Today I finally replaced the ventilation hose(I purchased the replacement
hose early in the season) between the bilge blower and the bilge, as the old
hose was torn in a few places and could not have been moving much if any air.
I am in the habit of running the blower for about 4 minutes or so before
every engine start.
A fairly easy job... however, when I ran the bilge blower just to test the
new hose, I was surprised to find a strong air-flow into the bilge... I was
expecting the air in the bilge to be drawn out of the bilge, not fresh air
being introduced into the bilge.
My understanding of running the bilge blower was to draw out of the bilge
any possibly accumulated gases that could pose a danger...
Am I mistaken? Is the blower actually working correctly by "blowing" air
into the bilge... I do not think so...
My solution, if my air flow is indeed going in the wrong direction, is just
to disconnect the hoses, turn the bilge blower around, re-connect the hoses.
Or am I missing something here and creating an unforeseen problem?
While wires can be reversed to change the direction of rotation on DC motors . . . the fan or compressor blades and the internal configuration of the air passages in many blowers are designed to optimally “blow” in only one direction. When all else fails, read the instructions and/or check the housing for “IN” and “OUT” at the hose connection points.
Cheers,
Arthur Langley
BEAR AWAY 30C 54 1980 BEAR AWAY 30C 14 1979 BROADWAY 30U 426 1987
Brunswick ME Paul’s Marina S. Baymouth ON Little Hrbr Marina Toronto ON Royal Canadian YC
New Hampshire & Maine Fleet Lake Huron Fleet West-Lake Ontario Fleet
cel 207.459.6410 tel. 207.449.1980
Always approach a dock at the speed at which you’d like to hit it. Anon . . . . . . . . . but brilliant !
Just reversing the leads on the motor may not work. Yes it spins the motor the other way but on my Nonsuch it is a centrifugal fan and blows the same direction regardless which way the motor spins. Of course due to the design of the fan and housing one way should be more efficient than the other but it was hard to tell just by holding your hand over the outlet.
You want the fan to suck air out of the lowest point of the engine compartment. I believe this is because CO and CO2 are slightly heavier than air but someone on the list may correct me on this.
Our Westerbeke 13 is ticking quite loudly. I noticed is the clicking sound from the engine. Very obvious when cold but settles down a bit when the engine gets warm. I see the manual says to adjust the valve lifters every so often and I was wondering if this could be the problem.
Does anyone have any warnings about going ahead and doing this myself? Or maybe not worry about this at all?
The reason for a bilge blower . . . from the LOWEST POINT OF THE BILGE . . . is to remove any explosive heavier than air gas (gasoline fumes from outboard fuel, propane, etc.) from the bilge before any “spark” is potentially introduced anywhere near and contiguous with the bilge.
Keeping any spark away from potential explosive fumes in the bilge before the bilge has been properly ventilated is why a blower is mounted as high as possible above and as far away as possible from the bilge.
One only need witness a small propane or gasoline fume ignition within the comparatively enclosed space of a cruising yacht to understand the importance of proper ventilation with a blower.
A solar ventilator set to “exhaust” on a dedicated hose from the bilge is a simple and near perfect additional safety measure.
A completely separate blower can also be very useful to help ventilate excess heat out of . . . the top (heat rises) . . . of the engine compartment, thus from under the cockpit, and away from being adjacent to the cabin.
Cheers,
Arthur Langley
BEAR AWAY 30C 14 1979 BROADWAY 30U 426 1987 BEAR AWAY 30C 54 1980
S. Baymouth ON Little Hrbr Toronto ON Royal Canadian YC Brunswick ME Paul’s Marina
Lake Huron Fleet West-Lake Ontario Fleet New Hampshire & Maine Fleet
tel. 647.477.8143 cel 207.459.6410 tel. 207.449.1980
“I’ve spent most of my money on boats and women, the rest I’ve squandered.” Wise but unknown
I thought I blew my engine one w18, limped back to dock. Valve adjustment unscrewed and valve push rod fell to side. It is an easy job. Pull valve cover (add new gasket when done) and adjust all and tighten. valve rocker has typical lock nut and screw adjustment. Kinda like an old VW air cooled engine has if you ever worked on them!
Well, that brings back memories, John. I owned a VW repair shop for 32 years. I did a few valve adjustments on VDubs. I believe that the owners manual for Westerbeke specifies a certain hour interval between adjustments.
Joe Valinoti
IL GATTO NS30U #221
Oriental, NC
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Unlike Joe, I’m not a professional mechanic, but I think it depends mainly on your own comfort level. I did it on my W-27 a few years ago. It really was quite straightforward. I recommend you talk to a Westerbeke dealer (in my case it was Anthony Keats Marine in Ontario). They faxed me a couple of very helpful diagrams of the valve train, confirmed the gap setting and gave a few tips on how to proceed. They will send you a new valve cover gasket as well. The cost was negligible.
I recall removing the glow plugs to eliminate compression and a friend helped with a wrench to turn flywheel to position the valves for setting.
