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Advice on decommissioning a back boiler


Oded_S

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Hello,

First time posting on the forum! apologies if my question seem stupid, I i don't have a lot of knowledge regarding this kind of stuff.

I would like to ask for advice about my back boiler,

I have a morso squirrel with a back boiler installed, connected to a 240v pump running the water to one radiator in the bedroom, as I am in a marina, it made sense at the time to install it the way it is.

However since then I have found that:

1. the electric cost is quite alot

2. and this is the big issue - there have been times when the electric tripped out and the pump stopped working. I'm scared it might happen when I'm at work and not at home to take care of it, so because of that, it's quite rare that I leave it on when I go to work.

I would like to stop using and am looking for advice on what to do, I read some opinions that I should cap the pipes, drain the water and fill it with sand, and make sure not to completely seal off the pipes but leave a hole or 2 to let the air flow. I have also read horror stories about people attempting to do than and having the whole thing explode and cause damage and injuries.

Thank you in advance for anyone who replies!

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Hi mate. I can't say i have heard  anything about filling with sand etc but it should be easy enough to unbolt the back boiler remove it and pop in some blanking plates that most companies sell on their websites for the very same purpose you are attempting.  If you're backboiler replaces fire bricks you would have to place some of them it it's place.

But if I were you and I was happy with it running a rad I would probably just put in a 12v pump which uses next to nothing electric wise.

Dutch 

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28 minutes ago, Dutchman said:

if I were you and I was happy with it running a rad I would probably just put in a 12v pump which uses next to nothing electric wise.

20 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Is it possible that the system would run or could be easily modified to run without the pump? Ours does.

One of the above would seem the most obvious solution to me. Many boats are crying out for a rad or two so it seems silly to remove one. 

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4 minutes ago, WotEver said:

One of the above would seem the most obvious solution to me. Many boats are crying out for a rad or two so it seems silly to remove one. 

Failing that if you are dumping your backboiler, I may be interested.

If you do remove it,you will need a baffle plate and an extra fire brick (assuming you already have two)

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Filling the boiler with dry sand works. A friend did this on a Morso stove and it worked like that for many years. As Rusty says, a Squirrel will need a rear fire brick and baffle plate if removing the boiler completely. The two pipe entries in the back of the stove will also need blanking off somehow.

As others have said, the easiest option is probably to replace the 240V pump with a 12V one. 240V central heating pumps, which I assume is what you have, eat an enormous number of electrons. There are 12V pumps that are much more frugal and will work directly off the batteries, not requiring a mains hook up, or inverter to be running.

Converting the system to gravity circulation without a pump may be possible, but depends on the pipe layout and needs big bore pipes with as few bends as possible. Generally they need to be designed in this way as there are severe limitations on where pipes and radiators can go if they are to work. Sometimes a pump has to be fitted where someone has tried gravity circulation and it hasn't worked. My boat has a squirrel with a calorifier and two radiators fed by gravity circulation and no pump.

Jen

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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Can be difficult on a long boat to get the heat down the ends, i.e. hot as hell near the fire, perishing cold down the bedroom end so leaving the rad in could be useful. filling with sand works but a sod to remove at a later date and not good for pumps. I would think your best option is to see if it works without any pump and simply thermosyphons, if not a 12 volt pump could be an option. I wouldn't use the fire with an empty boiler, it will probably burn the boiler out so maybe remove it, keep it as a useful spare or sell it to rusty. you will need to do as he says, fit a firebrick and a plate to convert the stove to a non boiler version.

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Strictly, this

15 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

gravity circulation

and this

1 hour ago, Bee said:

thermosyphon

are the same thing, of course - they work because of convection.

But as Jen says, to work properly the system needs to have been designed like that. It works very well on our 48ft boat with a Morso and one (large) radiator. It is certainly worth the OP taking the pump out and replacing it with a bit of pipe to see how it works, though. The previous owner may not have understood the feasibility of a convection system, and therefore put in a pump -- or as suggested, it might not work with the pipe runs you have. 

Suck it and see?

(not literally...)

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