How do I keep my wood buring stove going 24/7?

[Water Gypsy]

Hi everyone

I recently brought and moved onto a 43ft Traditional Narrowboat irate:

Being a newbie to all of this boat stuff, there are still some things I need to figure out, including the most important thing for this time of year.... keeping my fire going 24/7!!

I live on my own at the moment (untill my man gets better and comes to stay with me ) but untill he arrives and takes over the fire duties I need to keep myself warm

At the moment, I put a base layer of kindle at the bottom, make a little circle of coalon top of that then stick some fire lighters in the middle!! I stand up some kindling, in like a tipi shape, over the coal and set it alight!! :bluThinki

That seems to work pretty well for starting things off, my whole night is then dedicated to keeping the fire going, adding more coal/kindling when needed. By the time I decided to go to bed, the fire is starting to die

Others on the marina have said that they keep theirs going all the time, but no one has actually shown me how to do it properly or told me the best way to keep it going, or what I should be using, despite asking! uppy_dog

Ive tried logs, but they dont seem to give off enough heat and Ive tried those compressed logs in a bag, that are supposed to last for two hours, they were rubbish!

Id like to be able to get up in the morning and it be reasonably warm, instead of getting dressed in bed!! I dont know if thats possible!?! Also, I have my dog living with me and Id like to know that she is warm while im at college


I do have a heater, which I turn on when I wake up, but I have to be careful how much I use it because of the cost!!

Ive put up a few pics so you can see what kind of fire it is (plus one of the boat itself)

I understand that it is a different type of living and dont get me wrong I LOVE living on a boat, best thing I ever did.... just wondered if there was anyway of keeping it warmer
Any ideas or tips would be greatly appreciated as Im freezing my **** off here

Cheers,


Fionn

By watergypsy at 2012-01-01

By watergypsy at 2012-01-01

By watergypsy at 2012-01-01

By watergypsy at 2012-01-01

 

[Chrisj]

It sounds like you aren't getting it going properly in the first place (in this I'm going on what you have written please don't be offended if I have gotten the wrong end of the stick). Once it is lit you shouldn't need to keep adding kindling. When I had a coal fire the way I lit it was this.

I put a layer of coal in and made a hollow in the middle. Put the fire lighters in this and bridge this with several layers of kindling and pile coal over the top (leaving a gap to light the firelighter of course). This would get it going nicely an all you should have to add periodically is some more coal.

We had an open fire so I don't know about keeping it going all night but I would have thought you just bank it up with fuel and close the vents down so that it is burning really slowly.

My wife says try www.ukhippy.com they have a nomadic living section with loads of people talking about things like this.

 

[pastymuncher]

Are the vents at the bottom fully open, if so this will accelerate the burning process, good for starting it but not when it's going properly. With a good amount of coal and the vents closed it should last for several hours.
Closing the vent will reduce the heat output though, but if it's burning too fast you'll throw a lot of heat up the stack any way.

Looking at the picture of the fire burning, it looks like it needs a lot more coal on it.

Just a thought but I assume the pictures with the door open were for the pictures only and not how you normally use it.

 

[vizsla]

Id recomend put in a couple of fire lighters then ad your kindling plenty of it then once rouring ad a single layer af coal it will look like its dying down so chuck a log on top and this will draw the flames through the coal. In order to keep going all night you will need to put alot of coal in let it take and then close the air adjuster so it burns slowly. And if your still strugling go to a proper coal merchant and they will rcomend you a suitable coal.
Hope that helps

 

[Squidders]

Nothing worse than freezing your asterisks off.

From the photo it looks like you aren't really building up your fire but trying to maintain a level looking fire. Once I got the initial coals going strong, add more... get the stove very hot and then add the mother load before damping it down. This should cause all the fuel you added to burn slowly and just maintain the heat you already got up to.

From experience of log burning stoves the best I hoped for was embers in the morning that I could quickly get going again, to really be nice and toasty in the morning you may well have to feed the fire once in the night or early hours. It will depend on your fuel and how your stove likes to work as well as how cold/damp the weather is.

 

[pastymuncher]

A few thoughts on boat living as well, the stove should keep your boat warm, but being long and narrow you might need another heater at the other end of the boat. Single glazed windows will lose a lot of heat very quickly blocking off some of the windows with insulation will help. as will thick curtains. Tube heaters are quite good at localised heating, enough to keep the chill off in the bedroom and are quite cheap to run. These are an examplehttp://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Heating_Index/Tubular_Heaters/index.html there are other suppliers out there.

 

[Martyn]

I'm no expert, but I'm told a common mistake is to overload the stove in the hope that more fuel = more heat. It doesnt work like that. Also burning your stove with the door open means heat is going up the chimney and you burn through fuel quicker.