"A completely separate blower can also be very useful to help ventilate excess heat out of . . . the top (heat rises) . . . of the engine compartment, thus from under the cockpit, and away from being adjacent to the cabin."
Arthur: That’s one of the reasons I left the part of the exhaust hose installed on BIANKA after converting to electric propulsion. I was not sure how much heat would be generated operating the electric motor and thought I might use it to expel any excess heat from the area via the hose. On the way back my recent cruise to New York I was able to make some temperature measurements. After four hours of operating under electric power I used a hand held infrared temperature reading meter and measured only 135 degrees Fahrenheit directly on the motor casing. This seems much cooler than what my old Westerbeke diesel was putting out but, I never took any readings when it was operating.
> From: Arthur Langley arthur_langley@HOTMAIL.COM > Subject: Re: Bilge Blower - why > To: NONSUCH-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM > Date: Thursday, September 17, 2009, 4:14 PM > > The reason for a bilge blower . . . from the LOWEST POINT OF THE BILGE . . . is to remove any explosive heavier than air gas (gasoline fumes from outboard fuel, propane, etc.) from the bilge before any “spark” is potentially introduced anywhere near and contiguous with the bilge. > > Keeping any spark away from potential explosive fumes in the bilge before the bilge has been properly ventilated is why a blower is mounted as high as possible above and as far away as possible from the bilge. > > One only need witness a small propane or gasoline fume ignition within the comparatively enclosed space of a cruising yacht to understand the importance of proper ventilation with a blower. > > A solar ventilator set to “exhaust” on a dedicated hose from the bilge is a simple and near perfect additional safety measure. > > A completely separate blower can also be very useful to help ventilate excess heat out of . . . the top (heat rises) . . . of the engine compartment, thus from under the cockpit, and away from being adjacent to the cabin. > > Cheers, > > Arthur Langley > BEAR AWAY 30C 14 1979 BROADWAY 30U 426 1987 BEAR AWAY 30C 54 1980 > S. Baymouth ON Little Hrbr Toronto ON Royal Canadian YC Brunswick ME Paul’s Marina > Lake Huron Fleet West-Lake Ontario Fleet New Hampshire & Maine Fleet > > tel. 647.477.8143 cel 207.459.6410 tel. 207.449.1980 > > “I’ve spent most of my money on boats and women, the rest I’ve squandered.” Wise but unknown > > On 9/17/09 10:54 AM, “Tom Schoenhofer NORTHSTAR 26C 28” tschoenhofer@gmail.com wrote: > > > You want the fan to suck air out of the lowest point of the engine compartment. I believe this is because CO and CO2 are slightly heavier than air but someone on the list may correct me on this.
The main thing is to check that the valves are not moving on that cylinder when you rock the engine. There should never be a reason to change the setting more then .006. If that happens, you may be on the wrong cylinder.
Joe Valinoti
IL GATTO NS30U #221
Oriental, NC
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The purpose of the blower is to remove explosive gases prior to the introduction of a spark that might occur when the engine is started. On a diesel powered vessel this is not as critical as on a gasoline powered vessel. However we often have propane appliances on board so that puts us back in the "big bang" camp. (Gas should never be stored below deck)
Propane will settle in the bilge which is lower than the engine compartment. Ideally the bilge hose should extend to the lowest part of the bilge. This is probably not feasible so in most cases it is (and should be) placed at the lowest place in the engine compartment. I've seen it placed much higher and in one case at the very top of the engine compartment where it would do little good.
CO is not heavier than air however and it can collect in any enclosed compartment so a bilge blower is of little use as a preventive measure (IMHO). A CO detector would be a better preventive measure. Besides CO generation is independent of engine start time so the blower is probably wrong time wise as well. There is little probability of CO2 being an issue unless one was foolish enough to bring dry ice on board (bad idea!)
For the really concerned there is the option of a sniffer alarm placed in the bilge. I've been told these are prone to false alarms and premature failure so have decided against one. I'd be interested on any experience with these devices.
I have a propane sniffer on both my Nonsuch and Anomaly. They will alarm if they get wet, so you have to consider the location carefully. Also, they draw a significant amount of current when on, between 0.5 and 1 amp. I have had no trouble with them other than that. On most versions, if they alarm they will shut off the propane valve, preventing you from exploding, but also preventing you from cooking dinner.
I have two alarms, both are from Xantrex/FireBoy. I have a propane (and gasoline) system (Model M-2A) with two sniffers, one in the engine room, forward of the propane locker, and one above the bilge, just below the cabin sole. It is a simple alarm; it does not shut off the propane. I also have a CO Monitor, mounted midway on the bulkhead outside my propane water heater and directly across from my propane cabin heater. Those are more likely sources of CO than the oven/stove. It is even with the level of the companionway, so it should eventually sense CO from an outside source, such as someone in a nearby slip running the engine. The two devices draw <0.2 Amps between them. That much current might be a concern if I were on a mooring. In that case, I would shut off at least the CO Monitor when away from the boat. Joe Tierney Allegro NS33 #64 Annapolis, MD