reduce CO levels in cabin....

BillK2632 said:
Cliff - Interesting that your generator exhaust is under the swim platform - my 290 and my friends 310 and 300 all had the exhaust on the side. Wondering if that is not the root of it, I would think CO builds up under the swim platform and around the back of the boat on a still / hot day - how it is getting into the ER and then the cabin is a mystery, I would check and re-check all of the exhaust connections on the generator. Next time it happens can you check the CO in the ER?
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thanks....the genny exhaust in on the starboard side at the stern of the boat....but it is close to the swim platform....

cliff
 
On my '93 400EC I had quite a scare with the generator. Was taking a nap with my wife in the AC with gen and blowers running. I woke up feeling a bit unsettled and felt something was wrong. We got out of the cabin and it took us a while to feel better. Turns out the CO monitor wasn't working even though it had the light on. After investigating the generator I found that a cheap iron exhaust coupler on the very back of the motor had corroded and began to leak exhaust fumes into the bilge.

Fixed the issue and replaced the monitor and added 3 additional Lowe's monitors for good measure. Continue this practice today on the 420.

Scary to think what could've happened.
 
thanks for all the suggestions.....

I do have a second battery powered CO monitor I keep in the cockpit....I will use it to verify the readings of the monitor in the cabin.....I will also use it to monitor the CO level in the ER.....

I will run the ER blower next time we anchor to see if that does in fact eliminate or reduce the problem.....

I will also carefully examine the bulkhead wall in the ER to see if I can find a pathway for the CO to pass from the ER to the cabin....

I will also conduct a more thorough investigation of the genny exhaust system....

I will think about installing an explosion proof squirrel cage blower in the ER and rout the exhaust for this new blower to the opposite side (port side) from the genny exhaust.....

the 'station wagon' effect is very real.....even with all of my canvas off I can get elevated CO levels in the cockpit while slow cruising....I will also get elevated CO readings in the cabin while slow cruising if we leave the cabin entry door open and only have the engines running...the CO level will quickly rise in the cockpit while slow cruising when the canvas is installed so we have to open some of the windows to some degree to get a cross flow of fresh air....

I have even refused to go for a cruise on a friends boat in cooler weather unless he opened some of the canvas windows...he does not keep a CO monitor in the cockpit of his boat....after I observed how the CO level builds inside the canvas on my boat I am much more sensitive to monitoring CO when the canvas is installed on any boat....I guess I could have brought a monitor from my boat while cruising on his boat to demonstrate how the CO level can rise but that was not the point I was tying to make....

cliff
 
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When it comes to CO, any gasoline engine can be a problem. I have posted a while back a long to a study of CO poisoning deaths in the US over a long period. The vast majority were due to CO from the main engines or from faulty OEM installed generators. There were also a large number related to houseboats and positioning of their generators (presumably portables on the roofs).

Swimming behind the boat with the generator running was a major cause of drowning deaths, so if you are swimming you should turn the generator and engines OFF.
 
copb8tx said:
On my '93 400EC I had quite a scare with the generator. Was taking a nap with my wife in the AC with gen and blowers running. I woke up feeling a bit unsettled and felt something was wrong. We got out of the cabin and it took us a while to feel better. Turns out the CO monitor wasn't working even though it had the light on. After investigating the generator I found that a cheap iron exhaust coupler on the very back of the motor had corroded and began to leak exhaust fumes into the bilge.

Fixed the issue and replaced the monitor and added 3 additional Lowe's monitors for good measure. Continue this practice today on the 420.

Scary to think what could've happened.
Click to expand...

VERY scary stuff......glad you were able to recognize what was going on before it was too late....

I am going to add a second CO monitor in the cabin just for more piece of mind....

cliff
 
Creekwood said:
Swimming behind the boat with the generator running was a major cause of drowning deaths, so if you are swimming you should turn the generator and engines OFF.
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thanks.....we are usually a least 20' or more behind the boat while swimming/floating while the genny is running.....does anyone know if this is a safe distance to avoid the CO risks?.....

cliff
 
Perhaps you have an exhaust leak at the generator.

I have the exact same generator and when I purchased the boat there was a leak at the exhaust elbow. The gasket gave way and there was a small leak where the elbow meets the tank. You couldn't hear it hissing but I could certainly smell it while in the engine compartment. After looking for a while without luck I began to move my hand around the exhaust elbow and felt hot air. Looking at the area under a light I was able to see the hole in the gasket.

