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4:21 pm
Friday,18 January, 2013
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Hi all,
my wife & myself are thinking of buying a narrow boat later this year to live in and just in the process of collecting as much info as possible.
I have been wandering if you have trouble with the on board water tank freezing up in the winter & if so, what can you do about it?
Many thanks,
John & Sonia
4:48 pm
Friday,19 February, 2010
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Hi John and welcome to the forum.
What circumstances are you talking about; is your boat going to be left alone or will you been living on it? If you are going to be on it full time, you will have heating on your boat so your water tank, and all the pipes and pumps connected to it won’t be at risk of freezing. On the other hand, if you are going to be away from your boat in the winter, you need to take precautions to prevent your on board water from freezing. The water tank isn’t going to the most area at risk. It’s more likely to be your pipes, pumps, water heater, show head etc.
You can either leave the boat heated – a frost protection greenhouse heater usually does the trick if you have a line that you can plug into a shore electricity supply – or you can “winterise” your boat by draining down the system. It’s very important that you do one or the other though. Every year we have boats where the owners haven’t taken precautions. They’re fine while the weather remains very cold, but as soon as the weather warms up, the frozen water melts and can flood into the boat.
Hope this helps.
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1:31 pm
Thursday,12 January, 2012
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In 6 years of living onboard permanently the only thing we have had frozen is the drain hose of the washing machine. If we do have to leave the boat for a day or so, as we will next week, I turn the water off at the stop cock in the outlet from the tap.
However, the outside supply tap may freeze. The temporary mooring that we are on at present has a trace heater along the pipe but it is not very effective. We just crack the tap open a little so there is a constant dribble which prevents the pipe from freezing. Once when stuck by the side of the canal in 2010 some well meaning passer-by turned it off.
Regards
Pete
Living retirement in the slow lane.
20 years hiring, 6 years of shared ownership and a Continuous Cruiser since 2007 but still learning!
4:40 pm
Friday,18 January, 2013
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Thanks for your help on that matter and yes we are thinking about living aboard, so it doesn’t sound like being too much of a problem.
I think my biggest worry at the moment is weather I will be able to get a mooring near to where we presently live i.e close to my work and family which is in Tamworth Staffs.
Regards
John
8:36 pm
Monday,26 November, 2012
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Further questions on this topic – I too will be leaving the boat (57′ cruiser) over lengthy periods this Winter and take Paul’s point re greenhouse heater.
There are at least five vulnerable areas on my boat:-
1. Under foredeck housing the fresh water tank and pump.
2. Under the sink with the exposed pipes and shower drain pump.
3. The bathroom with exposed pipes.
4. In the engine “room” containing the bilge pump.
5. Under the bed where the calorifier/hot water tank is housed
I would be interested to know how other members protect these vulnerable areas when hooked up to the shoreline.
My thoughts are to install 200w electric convection heaters in each of these areas. My theory being that to just heat these areas individually would be more economic to heating the whole boat in areas where frost protection is not required. This is always assuming that frost protection is not required where pipes are hidden and supposedly insulated, whether specifically or as a result of being inside the protective insulation of the boat hull.
Another reason for the above proposal is because there will inevitably considerable heat loss via the mushroom vents and the grills at each end of the boat.
7:05 am
Friday,19 February, 2010
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You can either heat the boat in your absence or winterise the boat. The usual practice is to winterise the boat if you are going to be away for long periods. Most people here at the marina use their boats for recreational cruising during the warmer months, typically from Easter to October or November. Then they shut the boat down and stay away from it during the colder months before returning in the spring.
Winterising the boat involves either closing the stop cock on the water tank and then draining the water from the pipes and pumps or leaving the stopcock open and draining all of the water out of the boat. We leave the water in our hire fleet boats main tanks. Even in the coldest winters there’s never a problem with damage to the water tank itself.
It’s important to leave all the taps on the boat open and to take the feed off the water pump to allow any water in it to drain out. If you have an on demand water heater you also need to drain that down too.
We don’t ever do anything to the bilge pumps. I don’t know why.
The alternative is to have a couple of greenhouse heaters on the boat, on all the time but on the frost setting. This is enough to to prevent damage caused by freezing water.
Click here to get a FREE copy of “Living On A Narrowboat:101 Essential Narrowboat Articles”
9:57 am
Monday,26 November, 2012
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Thanks Paul for your prompt reply – I’m sure others will be adding their ten penerth later.
Mel
11:11 am
Thursday,12 January, 2012
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Leaving the Mikuni on frost stat setting (5°C) and switching off water pump worked for me even when outside temperature hit -10°C in the cold cold north last winter.
No one at the 200 berth marina had heard of water tank freezing either during the previous colder winter providing it was kept full.
Regards – Richard –
Ecky Thump
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