TOPIC:

a small Kabola or similar pressure jet oil boiler, which will be far more reliable than a Webasto

My 25m barge has a 5wW Kabola which keeps it cosy for 4 seasons.  All rads with TRVs to distribute the heat well.

Now I'm installing rad central heating in a small 3-season barge, largely for summer HW, needing less than 5kW.  A small Kabola is £5k; a Webasto £2k.   
Has anyone experience to justify the difference in cost?  Obviously from experience of the Kabola I'd like that but £3k could buy a lot of other things!

I agree with Balliol about keeping an SF stove for occasional use and know several people who do that in barges - and flats.
 

My own preference would be to fit a proper oil boiler supplying radiators and hot water throughout, with thermostatic rad valves, and keep the existing solid fuel stove for occasional use.
Balliol.

Which is what we have on Oldtimer; a Mini Maritime Booster for radiators and hot water and a nice wood stove for atmosphere.
 

Don

Hi Gary,

I see some alternatives.

1. With an efficient modern inverter there should be little issue with fitting a small bore system from an s/f stove back boiler, all pumped by a standard cheap silent domestic circulating pump apart from one thermosyphon heat sink route to a radiator in say the wheelhouse.

2.  I would have thought you would have had space in the afterpeak for a small Kabola or similar pressure jet oil boiler, which will be far more reliable than a Webasto, quieter, possibly more economical.

Thermosyphon flows on a fairly intricate system might be difficult to achieve or balance and the piping will be harder to fit and hide. Better a pumped system. My own preference would be to fit a proper oil boiler supplying radiators and hot water throughout, with thermostatic rad valves, and keep the existing solid fuel stove for occasional use.

Balliol.

 

I’m making some improvements to the heating on Steadfast. Currently there is just a solid fuel stove in the saloon. At 4.5kw it’s sufficient in terms of capacity but the heat doesn't reach the extremities of the boat. My first thought was a new stove with a back boiler (I’ve sourced a squirrel with an 8000btu back boiler) and the pronounced sheer of my little tugboat should enable a thermosyphon system to work for radiators at the front of the saloon, the wheelhouse, the sleeping cabin and the heads. This would leave no heat for the galley (which is surprisingly large) and none for the calorifier. I’m not sure the boiler would actually run those radiators effectively either. A similar stove on my narrowboat runs two small radiators at only approx 45 degrees and a calorifier to a water temp of approx 32 degrees. As a possible alterative, I’ve also managed to source a Webasto 5kw boiler which would run all the afore mentioned rads plus one in the galley and the calorifier. This would have the advantage of fast warm up, greater capacity, independence from the stove to provide a level of redundancy, and less obtrusive smaller bore pipework. And the disadvantage of electric and diesel consumption and noise.The ideal might be a composite system with two heat sources, either via the Webasto to circulate water within a system able to thermosyphon when the stove is lit, or a stove with a thermosyphon loop to a heat leak rad in the wheelhose and a plate heat exchanger to transfer heat to a pumped system able to draw heat from the Webasto when needed.My worry about a composite system would be the possibility of the return water getting too high when the the Webasto is running with a risk of the stove back boiler boiling.What do you think?