times as much fuel but only have 4 times the surface area. A stove 10cm on a side will have a volume of 1000 cc and a surface area of 600 cm squared, but a stove 20cm on a side will have a volume of 8000 cc but a surface area of 2400 square cm - 8 times the volume but only 4 times the surface area, so it generates 8 times the heat but loses only 4 times as much through the stove walls. So, basically a bigger stove can burn hotter, enhancing the flow up the chimney. A small stove will lose proportionally more heat through the walls of the stove, lessening the flow up the chimney. This is in accord with those who have said that small stoves like the Pansy are difficult to get to draw properly. And if the stove isn't drawing properly, there's a danger of the flow reversing, with all the dangers of CO poisoning that entails.
No doubt someone with all the relevant information to hand could calculate where the balance between size and ability to maintain a draught up the chimney is struck, but it's going to depend on variables like which fuel is being used and the diameter of the flue as well as the dimensions of the stove. But smaller stoves need a hotter burning fuel to maintain an adequate draught. So a small stove is less likely to be successful with wood gathered from the foreshore; it may require coal or good-quality charcoal to work properly.
I can state from experience that a firebox about 2'x2'x2' works very well, and if fed with dry wood, will soon be glowing red hot! But that was in a hut in the Arctic, fed with wood from tree trunks that had been freeze-dried for an unknown but probably long period! But the downside is that we spent a few man-hours a day chopping wood for it
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Yes a bag of nuts!Just a little physics!
The surface area of a stove varies as the square of the linear dimensions, the volume as the cube. So a stove twice the width will hold 8 times as much fuel but only have 4 times the surface area. A stove 10cm on a side will have a volume of 1000 cc and a surface area of 600 cm squared, but a stove 20cm on a side will have a volume of 8000 cc but a surface area of 2400 square cm - 8 times the volume but only 4 times the surface area, so it generates 8 times the heat but loses only 4 times as much through the stove walls. So, basically a bigger stove can burn hotter, enhancing the flow up the chimney. A small stove will lose proportionally more heat through the walls of the stove, lessening the flow up the chimney. This is in accord with those who have said that small stoves like the Pansy are difficult to get to draw properly. And if the stove isn't drawing properly, there's a danger of the flow reversing, with all the dangers of CO poisoning that entails.
No doubt someone with all the relevant information to hand could calculate where the balance between size and ability to maintain a draught up the chimney is struck, but it's going to depend on variables like which fuel is being used and the diameter of the flue as well as the dimensions of the stove. But smaller stoves need a hotter burning fuel to maintain an adequate draught. So a small stove is less likely to be successful with wood gathered from the foreshore; it may require coal or good-quality charcoal to work properly.
I can state from experience that a firebox about 2'x2'x2' works very well, and if fed with dry wood, will soon be glowing red hot! But that was in a hut in the Arctic, fed with wood from tree trunks that had been freeze-dried for an unknown but probably long period! But the downside is that we spent a few man-hours a day chopping wood for it
zoidberg
Well-Known Member
Old Indian proverb:But the downside is that we spent a few man-hours a day chopping wood for it
"Indian he make small fire; keep warm.
Whiteman he make big fire; keep warm chopping down trees..."
chriscallender
Well-Known Member
I made one something like 20 years ago from a length of 100mm (I think) square box section stainless which I welded a top and a bottom onto. I'm guessing it was about 200mm from top to bottom. It had a door,a grate, and some adjustable gubbins to control the airflow. I made a hole and welded a flue onto the top... I found some rule of thumb online about what the cross secton area of the flue needs to be compared to the stove itself. For fuel I used to buy barbeque briquettes in the summer barbeque season. I fitted it with some heat shielding fire board stuff that didn't have asbestos in it.
I got some things wrong but it did work quite well and certainly gave off a good heat, no CO on the monitor and it kept the boat snug and cosy. So overall it was quite successful. It probably wasn't as controllable as I envisaged but it also wasn't crazy at making the boat far too hot.
In this day and age I don't think I would take on a DIY project like that - like too much hassle with likely marina/council woodburner bans, and I'm sure any insurance company would have a fairly strong view about covering risks of a home made woodburner.Things are just so much more regulated these days, or so it feels. Then forgetting regulations, in practice it will certainly be nothing like as safe as a professionally installed stove in a domestic settting which complies with building regulatons - a boat would simply be too small to have the required spacing to stuff that can burn, the flue will be too small and short. Not that domestic building regs are going to apply for a boat, but as a guideline of good practice you are going to end up quite far away from it.
But what I meant to say was yes, technically it is possible to get busy with welding gear and plate steel and it will burn the stuff it is designed to burn, and with common sense it won't burn down stuff it isn't meant to, or poison you. Actually it is very nice. Somehow it morphed into a discussion on why I personally wouldn't nowadays though
.DownWest
Well-Known Member
I will 'chip' in here.
