Recommend an engine compartment blower

[Prime Time]

Me

I am thinking about adding a continuous blower to my center cockpit Bristol. There is no real venting of the engine compartment to the outside of the boat. The engine breaths thru the bilge. I am thinking about venting to a lazzarette, and having a passive vent on the lazzarette lid. Currently, the engine compartment gets very hot and radiates heat to the cabin for hours.

To each his own? If you would like to admit that a properly installed blower fan in the engine room only has positive outcomes for your yacht, we will let you convert to our side without saying we told you so. Lol

My boat has two air scoops, one pointing bow and one pointing stern, so the airflow helps vent the engine room blower on or off. This keeps the engine room supplied of fresh air most all the time, even while in the slip with no one around. Screens keep bugs out.

I wonder who here will be the first one to admit having an engine room blower on a diesel is something they want to add to their yacht rather than just Po Pooing the idea?

Photo is one of two air scoops, this is the intake on the port side, in mid cockpit area above the engine room. The starboard side has the exhaust pointed stern. These are well above the waterline.

 

[Sail123]

http://search.defender.com/?expression=Cowl+Vent&x=7&y=12

Mine is a more flush mount design

 

[Benny17441]

A diesel engine is a combustion engine and produces Carbon Monoxide. A leak in the exhaust system could prove fatal given that the living area is all around the engine comparment. A blower could help ventilate the engine comparment but the detectors should warn about the problem.

 

[Dantodd]

A diesel engine is a combustion engine and produces Carbon Monoxide. A leak in the exhaust system could prove fatal given that the living area is all around the engine comparment. A blower could help ventilate the engine comparment but the detectors should warn about the problem.

I have always heard just the opposite, that diesel fumes contain minimal CO and that any exhaust leak would be obvious by particulate matter and sulphur long before the concentration of CO would set off the alarm.

 

[Sail123]

Adequate ventilation measures in force at all times, or a canary. lol

 

[Bill Roosa]

Or you could just keep your exhaust system in good working order.
Seriously, how many times have you heard of someone waking up dead from engine CO? Generator or heater CO sure, happens all the time but engine CO would require that you be down below with the cabin buttoned up (like at night) with the engine running. Not very often that I run the engine and sleep at the same time. I'm thinking that your main risk is running into something with that scenario not CO poisoning.

 

[agaliha]

The in-line blower in my B361 went dead last year (after about 600 hours). I replaced it by standing on my head in the locker for 30 minutes! I installed a new yellowtail blower. It makes a high-pitched whine that the old blower did not make. I added a switch so I can just turn it off. My Yanmar doesn't really need the blower...it's just there to remove heat.

Here's my question: what is the quietest type of blower? Would a squirrel cage be quieter than an in-line?

Agaliha

 

[higgs]

I ran some tests on my boat last summer taking temperature in the engine compartment with and w/O using the blower. The blower did not make my engine compartment cooler. It had no effect on temperature.

 

[Chuckbear]

I ran some tests on my boat last summer taking temperature in the engine compartment with and w/O using the blower. The blower did not make my engine compartment cooler. It had no effect on temperature.

I would suspect that the reason for this may be either the intake for the blower is in the wrong location or more often, it is because the blower is not up to the task and is not removing enough air. If it is set up and sized properly and the compartment will allow air to be drawn in as the blower discharges, then the heated air will be removed. The engine will generate a certain amount of heat for a while after shut down but there should be a steady decline in temperature, much more so that just allowing it to dissipate. The intake for the blower needs to be high in the compartment. Chuck

 

[Dantodd]

Or you could just keep your exhaust system in good working order.
Seriously, how many times have you heard of someone waking up dead from engine CO? Generator or heater CO sure, happens all the time but engine CO would require that you be down below with the cabin buttoned up (like at night) with the engine running. Not very often that I run the engine and sleep at the same time. I'm thinking that your main risk is running into something with that scenario not CO poisoning.

Motor sailing back up from L.A. to S.F. we often sleep while the motor is running.

 

[Chuckbear]

Or you have a Trawler or motorsailor with an inside steering station and use it in adverse weather. Chuck

 

[Sail123]

Very interesting thread. OP asked what blower to get, (on a gas engine) and we all start a tug of war about using / not using a blower on a diesel engine. lol

On the question at hand, do not let the people in this thread confuse you about your NEED for a blower. YOU VERY MUCH NEED ONE AS SAFETY EQUIPMENT. IT SHOULD BE TURNED ON A COUPLE MINUTES BEFORE YOU START THE ENGINE / EVERYTIME YOU START THE ENGINE.

I have a diesel, and I do that, for safety reasons. Sure I know diesel fumes should not be explosive. I also know science says a bumble bee can't fly. There is careful, and there is too careful. Using a blower on any engine, is never too careful. My family is on board my boat. Flipping a safety switch for their comfort and or safety is never an issue.

I am afraid someone reading this will miss-understand the need need for a blower, and decides he does not need one causing an explosion or possible loss of life or limb. A boat on my lake exploded last season, and one gentleman died. Cause of the explosion was a build up of fumes before the engine was started. They had been out fishing, and decided to come back in. When the key was turned, the boat exploded. Two man ended up in the water, and one man died. If you have a gas engine, you must do whatever the manufacturer recommends for equipment on your boat, including a blower to exhaust gas fumes away from the engine compartment.

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