Day tank installation - Regs ?

[Nickhlx]

Hi,

 

I am contemplating fitting a small "day tank" for the engine and wondered if anyone could point to relevant regs ?

 

Questions so far include...

 

a) Could I fit in the Gas Locker ? Pipes exiting would be sealed so no potentially escaping gas could escape into the bilges...

 

Should / must I use rigid copper fuel pipe or flexy fuel hose ? I am concerned about vibrations fracturing solid pipe, although

on the other hand, Flexy pipe would burn if there was a fire...

 

Any other points to ponder ?

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

[pmms]

Hi,

 

I am contemplating fitting a small "day tank" for the engine and wondered if anyone could point to relevant regs ?

 

Questions so far include...

 

a) Could I fit in the Gas Locker ? Pipes exiting would be sealed so no potentially escaping gas could escape into the bilges...

 

Should / must I use rigid copper fuel pipe or flexy fuel hose ? I am concerned about vibrations fracturing solid pipe, although

on the other hand, Flexy pipe would burn if there was a fire...

 

Any other points to ponder ?

 

Thanks,

 

Nick

Nick, why would you want to put a day tank in the gas locker??

 

I strongly suggest you read the BSS guide re fuel systems at www.boatsafetyscheme.org/media/164488/bss%20guide%20chap2.pdf

 

you will note that there is no requirement for piping to be rigid.

 

Paul M

[by'eck]

I always thought a day tank was to provide a gravity feed of fuel to the engine so an engine lift pump is not required. As such it needs to be some height above the engine to provide adequate head.

 

You will then need a means of pumping fuel into it from the main tank. A level indicator (sight glass) is also useful.

 

Venting and overfilling is taken care of on mine by having an overflow at top of day tank back to the main one.

Edited September 23, 2012 by by'eck

[rjasmith]

Nick,

 

Another set of regs would be the RCD ISO 10088 (fuel systems) and 21487 (fuel tanks) but I'm not sure whether you would be bothered about keeping RCD compliant any more (I presume your boat was built to this originally though).

 

Of course there is the usual problem of being able to read the ISOs without buying them! If you are desperate to do so PM me and we could arrange something.

 

The other problem with these two ISOs is that when I first looked at them they overlapped each other quite a bit. ISO have reissued 10088 now to remove the overlap but are still in the process of reissuing 21487 so there is a bit of confusion here!!!!

 

On your specific points:-

 

1. Don't know what the RCD stds say about tank in the gas locker. I've avoided gas entirely so not read the RCD gas std. I would have thought this would be dodgy for the BSS though.

 

2. Either rigid or flexy pipes are OK for RCD so long as wall thickness >0.8mm and quality of copper is met. Flexy pipes need to meet ISO 7840 largely for fire reasons. (The stds go into more detail than this though).

 

I haven't helped a bit really have I!

 

Richard

[Nickhlx]

Nick,

 

Another set of regs would be the RCD ISO 10088 (fuel systems) and 21487 (fuel tanks) but I'm not sure whether you would be bothered about keeping RCD compliant any more (I presume your boat was built to this originally though).

 

Of course there is the usual problem of being able to read the ISOs without buying them! If you are desperate to do so PM me and we could arrange something.

 

The other problem with these two ISOs is that when I first looked at them they overlapped each other quite a bit. ISO have reissued 10088 now to remove the overlap but are still in the process of reissuing 21487 so there is a bit of confusion here!!!!

 

On your specific points:-

 

1. Don't know what the RCD stds say about tank in the gas locker. I've avoided gas entirely so not read the RCD gas std. I would have thought this would be dodgy for the BSS though.

 

2. Either rigid or flexy pipes are OK for RCD so long as wall thickness >0.8mm and quality of copper is met. Flexy pipes need to meet ISO 7840 largely for fire reasons. (The stds go into more detail than this though).

 

I haven't helped a bit really have I!

 

Richard

 

 

Thanks for the info - after reading the regs offered earlier up this thread, It seems a diesel tank of less than 27 litres is less stringently controlled, which is what mine is planned to be.

 

We still use our boat too infrequently to justify filling the 300 litre tank with "Red with Biodiesel" and I am concerned that we will definitely incur the expense / hassle with water absorption / diesel bug, apart from the

reluctance to have to fork out perhaps nearly £500 to fill it. At 1.5 litres an hour, even 25 litres will give us a good weekend's cruising, and I am not averse to carrying a Jerry can or two of ( fresh pump) white diesel

from which to top the day tank. Central heating and the stove are both "diesel" which has a separate tank and I fill anyway with 28 second heating oil

 

I wonder if you could PM or e-mail me a phone no. as there are one or two things I would like to discuss with you ?

 

Thanks again,

 

Nick

 

 

 

Nick, why would you want to put a day tank in the gas locker??

 

I strongly suggest you read the BSS guide re fuel systems at www.boatsafetyscheme.org/media/164488/bss%20guide%20chap2.pdf

 

you will note that there is no requirement for piping to be rigid.

 

Paul M

 

Hi Paul,

 

Thanks for the reply...

 

The thinking behind the use of the gas locker is that it is unused space, sealed to the engine bay from a fire point of view, and has a low-level discharge to outside. Obviously it is not "permitted" to discharge diesel overboard, although I see the regs make allowances for small

spills. The tank is planned to be 25 litres, further releasing it from regs affecting 27 litre or larger tanks, and all the pipes and filler would be entering / leaving from the top of it.

 

Its position is just above the engine to the starboard side ( semi-trad) so is ideally sited - the locker on the port side is above the batteries and has a removeable floor to gain access to the batteries. ( I don't like the idea of storing fuel above the batteries anyway )

 

Thanks for the link to the BSS guide - just what I was looking for...

 

Nick

[rjasmith]

I wonder if you could PM or e-mail me a phone no. as there are one or two things I would like to discuss with you ?

 

Thanks again,

 

Nick

 

 

Email sent

 

Richard

[Robbo]

The tank is planned to be 25 litres, further releasing it from regs affecting 27 litre or larger tanks, and all the pipes and filler would be entering / leaving from the top of it.

 

Not sure how the regs will view this, but if your only looking for 20+ litre tank then use jerry cans and then an adapter like the image. This way you won't need to fill a tank on the cut, and you can easily have multiple jerry cans for longer journeys and easily swap between them.

 

http://eshop.lmslichfieldltd.com/jerry-can-adaptor-cap

 

edit to add better version...

http://www.toolsonline.com/Product/SY-JCA2

Edited September 24, 2012 by Robbo