installing a stove

mrswigglestick

mrswigglestick

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I've taken out the little pot-belly stove in the focsle this winter and would like some thoughts on its reinstallation. I'm sure you've got ideas to share... What's the best insulation? Would a metal sheet or tiles be better for the surrounding area? It's in a working boat and my pockets aren't too full so I'm not after anything too flash but- safety first and all that.
 
we use a sheet of ally over a sheet of heat resistent board with a 1/2" gap to the bulkhead. The heat resistent board is available from builders merchants, B&Q etc. There are 2 types - super lux is about £30 for 8x4 and the cheaper one from B&Q (can't remember the name) is about a tenner but it's about 2x4. As long as you leave an air gap it works perfectly.

M
 
Thanks, I think I'll be doing something like that. Previously it just had the fireproof board and nothing else which wasn't at all satisfactory. Any suggestions on how far away from the bulkhead etc it needs to be?
 
Great, thanks for the help. Got a bit of painting to do before I'm at that stage but now I've got a bit more of a clue what to do next...
 
Why not allow the 1/2 inch gap between the aluminium and the heat resistant board ? The air gap means less heat reaches the board and more is reflected.
Ken
 
I was wondering about that! I'm still wondering whether tiles might be a bit more insulating than sheet metal? I guess if I go that way I'd just stick the tiles straight onto the fireboard...
 
I tried that---tiles to heatboard, didnt work. Now have metal heatshield, airgap, then heat resistant board. Works well.
 
Two pennies worth

Starting from the bottom:

The stove needs to be well and truly bolted down and the door if any should open fore and aft, not athwartship. It may as well be bolted onto a sheet of stainless over heat resistant board, without an air gap this time, so as to take care of any accidental spillage of embers, and any radiant heat projected down. Remember to allow a means of cleaning and getting rid of ashes.

The shielding at the back and to the side(s) of the stove should probably be thin stainless sheet with an air gap between that and more fibre board, and to ensure convection the sheet should start an inch above the base. The air gap should be what you can manage, but an inch is good.

You should fit another sheet of stainless, backed with heat resistant board, above the stove. Heat rises! A well known wooden training vessel had deck leaks in the galley for years because of this!
 
Thanks everyone for the help;
>...tiles to heatboard, didnt work.
I shan't bother with the tiles then (guess that was just the girl in me wanting something pretty!). I rather thought s/s or brass sheet might be the go but didn't know about aluminium being flammable.
>...to ensure convection the sheet should start an inch above the base.
-Hadn't thought of that at all! Thanks Mirelle.
One of the aspects of the previous installation I didn't like was the small size of the insulation above the stove and the fact that the deck beams weren't covered by it at all. Neither did it have any kind of tray around it for spilt ash/embers which I'm after this time.
Thanks again all, guess I better go get on with it now!
 
There is an article (sez he, crying his own wares, as he wrote it!) in a recent back issue of CB, about two years ago roughly, on fitting a solid fuel stove.
 
Just a thought, may be of help.

I have just put in a Pascall Atkey charcoal burner and had quite a problem finding stainless sheet locally in the sort of size I needed. Everyone wanted to sell me either a full sized sheet, or charge me pretty much the full sheet cost for a cut off.

The solution came from ebay, a chap in Pembrokeshire " celt2112" sells all sorts of sizes and an nice new sheet arrived a couple of days after the 'buy it now' button was pressed. I guess is is 304 stainless not 316, which is fine for where it is fitted.

It cost £11.50 including delivery which is a lot cheaper than I could have got it locally. I don't know this chap but he was ok with me.
 
The 1/2" gap is an absolute must....
Off St Kilda last August and I was bl**dy cold, so Bill the skipper piled the wood into his stove to get me warm.( bless him!!) He had 1/2" masterboard directly onto the matchboarded bulkhead behind the stove, after a while we smelt smoke coming out of the forehatch...
Yes - the boat was on fire...
A saucepan of water did the trick - I think that this winter it will get an airgap behind and also masterboard above and below.
Don't skimp...
 
If you are short of cash, find a local welder to make you up a cinder tray and heatshield in one, out of mild steel. Paint with stovepaint and it will be fine. The welder could easily put brackets on the tray to hold your stove, and then it is easy to fit.
 
Funny you should say that about the 1/2" gap, the reason for all this is much the same happened to me... tho I wasn't going to admit it publicly! Though there was a gap under the board behind the stove, it was closed in with no spaces for the air to circulate. It had been an icy sort of day so I'd had the stove going full blast but closed it all down (all dampers shut) and looked to see it was just ticking over before I went to a neighbouring boat for some dinner. I came home three hours later to find (horrors) the focsle full of smoke. The sea quickly furnished a fire extinguisher and after I'd ripped up lots of bits to see it was all out I had a cold night of it and am still feeling rather hypersensitive to to the smell of smoke... Fortunately the damage was confined to the t&g bulkhead so boat and I had a narrow squeak. Hence my efforts to make sure the new installation is as good as I can make it!
Thanks DRW and Alastairdent for hints on where to get bits; I'll have a dig through the back issues of CB at work and see if I can find Mirelle's article too.
 
Pascal Atkey

I'd be very interested to hear what you think of the Pascal Atkey. How long does it stay in? how does it look (any chance of a photo?) and how good is it at heating the cabin?
 
Re: Pascal Atkey

I am pretty happy with it and am still in the early days of playing with it.

Being charcoal it makes very little smoke or soot, it uses meths on a wick below the grate to start up and starts pretty easily. It does take a while to warm up compared to a gas or liquid fuel heater, but once it is going it is nice and warm. The other day it was 2 degrees outside with a bit of a breeze and 18 degrees inside. They say it will stay in all night, and I reckon it will easily that long, but I haven't had the need to load it up fully yet so can't say how long it really lasts on one load.

If you PM me your email I can send you a photo of it before instalation.
Cheers, David.
 
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