Blowers and Generator

Carbo

Carbo

Member
Nov 15, 2011
188
AZ
Boat Info
2014 48Cantius
Engines
Volvo Penta D6 IPS
I'm curious as to what I should do. Up to now I've always run my blowers if I am running the generator, but a buddy told me that the blowers are not necessary after a few minutes. What is best practice? I don't want to risk spending the night on the hook with the air on only to trigger a CO2 event.

Peter
 
Why would he think the blowers were not necessary after a few minutes? Not sure I understand that. Best practice is to run them before during and after any of the engines in the ER are running. Running gen at night has been debated here before. All I can say is if you do, make sure you have multiple CO detectors.
 
His reasoning is the generator exhaust exits with the water flow on the port side of the boat and no gas is released into the engine compartment. I think thats probably correct but still worry there could be a leak that could manage its way into our cabin while we sleep. Yes, I do have an extra detector that I have in the aft cabin.
 
If you ever happen to brush your leg against the stainless steel exhaust pipe and recognize it is 5000 degrees, you can only imagine how hot your engine compartment will get after an hour. Run it for that reason alone. I would not advise running the generator while sleeping. Chances are nothing will happen, but you are betting your and your family's lives on that.
 
Carbo said:
His reasoning is the generator exhaust exits with the water flow on the port side of the boat and no gas is released into the engine compartment.
Click to expand...

The engine exhaust exits the boat with the water flow as well. Does this mean he does not recommend using the blower when running the main engines either?
 
The reason you run blowers on a gas boat and gas boat only is to remove any gas fumes from the ER that may explode if they build up. Diesel boats don't have gas fumes and the reason you MIGHT run blower on a diesel it to remove heat. Gas boats blower intakes are located at the bottom of the ER while diesel boat blower intakes are typically located higher to remove heat. It has nothing to do with CO build up in the ER for the reasons mentioned above.
 
trit21 said:
The reason you run blowers on a gas boat and gas boat only is to remove any gas fumes from the ER that may explode if they build up. Diesel boats don't have gas fumes and the reason you MIGHT run blower on a diesel it to remove heat. Gas boats blower intakes are located at the bottom of the ER while diesel boat blower intakes are typically located higher to remove heat. It has nothing to do with CO build up in the ER for the reasons mentioned above.
Click to expand...
+1 if you read the instructions on blowers on gas boats it is to remove gasoline vapors from compartment to prevent explosions it definatly has nothing to do with co.
 
If an engine is on the blowers must be on except when boat movement is great enough for the passive ventilation to work. Best practice is to run them always when any engine is running.

As Forest Gump might say about running a generator while you sleep, "If it ain't safe to sleep on it, it ain't safe to be on it..."

MM
 
monacomike said:
if an engine is on the blowers must be on except when boat movement is great enough for the passive ventilation to work. Best practice is to run them always when any engine is running.

As forest gump might say about running a generator while you sleep, "if it ain't safe to sleep on it, it ain't safe to be on it..."

mm
Click to expand...
aw bs
 
Thanks for all the replies. I was pretty sure it wasn't the greatest idea but now feel very confident that running the gen as I've been is the way to go. Appreciate all the advice...thanks!
 
I run my blower before & during running my generator.
One question I always had was, what are the chances the blower could pull exhaust fumes into the ER?
I have heard this logic used before when gassing up the boat. I had always run the blower while fueling up then I read here that it was not recommended because you can actually pull gas vapors into the ER doing this. So now I shut it off when gassing & turn it on after!
I'd like to hear opinions on the possibility of CO draw.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Todd
 
tdschafer said:
I run my blower before & during running my generator.
One question I always had was, what are the chances the blower could pull exhaust fumes into the ER?
I have heard this logic used before when gassing up the boat. I had always run the blower while fueling up then I read here that it was not recommended because you can actually pull gas vapors into the ER doing this. So now I shut it off when gassing & turn it on after!
I'd like to hear opinions on the possibility of CO draw.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Todd
Click to expand...


I close the cabin door and shut off the blowers while fueling. Once all the fuel is on board, I turn the blowers on and let them run while heading down the pier to pay and run my card which can take a bit. After getting back on the boat, I check the cabin for the smell of fumes, and leave the door open... then start the engines. Our fuel dock is in a speed zone, so I leave the blowers on until we get out of the speedzone and up on plane.
 
From my Owners Manual:

OM.jpg

Any Questions?
 
Considering the boat is not moving when the generator is on - it makes sense to run the blower. You would smell the gas fumes more quickly if you had the blower on. Can't hurt to pull some heat out as well.
 
One thing that always bugged me about "run the blower with the generator on". Yes, it will extract any stray CO from the engine compartment. But then it dumps it HIGH along the gunwales of the boat, where it can not only easily enter the cockpit, but it is now higher in the boat and covers more territory.

I'm not disputing that it's a good practice, just stating that the overall logic of it isn't as solid as some might feel.
 
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