Heating

Breaks down broadly into two types - room heaters such as solid fuel and diesel stoves, and central heating boilers supplying radiators.

Room heaters

For years the staple source of heat in boats has been a multi fuel stove - the Morso "Squirrel" (pictured left) has been a dominant favourite for two decades, not least for the fact that it was designed and built by a Danish company to withstand Scandinavian winters. But there are numerous makes and models, from simple plain metal boxes to ornate enamelled affairs. The attraction of a glowing stove in the saloon is unlikely to diminish, although they do generate a fair amount of dust. Coal is most commonly burnt on them. Wood is all well and good, but wood needs to be properly seasoned, which it will not be unless it is kept under cover and dry for some months. Ash and holly are the exception to this - their water content is very low and they can be burnt "green". Beech needs at least six months, oak a year, and something like willow 3 years, by which time it is light and burns away very quickly - not a good choice of firewood at all. Unseasoned wood is comparable to chucking water on the fire, and it produces a flammable tar which can cause a chimney fire, and leaves a sticky black acidic residue on the roof of the boat around the chimney which will permanently damage the paint finish.

In recent years diesel room stoves have become popular with a large minority of canal boaters. They come in a variety of styles, from the Kabola Old English (pictured right) which has the appearance of a conventional multi fuel stove to cylindrical stainless steel models. They all work on broadly the same principle - an adjustable valve allows diesel to drip feed at varying rates into the bottom of the fire chamber. To light them either a small chip of firelighter is placed in the bottom of the chamber, or several capfuls of meths are poured in and ignited. A wire mesh cylinder (called a catalyser) rests on end in the middle and as it heats up, the diesel vaporises and catches alight. They are very effective. Concerns over the rising cost of diesel are raising questions about the cost of running these stoves - once as cheap to use as solid fuel, costs have spiralled massively in the last 18 months.

Central heating

Until the mid 1990s the boat central heating market was dominated by Alde, whose slimline Comfort gas boilers were ideal in the restricted space of a narrowboat. They work well, seem to require minimal servicing, but if relied on as the main source of heating prove expensive to run. LPG in small quantities (usually 13kg bottles on a canal boat) is fairly expensive as a constant form of heating.

Since then diesel fired boilers have made considerable inroads into Alde's market and are far more common in boats less than 10 years' old. Webasto were probably the first to appear but these days the compact Eberspacher and Mikuni units are the most commonly found. They are effective, but can require regular and expensive servicing. Some people object to the low level roar they make when in use. Once again, rising oil prices may see the market change. Alde have now introduced an even more compact unit - the 3010 - which they claim to be substantially more efficient than their previous models, but they do state that copper must not be used anywhere in the system, which means that the normal copper calorifier tank (hot water cylinder) used in boats cannot be used. Stainless steel calorifiers may be obtained although they cost more, but one recent installer of this new Alde system noted that it was impressively quiet and seemed to use noticeably less gas.

A simple alternative to this is the addition of a back boiler to a room heater - available for both multi-fuel and diesel stoves if you have the right model. It depends on your use of the boat. For long term use and living aboard this is a practical option - for occasional boating you may want to be able to get heat at the flick of a switch.