I believe I saw somewhere in the manual for my boat that you're ALWAYS supposed to have the bilge blowers running any time you have the generator running. Not only does it remove the potential fumes but it also removes the heat created by the generator.
 
Creekwood said:
Swimming behind the boat with the generator running was a major cause of drowning deaths, so if you are swimming you should turn the generator and engines OFF.
Click to expand...

so after reading this I was thinking it may be a good idea to get one of these waterproof CO monitors and keep it on our floats while swimming/floating behind the boat when the genny is running....and also stay at least 20' away from the boat.....

I don't want t go overboard on this but i want to insure my family and my friends are safe while on or around my boat....

https://www.amazon.com/Tough-Waterproof-Made-USA-Monitoring/dp/B004YUEPBW


4142vEr7QjL._SX355_.jpg
 
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if you have anything aftermarket on your boat, like maybe new amplifiers for the radio or something like that, look to see how those new wires were routed through the engine room wall, thats prob where the leak is coming from through the wall if there is one. to run anything new someone may have drilled through the caulk and then never resealed it
 
liv2ryde100 said:
if you have anything aftermarket on your boat, like maybe new amplifiers for the radio or something like that, look to see how those new wires were routed through the engine room wall, thats prob where the leak is coming from through the wall if there is one. to run anything new someone may have drilled through the caulk and then never resealed it
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thanks....I don't know of anything like this but I will look to be sure....

cliff
 
Hey Cliff. My cousin has a Regal, with installed generator. I plug my boat, into his boat to run my a/c. Sometimes when the air is still, our co monitors go off. The solution he came up with is, a swimming pool hose, with a float attached to the end. He pushes the hose into the generator exhaust outlet on the boat, and ties off the other end of the hose to a stern line, or lets the current keep it trailing behind the boat. The hose is about 20ft long. By the time the exhaust gets back to the boat it is diluted with O2. Works well, and takes exhaust noise 20ft away from the boats.
 
islandhopper00 said:
Hey Cliff. My cousin has a Regal, with installed generator. I plug my boat, into his boat to run my a/c. Sometimes when the air is still, our co monitors go off. The solution he came up with is, a swimming pool hose, with a float attached to the end. He pushes the hose into the generator exhaust outlet on the boat, and ties off the other end of the hose to a stern line, or lets the current keep it trailing behind the boat. The hose is about 20ft long. By the time the exhaust gets back to the boat it is diluted with O2. Works well, and takes exhaust noise 20ft away from the boats.
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Hey Mike...haven't heard from you in a while....hope you are doing good....

thanks for the suggestion....I'll look into it...

cliff
 
Cliff the problem you are having is called station wagon efect the exaust is getting sucked in to boat by your aft extencsion. Sea Ray did not offer aft canvis on v drive boats due to that problem they only came on IO boats.
 
vandal said:
Cliff the problem you are having is called station wagon efect the exaust is getting sucked in to boat by your aft extencsion. Sea Ray did not offer aft canvis on v drive boats due to that problem they only came on IO boats.
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If I read his previous posts correctly, it's happening when he's not using the canvas.
 
A long shot but check the possibility of CO entering through sink drains from thru hull.
 
thanks to all for your input.....

to close this thread, I am happy to say that we had '0' ppm of CO in the cabin this past WE when we anchored out to swim for a few hours....the only thing I did differently this time was run the bilge blowers when the genny was running....

so this proves (at least for my boat) that running the bilge blowers definitely does have an effect on CO entering into the cabin...

I have two in-line bilge blowers which are a little louder than I like if I leave them running while the genny is running....so I am going to install a squirrel cage blower (or two if needed) in the ER to use when the genny is running which should be much quieter than the in-line blowers....

cliff
 
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You really should do a complete inspection of the exhaust system on that generator. There should be no reason that CO accumulates in the bilge, short of a leak in the exhaust system.
 
Westie said:
You really should do a complete inspection of the exhaust system on that generator. There should be no reason that CO accumulates in the bilge, short of a leak in the exhaust system.
Click to expand...

+100 on having the exhaust system checked. Even though my bilge blowers cleared the leaking exhaust from my engine compartment the problem still existed. I shudder to think of what might have happened had the blowers tripped a breaker overnight while we were sleeping. There is absolutely no reason CO should ever build up in the bilge ever.
 
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