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Smoke Alarms & Engine Rooms


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4 hours ago, MartynG said:

I dont have a smoke or co alarm in the engine bay. But I do have  an automatic fire extinguisher in there.

 

Placing the co alarms inside the boat didnt cost me much time . There is a shelf near the bed head and another shelf near the main seating.

 

 

That is what I do as well. One at head height on a shelf in the saloon, and one at head height on a bedside cabinet. 

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On 12/07/2019 at 12:18, gbclive said:

Just a thought - isn’t there a risk that a shelf might be an area of “dead air” and thus increase the response time?

Its  only a little shelf.

 

I honestly dont think it is critical other than avoiding the detector being very close a  gas appliance.

Smoke alarm on the ceiling. CO alarm about head height when seated or sleeping as dictated by the use of the space.

Edited by MartynG
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On 12/07/2019 at 09:31, MartynG said:

I dont have a smoke or co alarm in the engine bay. But I do have  an automatic fire extinguisher in there.

 

 

How does it work? Is it a CO2 extinguisher?

On 10/07/2019 at 13:20, cheshire~rose said:

Thanks folks - it seems that the general oily diesely haze from a traditional engine may not trigger a false alarm after all. We might prop it on the top of the day tank for a trip just to make sure before we start drilling holes!

 

I just used some self adhesive velcro tape to stick it to the underside of the deck. No drilling involved and easy to remove to replace batteries. The tape doesn't stick to steel very well so I stuck that side on with a bit of Stixall.

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1 hour ago, MartynG said:

Its  only a little shelf.

OK Martyn, I guess it depends on the individual location and construction.

We have some shelves under cabinets, which are clearly dead space to some extent.

 

 

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49 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Here are my two CO alarms, one by the head of the cross bed and one in the galley, smoke detector in the galley and the other one I didn't get a picture of is on the wall between bedroom and engine room

DSCF1752small.jpg

DSCF1753small.jpg

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I have similar Kidde CO alarms.

I appreciate that on a boat, it is difficult, or even impossible sometimes to comply with all of the normal recommendations for domestic installations. So I also read the BSS advice for boat insulation’s, then settled on what I felt was the best set of practical compromises. I sense I placed more emphasis on avoiding dead spaces, but probably had to compromise in other respects. 

Incidentally, my Kidde manual includes the following advice:

If wall-mounting, install at eye-level (approx1.5m), and at least 30cm from adjoining walls or ceiling.

Do not wall-mount within 30cm of the ceiling, as this is a “dead air” space.

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5 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

How does it work? Is it a CO2 extinguisher?

 

 

No

It is an inert gas. Operated automatically but  also with manual activation at the helm.

Made by  "Seafire"

Quite expensive ...it was already fitted when I bought the boat.

Less expensive  inert gas engine bay extinguishers are available . 

 

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9 minutes ago, MartynG said:

No

It is an inert gas. Operated automatically but  also with manual activation at the helm.

Made by  "Seafire"

Quite expensive ...it was already fitted when I bought the boat.

Less expensive  inert gas engine bay extinguishers are available . 

 

I wonder what inert gas they use. We use to have BCF ones. CO2 is an inert gas

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3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I wonder what inert gas they use. We use to have BCF ones. CO2 is an inert gas

 

When I worked in date centres, Inergen, an inert gas comprising of 50% Nitrogen, 42% Argon & 8% Co² and watermist were the most popular fire extinguisher systems.

 

Inergen is naturally present in the atmosphere, therefore its green-house effect is nil and its ozone layer depletion potential is zero.

 
Design Concentration Class A: 39.9%
 
Chemical formula: Ar, N² & Co²
 
Chemical name: IG-541 (Inergen)
 
Molecular weight: 34.0
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4 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I wonder what inert gas they use. We use to have BCF ones. CO2 is an inert gas

 

I guess it depends which prespective your coming from but I work in the food manufacturing industry and CO2 isn't considered inert. It has a slight antimicrobial effect, reacts with lots of foods especially those containing fats and also with water vapour, producing carbonic acid which can taint food and corrode aluminum packaging.

 

Nitrogen on the other hand is inert and used as a filler gas in modified atmosphere packed foods.

Edited by blackrose
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4 hours ago, Boater Sam said:

Used to be Haylon but I suppose that is banned now with the ozone layer depletion.

Halon was banned in 1994 except for aviation use.

I believe the extinguisher gas in my engine bay extinguisher is called FM-200.

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On 14/07/2019 at 16:32, ditchcrawler said:

Best thing ever for knocking down fires, but as you say, now a no no

When we were working at a fire brigade training centre many moons ago, the fire fighters said much the same about Halon.

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