Fire Port

[JoLin]

Re: Fire Port

I'll now agree that a home 'smoke detector' may be too sensitive for use in an engine room / compartment.
I'm still having a real hard time with "Many times you get gas fumes in your engine compartment when re-fueling." If that is happening, and you are relying on the blower, you've got a real problem with your boat. The bilge blower should be there to clear any fumes IF something is wrong and you end up with gas fumes there.

I'm going to disagree only to the extent that safe fueling procedure dictates that you close all hatches and compartments, gas up, do a 'sniff test', then run the blower for at least 4 minutes. In the same way that fumes can enter the bilge through an open hatch, they can conceivably creep in through engine room vents, or even cockpit storage compartments that drain to the bilge.

Nothing on a boat is 'a never happens' or 'an always happens'. I would not immediately assume that fumes right after refueling indicate a fuel leak, nor would I assume that they don't. If you regularly get fumes you need to check the fuel system, the location of your fill spout, and your refueling procedure to determine where they're coming from. Even wind direction at the time you refuel could play a factor.

My .02

 

[tazrig]

Re: Fire Port

I'll now agree that a home 'smoke detector' may be too sensitive for use in an engine room / compartment.
I'm still having a real hard time with "Many times you get gas fumes in your engine compartment when re-fueling." If that is happening, and you are relying on the blower, you've got a real problem with your boat. The bilge blower should be there to clear any fumes IF something is wrong and you end up with gas fumes there. Fumes in the bilge from refueling are NOT typical or normal, something is wrong if they are there.

Gas fumes are heavier than air. They, or at least those not blown away by the wind, will find their way to the lowest physical point they can, (basic physics) either falling to the water or to the floor of your boat or going into your blower vents and then into your engine compartment. (unless your engine compartment and blower vents are hermitically sealed which they are not) I agree that if your engine compartment "reeks" of gas after refueling then you have a LEAK somewhere but that is not what I am talking about. If you have a LEAK to the extent that you smell strong gas after refueling you can run your blower forever and you wont clear the fumes. The blowers function IS to rid the engine compartment of trace amounts of fumes that are left after refueling and some that may develop after the boat has been sitting for a long time unused. That's why you are supposed to run the blower for 4 minutes every time you start the boat. It only takes a very small amount of fumes to cause an ignition and in an enclosed area like an engine compartment that is what leads to an explosion.

My whole point, originally, was that these trace amounts of gas fumes (before cleared by the blower) would set off a home smoke detector so it wasn't practical to put one in an engine compartment. I've personally witnessed a boat burning to the waterline because the owner didn't use his blower to clear those fumes and was unlucky. A sniff test is good to do but unless you have a major problem or put your nose into the very bottom of your bilge you won't smell anything. Always use your blower and check your blower hose every so often to make sure it's fully intact and connected.

 

[JoLin]

Re: Fire Port

Do you guys really use the blower to clear gasoline fumes from the bilge? IMO, if you smell fumes, you leave the engine hatch open until you don't smell them anymore. THEN you start the blower. The blower is there in case the sniffer God gave you isn't up to par, or TRACES of fuel vapor are hiding out somewhere.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't open the hatch first every time I start the boat, but I do open it before the first start of the day, and after refueling. I'd never start the blower if I smelled fumes.

My .02