Gas Safety

[Guest]

if a spark from the motor will set off the gas/air mixture then the mixture is already above the LEL and you're lucky the boat didn't go bang ages ago!

 

if you're really worried put the vacuum on 'blow' for 2 hours instead.

Or one could make a second pipe arrangement using a vortex like a spraygun, again using the vacuum cleaner on blow. It would still suck ( ) from the bilge but no gas would pass through the machine

[twocvbloke]

And as the gas gets sucked into the vacuum cleaner, a spark from the electric motor..............

 

Use a Kirby with a hose on both the inlet and outlet, the air doesn't run through the motor unlike modern Plastivacs, so you have one hose in the hole, and the other hung out the window (secured of course, cos being walloped by a flailing Kirby hose isn't nice!!!), problem solved...

[journeyperson]

I had a look into my bilge this morning through the access hole I cut last year after I'd had a plumbing leak and I was gratified to find it is bone dry down there. I couldn't see any gas either......

[Guest]

I had a look into my bilge this morning through the access hole I cut last year after I'd had a plumbing leak and I was gratified to find it is bone dry down there. I couldn't see any gas either......

I think they should put dye in it then we could see it down there.

[Ex- Member]

I think they should put dye in it then we could see it down there.

 

 

I note they recommend detectors to be low down for obvious reasons, but wouldn't a detector located in the lowest part of the bilge be the ideal position for it, would probably reduce false alarms also. If not the detector itself then a sensor connected to it. Just a thought.

[twocvbloke]

Maybe you should try this:

 

[journeyperson]

I note they recommend detectors to be low down for obvious reasons, but wouldn't a detector located in the lowest part of the bilge be the ideal position for it, would probably reduce false alarms also. If not the detector itself then a sensor connected to it. Just a thought.

 

The one I fitted should be 15 - 30 cm above floor level. which brings it above the bilge on my boat.

[GRPCruiserman]

I note they recommend detectors to be low down for obvious reasons, but wouldn't a detector located in the lowest part of the bilge be the ideal position for it, would probably reduce false alarms also. If not the detector itself then a sensor connected to it. Just a thought.

 

This would also remove any danger from a spark when replacing the battery in the gas detector.

 

1970s petrol inboard powered speed boats always had 'bilge blowers' fitted to remove petrol fumes. They always had a sign suggesting they were run for half an hour after the engine had been stopped. They blew air IN to the bilge which was partially air tight with overboard outlets to stop any danger of sparks from the bilge blower motor. Just a thought.

[n.b.Goldie]

I bought a bilge blower from http://marinestore.co.uk/Merchant2/merchan...blowers/PL26950 . I use it to vent the engine room ut I expect it could work with the cabin bilge.

[Hobbler]

That could work. When you get your boat out of the water for blacking it could be placed in a cradle which would rotate through 180 degrees and left for a day or two. You would be able to black the bottom during that time. You'd need to remove anything from inside that isn't fastened down - and empty the diesel, water, sump oil.........thinking about it.....I'll just sink it.

 

The Bw Workshops at Bradley had a machine that would do this , it was called a Boat Manipulator and was a set of cradles mounted within a dry dock that could turn a full length boat so you could work on the bottom of the hull . As far as I know when they needed the floor space in the workshop the drydock was covered over after the cradle arms were cut off and chucked in the dock and the machine is still there under the floor.

[journeyperson]

The Bw Workshops at Bradley had a machine that would do this , it was called a Boat Manipulator and was a set of cradles mounted within a dry dock that could turn a full length boat so you could work on the bottom of the hull . As far as I know when they needed the floor space in the workshop the drydock was covered over after the cradle arms were cut off and chucked in the dock and the machine is still there under the floor.

 

That's amazing! Could be a canal restoration project?

[GRPCruiserman]

BW have a habit of covering old dry/wet docks; there was until about five or six years ago a historic covered wet dock at Galgate on The Lancaster next to a second slipway, but when they redeveloped for residential moorings, they pulled down the building, removed the slipway, filled in the wet dock; and redeveloped the whole area. All done quickly and without announcement. That is beyond restoration now.

Edited February 17, 2009 by GRPCruiserman