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Another CO death on a boat


frangar

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Over on Facebook there are people holding forth that there is nowt wrong with running a "genny" on the deck of your boat, as long as you keep an eye on wind direction.....

 

As I said, some people do seem to need protecting from themselves......

1000s of people have run gennies on the - back -deck with no problems. you may get some CO depending on wind and also the design of the deck but it has always been done and will always be done so the only thing to say is get a co alarm with a digital display which gives a warning before any danger arises.

 

running in a front well deck is asking for trouble.

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The fact that thousands of peope have done something doesn't in itself make it good practice, and I think most would agree it is poor practice to run a generator anywhere on a canal baot.

 

I have seen at least one of the people pontificating on Facebook doing it, and they had it standing on the steerers step, inside the boat, with the exhaust pointing at the open back doors.

 

This is something I regularly see, often with the doors drawn part together to leave a relatively small gap.

 

Insane, in my view.

 

EDITED TO ADD: I'm talking about portable generators obviously, not ones properly installed within a boat, which are designed to be.

 

And please people, if you must run a portable one on board, when the petrol runs out, put them on the bank to refuel them. I can't believe people think it is OK to tip petrol through a funnel into a hot engine, as it stands on the deck of a cruiser or semi-trad sterned boat - but they do, of course - regularly!

 

I have even been told "can you slow down more please, I'm spilling petrol here" :banghead:

Edited by alan_fincher
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Looking at the pictures again, I actually think the generator is being fed from a portable fuel tank that is not part of the main unit.

You can see the priming bulb for the fuel line. Definately a remote tank is being used

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The fact that thousands of peope have done something doesn't in itself make it good practice, and I think most would agree it is poor practice to run a generator anywhere on a canal baot.

 

I have seen at least one of the people pontificating on Facebook doing it, and they had it standing on the steerers step, inside the boat, with the exhaust pointing at the open back doors.

 

This is something I regularly see, often with the doors drawn part together to leave a relatively small gap.

 

Insane, in my view.

 

EDITED TO ADD: I'm talking about portable generators obviously, not ones properly installed within a boat, which are designed to be.

 

And please people, if you must run a portable one on board, when the petrol runs out, put them on the bank to refuel them. I can't believe people think it is OK to tip petrol through a funnel into a hot engine, as it stands on the deck of a cruiser or semi-trad sterned boat - but they do, of course - regularly!

 

I have even been told "can you slow down more please, I'm spilling petrol here" :banghead:

it may be dangerous but people will continue to do it, this is the point.

 

running a portable generator is not a 'normal' activity people are thinking will it get nicked is it going to rain I just want my electric and I want it now.

 

they will behave in the same way so a co monitor is at least a safety feature which will help educate ;)

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I would say with an air blower diesel heater a co detector is a must because it would be so easy for exhausy fumes to end up in the,warm air supply to the accomodation space because of the design of the burner unit

Just like the old Fiat 500 and VW did with the heater wrapped round the exhaust

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A portable genny on the rear deck could, if the wind is in a certain direction be safer than on the towpath. It really is down to wind direction and each application needs to be carefully judged, don't go running away with the idea that the towpath is automatically safe. Same with the main propulsion engine, exhaust fumes can get blown into the interior.

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Very difficult issues these. How far do we take these things?

 

If we're not careful we'll have "kill cords" on canal boats. A case could be made...............

 

Pretty well roundly dismissed as impractical and unnecessary on here recently.

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to be fair someone recently suggested using a waterproof remote keyfob with the receiver attached to a relay on the stop solenoid. IF you fall in or get into trouble you can stop the engine.

 

imo this would be a great addition to an engine's control panel as it would also allow you to stop the engine from the sofa when you have finished charging the batteries :)

Edited by magnetman
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Very difficult issues these. How far do we take these things?

If we're not careful we'll have "kill cords" on canal boats. A case could be made...............

I didn't say that it would be a good idea!