Look here....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC67gBhWu0Y

 

[bushwacker bob]

If you want it to stay in all night, use a smokeless brickett such as 'homefire' they burn longer, hotter and cleaner than housecoal and when you damp it down for the night put a shovel full of ashes on top of the last shovel full of fuel you put on. It will burn slowly for hours but can be fired up in the morning by increasing the ventilation and poking a couple of holes through it.

 

[MickG]

Hi
I lived in a caravan/mobile home for 20 years
My fire was burning coal all day and night to keep the home warm
You need to have a full grate of coal that is burning slowly with the bottom vents shut down
Compact the burning coal down with out loosing the ash that is in the fire and last thing at night I would put a load of small coals on the fire and spray it to damp it down if you have the small dust from the broken coal tip this on and again damp it down
In the morning I would open the fire up to give it a boost put on more coal and again shut down before going to work
Mine would last all day when in work and all night
I have used coal eggs and smokeless anthrasite don't know the correct spelling and they both worked
On homing home I would rake out some ash to boost the fire for a few hours and again shut down ready for the night
Hope this helps
Mick

 

[British Red]

Hey lass.

Sean the wierd Hampshire bloke and MickG have it right. Normal small lump house coal won't work. Large lump anthracite or better yet smokeless fuel will. Get your stove hot - a nice inch thick layer of embers. Then bank it ( a sigle layer covering) of large lump anthracite or better yet smokeless fuel. Run the stove hot for ten minutes - you should get yellow flame. Shut the bottom vents completely. Almost immediately the flames should turn blue and then become a glow. The stove goes into "tickover" and puts out mild heat. My stove runs 12 - 18 hours in this mode. If this is insufficient heat output, its possible that your stove is not not "man enough" to heat your boat = although it looks enough for 5Kw or so.

If you would like a lesson, moor up in Boston and I'll bring you some fuel and we'll look into stove running - or you can come up to the small holding and I'll show you


Red

 

[Imagedude]

For years I would top up the stove and close the vents as suggested above. However after being woken by my monoxide detector one night I did a little research and discovered that current thinking suggests that banking up your fire overnight may not be a good idea for the following reasons:

1) The stove is at its most efficient when burning with a good supply of air
2) Closing the vents leads to incomplete combustion and carbon monoxide production
3) Running the stove below its optimum temperature may lead to a build-up of soot and creosote in the chimney

If the room cools from warm to cold in the space of 8 hours then the problem is not with the stove but with your insulation/draught prevention. Good insulation/draughtproofing is a sound investment given the rising prices of fuel.

I no longer need to keep my stove running overnight as I spent a fair amount of money and time sorting the shortcomings of my house. Payback time was calculated at 5 years but rising fuel prices mean that I will have recouped my investment within 3 years!

 

[British Red]

Wow - something musthave been really screwy with your ventialtion to cause a CO build up! I have a wireless linked monoxide detector (fire angel series) right next to my stove - never even achieved a reading above background!

I agree with the insulation, but a prpeorly ventilated solid fuel stove should not put out CO

 

[Imagedude]

The CO levels were due to a build up of soot in the flue.

Before

After cleaning firebox but not the flue

 

[British Red]

Now that makes sense - a salutaory lesson to all!

 

[British Red]

As a side thought, was that a properly installed and swept twin wall flue? That sooting seems to be below the samper in the flue base?

 

[Imagedude]

It's single wall ceramic with a vermiculite backfill. The flue was reduced to 2" diameter for over a metre. This was caused by poor combustion of low grade coal. I've since removed the baffle to allow for easier cleaning.

 

[British Red]

Aaa - nasty bituminous coal will do it - another good reason to burn smokeless or anthracite!

 

[Water Gypsy]

Hi Everyone

Some really good tips, ideas and advice there, will deffo help me out a lot

I'll have a play around with the fire tonight and see what I can do, will let you all know how I get on!!

I really appreciate all your help, thank you so much


Cheers guys

 

[Bushwhacker]

Burning coal in a wood burner is the stand out thing for me.
Don't you have to keep the door open for that?

 

[British Red]

Almost none reccomend burning coal - multifuel burners (almost) always suggest smokeless or anthracite and not bituminous coal. Wood burners are not constructed to burn other solid fuels, but multifuel burners are.

Multifuel burners are usually bottom vented (as well as top). Using the bottom vent draws cool air from underneath the solid fuel and prevents the grate burning out from the anthracite etc.

They operate best with the door closed. This causes the updraft from the heated flue to suck air into the right place.

People should check whether they ahve a woodburner or multifuel. If multifuel I'd avoid coal for the reasons imagedude shows

Red