Some time ago, I made a wood stove out of a 45kg propane cylinder, cut to length to easily fit a 50cm log. Put a sheet of steel in the top (it was on it's side) so the smoke/heat was drawn to the rear, then forward, to a rectangular hole in the top front. This had a box welded to it going back to the rear where the flue sat.
I had read some books on stove design from the US.
Worked a treat. Neighbour saw it (and felt it!) so made one for them.. Suddenly I had a sideline in producing stoves. Quit with the gas bottles (they don't rust out by the way, 3mm steel) and produced an 'insert' line from 4mm plate. Up to four a week!
Some US friends with a house on the cliff top of the old town in Albufeira, had a problem with back drafts on windy days. She had only one lung and a bit, so was very sensitive to smoke. Could I think of something? My obvious reaction was a closed stove. No, they liked the open fire and while I was at it, could I make a grill that swung into it from the side to cook on...
Scratch head and since the fire was pretty crude, I made a smoke shelf in steel to get the best result from it then put a copy of a Colt Cowl on the chimney.
This has four curved sides with slots between each section. Effect is, which ever way the wind is blowing, there is one, sort of facing it, but two extracting. worked a treat.
Next time I was in the States, they said stop over for a couple of days with us. Quite gobsmacked as they were 'old school' but fairly modest. House was gi-normous, looked over Long Island Sound. Used to belong to a movie mogul.. Name of Openheimer, not sure if they were related...
Some time ago, I made a wood stove out of a 45kg propane cylinder, cut to length to easily fit a 50cm log. Put a sheet of steel in the top (it was on it's side) so the smoke/heat was drawn to the rear, then forward, to a rectangular hole in the top front. This had a box welded to it going back to the rear where the flue sat.
I had read some books on stove design from the US.
Worked a treat. Neighbour saw it (and felt it!) so made one for them.. Suddenly I had a sideline in producing stoves. Quit with the gas bottles (they don't rust out by the way, 3mm steel) and produced an 'insert' line from 4mm plate. Up to four a week!
Some US friends with a house on the cliff top of the old town in Albufeira, had a problem with back drafts on windy days. She had only one lung and a bit, so was very sensitive to smoke. Could I think of something? My obvious reaction was a closed stove. No, they liked the open fire and while I was at it, could I make a grill that swung into it from the side to cook on...
Scratch head and since the fire was pretty crude, I made a smoke shelf in steel to get the best result from it then put a copy of a Colt Cowl on the chimney.
This has four curved sides with slots between each section. Effect is, which ever way the wind is blowing, there is one, sort of facing it, but two extracting. worked a treat.
Next time I was in the States, they said stop over for a couple of days with us. Quite gobsmacked as they were 'old school' but fairly modest. House was gi-normous, looked over Long Island Sound. Used to belong to a movie mogul.. Name of Openheimer, not sure if they were related...
DownWest
Well-Known Member
Oh, bit of 120mm square tube in the w/shop, destined to be a stove for a friend's 29ft sloop. He is due to pass by soon, so better get busy...
thinwater
Well-Known Member
Just watch the first bit.
No, I'm not serious. But it is small.
No, I'm not serious. But it is small.
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Before I put a stove on a boat, I must get a boat.
But even with spring approaching, I'll have it at the front of my mind how any boat I consider buying, can be heated.
I'm glad so many people have expressed similar interest and experience.
It bewilders me when owners of small boats think their vessel's size means it isn't worth heating.
There are so many options, I may fit two or three quite different systems.
.
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Well, we were in the Arctic, so small fires tend to be ineffective!
SvenH
Well-Known Member
I've built a pellet burner out of a piece of 60x60x300 mm tube (extra bits made it larger though), with the idea to turn it in to a product for space heating. Then the chinese diesel heaters entered the market...
ducked
Well-Known Member
Somewhere I've seen an article suggesting a stove-top heater, something along the lines of a bottomless kettle, with a flexible flue pipe exiting from the spout. Not sure where the flue exitted the cabin (a trickly issue that must be resolved with any heater) but I THINK it may have simply been taken out of the main hatch.
i thought of taking my hypothetical truck exhaust pipe heater flue out via the fore hatch, using an old stainless steel sink as a temporary hatch lid. I wouldnt be likely to attempt using such a thing underway.
i thought of taking my hypothetical truck exhaust pipe heater flue out via the fore hatch, using an old stainless steel sink as a temporary hatch lid. I wouldnt be likely to attempt using such a thing underway.
DangerousPirate
Well-Known Member
I have one of those. They are alright, but are not htat effective because they are so high up. A friend of mine gave me one a while ago. I was thankful when I didn't have any heating while under way, but it barely made a difference.
The heater has no pipe or anything. It's just two cylinders, one inside the other, on feet and you put them over the stove and turn on the gas.'
I think any proper gas heater would have made a better heat output for less gas used tbh.