Leaking vent advice?

[pebble77]

Hi all,

 

Can anyone advise on how to deal with this leaking vent? It started dripping very badly about a month ago and is getting worse. And now the rain is coming!

TIA

 

[Tony Brooks]

The little "elongated upward dimples" around the chrome/SS base are drains for rail that gets through the big holes and over time they fill with dust and leaves, so they block. So, take the silver cover off and ensure all the musk is cleaned away, so they can drain again. This is a classic problem with those vents.

 

It is possible that the seal where the plastic part meets the roof is leaking, but it is normally a soft "rubber" ring so unless the roof has a particularly high arch, this is far less likely. You should not disturb the plastic part by removing the metal cover. It is held down by its own set of screws.

Edited November 3, 2023 by Tony Brooks

[Tracy D'arth]

These vents are also prone to condensation when the weather gets colder, it runs down onto the lining. 

[Tony Brooks]

3 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

These vents are also prone to condensation when the weather gets colder, it runs down onto the lining. 

 

We never found that, but then ours had what looked like a plastic tube type lining through the deck head.  In very cold weather, there was an odd drip of condensation from the exposed plastic centre disk, but probably less than a mushroom might suffer.

[pebble77]

1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:

The little "elongated upward dimples" around the chrome/SS base are drains for rail that gets through the big holes and over time they fill with dust and leaves, so they block. So, take the silver cover off and ensure all the musk is cleaned away, so they can drain again. This is a classic problem with those vents.

 

It is possible that the seal where the plastic part meets the roof is leaking, but it is normally a soft "rubber" ring so unless the roof has a particularly high arch, this is far less likely. You should not disturb the plastic part by removing the metal cover. It is held down by its own set of screws.

Thank you Tony! Great advice. I will follow this exactly this afternoon, when hopefully the weather improves.

[David Mack]

Belfast had some of these. The area under the stainless steel cover was completely filled with moss, the drain holes were blocked and the cabin top beneath was rusty and pitted. The plastic bit below was cracked in some cases. I removed them all, cleaned up the steelwork and replaced them with mushroom vents. 

Previous post:

 

Edited November 3, 2023 by David Mack

[magnetman]

I've got these UFO vents on one of the boats and they so sometimes leak. 

 

Mine are ECS ventilites with a plastic lens in the middle. If you unscrew the stainless part there should be a second smaller part of plastic. I cleaned the rust then sealed the plastic part down with polyurethane sealant. 

 

If rust has crept under the thing it will wick the rain. 

 

 

 

 

[pebble77]

Hi all, thanks for the replies and sorry for the late response. I've removed the vents cleaned, sealed a crack that was doing most of the damage and replaced. I think things are better now.

The only issue now is potential water damage/accumulation- directly below the vent is my 3 ring gas burner where the water was accumulating as it has a deep dip and I assume going down one of the rings(the one that doesn't work anymore). Underneath that is my fridge and everything is pretty built in solid- do I need to rip it out to assess damage?

The floor next to the fridge feels a bit damp..😬🫣

[Laurie Booth]

On 03/11/2023 at 09:13, pebble77 said:

Hi all,

 

Can anyone advise on how to deal with this leaking vent? It started dripping very badly about a month ago and is getting worse. And now the rain is coming!

TIA

 

I've sealed mine off.

 

[David Mack]

10 hours ago, pebble77 said:

The only issue now is potential water damage/accumulation- directly below the vent is my 3 ring gas burner where the water was accumulating as it has a deep dip and I assume going down one of the rings(the one that doesn't work anymore).

Most likely you just need to remove the top of the burner and clean out the muck and rust below, so that the gas can flow properly. You might also need to clean out the gas jet (carefully).

[pebble77]

On 08/11/2023 at 22:20, Laurie Booth said:

I've sealed mine off.

 

Laurie, is that legal re BSS?

 

On 08/11/2023 at 23:46, David Mack said:

Most likely you just need to remove the top of the burner and clean out the muck and rust below, so that the gas can flow properly. You might also need to clean out the gas jet (carefully).

Thanks, I will do but its more an issue about where the water has flowed into below where the fridge is.

I'll include a picture later to give a better idea.

[Tony Brooks]

1 hour ago, pebble77 said:

On 08/11/2023 at 22:20, Laurie Booth said:

 

Laurie, is that legal re BSS?

 

To the best of my knowledge the ventilation is only advisory for private boats BUT I fear some BSS examiner may try to spin a different story.

[Peugeot 106]

On 03/11/2023 at 09:58, Tony Brooks said:

 

We never found that, but then ours had what looked like a plastic tube type lining through the deck head.  In very cold weather, there was an odd drip of condensation from the exposed plastic centre disk, but probably less than a mushroom might suffer.

I seem to remember I used the white  plastic pipe and also the nylon finned bit that fits in a toilet pan rear as a liner and it all fit together perfectly. If you want a liner suggest you measure it and then go and measure the pipe and pan fittings in BQ, Screwfix you may find they are a good match!

[Tony Brooks]

or see if something like a length of plastic bleach bottle will do the job for "free"

[Peugeot 106]

8 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

or see if something like a length of plastic bleach bottle will do the job for "free"

I looked far and wide for something to fit and confess I never thought of a bottle so if you have a bleach bottle and it fits...... I’d have needed a few bottles of bleach though

[ditchcrawler]

6 minutes ago, Peugeot 106 said:

I looked far and wide for something to fit and confess I never thought of a bottle so if you have a bleach bottle and it fits...... I’d have needed a few bottles of bleach though

How about the bottles water comes in

[Laurie Booth]

14 hours ago, pebble77 said:

Laurie, is that legal re BSS?

 

 

Nope

 

[magnetman]

Ventilation is an advisory on the BS scheme. The examiner will probably check it anyway but lack of ventilation isn't a fail.

It once was but it now isn't. 

 

 

 

 

I don't know how this works if a boat is sealed. 

And has a fire and a cooker...

 

 

[Peugeot 106]

12 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

or see if something like a length of plastic bleach bottle will do the job for "free"

I rarely fix something for 50p if it can fixed done for £5

[Laurie Booth]

13 hours ago, Laurie Booth said:

Nope

 

Yep