Blower or no blower?

I pretty much run mine non-stop unless I'm on a long trip on-plane. It's habit...
 
Years ago I read somewhere that you really didn't need to run the blower after you got going. Something about the amount of air the engines use is enough to evacuate the engine room. I usually forget to turn it off though.
 
When I had a gas boat my son had a like of duties when we boarded.
  1. Open the front windows (the boat was usually hot)
  2. Turn on the battery switches
  3. Turn on the blower
I would leave it on until we were away from the dock. Turn on again before a restart.

As far as fueling, I took the precautions very seriously. No one allowed in the boat while fueling, open and check spaces after fueling, run the blower before restart.

Now that I have a diesel I use the blower to help cool the engine after running. The owners manual says to idle the engine in gear for a period of time after running, then run the blower for 20 minutes after shutdown. I have a fairly long no-wake period to my slip that takes care of the first part. I’ll usually hit the blower when I get to the start of the no wake zone and turn it off when I leave the boat.
 
Anyone that doesn't use a blower should be required to take (or re-take) a boating safety course.
 
On four minutes before starting the genny - genny runs the entire time away from the dock - back into the dock and shut down genny, and shut down blowers four minutes later.

I also confirm air is coming out both port and starboard blower vents. If a blower takes a dump, who cares - easy to replace, inexpensive, and cheap insurance.

This is my routine as well...

MM
 
Blowers are not only an ABYC requirement, they are required by the Coast Guard on all boats with permanently installed gasoline engines. There should be a blower warning label on the dash saying to run your blower for 4 minutes before startup. I do the same as creekwood. I turn on the battery switch and turn on the blower. In my Coast Guard career I investigated far too many boat explosions to now say, "oh, I don't need to do that" .

By the way, on the subject of diesels, Diesels need lots of air to breath properly. Boat manufacturers are notorious for not making the vents big enough to supply adequate amounts of air. Running the blower will certainly help by moving more air through the engine compartment.
 
I do. Replaced the Atwood inline blowers with Jabsco squirrel cages. Can barely hear them.

Which jabsco blower do you have? The 35770-0092 takes 11A. The stock 310da blower only uses 4A. Running both blowers on genny would cost you 22A. That would make the stock 30A battery charger pretty much worthless
 
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Which jabsco blower do you have? The 35770-0092 takes 11A. The stock 310da blower only uses 4A. Running both blowers on genny would cost you 22A. That would make the stock 30A battery charger pretty much worthless

I have the 35770 blowers. Never had a problem with the batteries.
 
Blower, Genset, Engines. Go somewhere. Engines, Genset, Blower. About 30 minutes after a serious run.
Diesel or Gas. Same plan for different reasons.
 
Years ago I read somewhere that you really didn't need to run the blower after you got going. Something about the amount of air the engines use is enough to evacuate the engine room. I usually forget to turn it off though.

I don't know about need, but there is a point at which engine aspiration exceeds the blower air movement. By my math, if you had twin 350s, it takes 2468 RPM to get 500 cfm of airflow.

There's other questions, though, like the placement of blowers relative to the engine air intake -- they may venting air otherwise poorly circulated by engine air intake.

I have no blower gripes other than they seem louder than my unshielded generator.
 
Blowers on for at least 4 minutes prior to start. Get turned on while we are securing shore connections and doing pre start checks. Off back at pier after securing all lines, shore connections and helm. On while engines are running as well. Also have fume detector.
Witnessed a boat go boom after poor practice while fueling. Only myself or my brother in law fuel our boats as we have the same procedure. Engines and electronics turned of and Everybody off the boat while fueling.
 
I run mine, before starting and when off plane - I usually have opened the engine hatch if it's the beginning of the day or if I have just fueled - I still like the sniff test. Yeas ago I saw a Correct Craft Mustang blow up after fueling, don't know what happened, but it burnt to the water line pretty quick - luckily the two fellas in it were ok. That was in the days when people sat on the gunnel of those old ski boats, it blew both of them in the water away from the boat. Gasoline is just scary, in liquid form it's pretty harmless, but add some fumes and you have a bomb!
 
Not sure why anyone would not run the blower 100% of the time the main engines are running. What harm can it do. They don't draw enough current to drain the batteries and can only benefit they bilge by circulating fresh air and helping the bilge stay a little cooler. I run mine 100% of the time while the main engines are running as the starboard blower intakes air and the port blower exhausts air, that's how Sea Ray wired the boat and I think it makes sense. Other boats may be wired differently for different reasons but as a rule I would suggest running them 100% of the time.
 
Have my doubts that the blowers even keep up to the volume of air engines require while cruising on step. Am sure they won't have much if anything for a load on an electrical system even if they do keep up. Also would guess they are probably spinning pretty good even while powered off under those conditions in the event that bearing life is of concern for not using them all the time. I do shut mine off on step when I think about it and am just thinking out loud.
 
I don't run blowers, there're competing with the engines for fresh air. Your intake ducts will have to be large enough to supply fresh air to the engines and the blower. Engines will suck in plenty of fresh air own their own.
 

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