Just that to a health and safety enthusiast the sight of a singe hander balancing (apparently) on the back of a powerful vessel weighing several tons and moving through crowded canals would be somewhat alarming. And that's before they start looking at locks with no guard rails and no guards over the winding mechanisms.

Best thing is to keep safe and make sure we don't have too many accidents.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi all, wasn't sure where to post this as I'm a newbie!

Came home to the boat after work today and the co alarm in the bedroom/engine room was going off!!

I opened up all the windows and doors and it stopped.

 

Any ideas where co might be coming from? I have not been using the stove.

 

Please HELP! I don't want to die!

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Hi all, wasn't sure where to post this as I'm a newbie!

Came home to the boat after work today and the co alarm in the bedroom/engine room was going off!!

I opened up all the windows and doors and it stopped.

 

Any ideas where co might be coming from? I have not been using the stove.

 

Please HELP! I don't want to die!

What appliances have you onboard? Gas fridge, oil/gas fired heating, gas water heater etc? Have you been using any adhesives etc on board recently? Anybody close by running a generator (esp. petrol)? Any info you can give will help others to diagnose your problem. In the meantime KEEP WINDOWS OPEN! :)

ps some set the alarm off when the batteries are knackered,or the actual alarm is seven years old.

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Hi all, wasn't sure where to post this as I'm a newbie!

Came home to the boat after work today and the co alarm in the bedroom/engine room was going off!!

I opened up all the windows and doors and it stopped.

 

Any ideas where co might be coming from? I have not been using the stove.

 

Please HELP! I don't want to die!

We had a similar experience. Brought the boat into a marina, plugged it into shore power set the inverter to charge. Locked up the boat and left.

 

Next day we get a call from the marina to say that there was an alarm going off on the boat. Missed the call and wasn't able to call back a for a few days.

 

Turns out that it was the CO2 alarm going off. Strange as nothing was on and the gas was turned off at the cylinders. They marina manager and another person disconnected the power and removed the batteries from the alarm.

 

The only thing we can put it down to is that as the batteries were really old and flat hadn't had a proper charge for ages, the charger was giving them its all and they were probably gassing way too much. I know it sounds odd, especially as it is they wrong type of gas, but there was no smell of any burning only an acidic smell on the boat when they boarded.

 

Have since replaced the batteries with new ones and not had a problem since.

 

Food for thought.

 

Cheers,

Alan.

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Had you left the battery charger connected? Most CO detectors will react to the gases that are given off by an old battery when it is being charged. If this could be the case here, it is worth checking the batteries carefully because if that battery continues to gas it could fail in a spectacular fashion. As an interim, leave the charger disconnected and see if the problem goes away.

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Catweasel, we have a gas cooker onboard but none of the other things you listed. The boat behind us does have a generator that they use quite a lot.

 

Our CO alarms are brand new.

 

Our boat batteries are charged by 4 solar panels...it has been a very sunny day today and the batteries were on 16 (they are usually on 12 or 13).

 

How do I check the batteries? I have no idea how old they are......we just bought the boat a few weeks ago.

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Ok, Thanks everyone for your help. Will get our solar regulator looked at.

In the meantime, is it safe to stay on the boat until this is fixed?

That's a tricky one to answer. "When batteries are being charged, they generate hydrogen gas that is explosive in certain concentrations in air (explosive limits are 4.1 to 72 percent hydrogen in air)". All batteries do this.

 

You can smell if your batteries have been gassing excessively, especially if the boat has been shut up for the day. The air will have an acidic smell to it.

 

This is why it is tricky to answer:- If the concentrations are high then no. If the area is well ventilated then probably yes. If the solar power is disconnected and this is what is causing the problem then yes. If, if, if. There are lots of ifs.

 

Personally I'd make sure that you well ventilate the boat and I'd also disconnect the solar until you can get the controller checked. I'd stay onboard if it was me.

 

Cheers,

Alan.

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Ok, Thanks everyone for your help. Will get our solar regulator looked at.

In the meantime, is it safe to stay on the boat until this is fixed?

The early M&R controllers or similar were very basic and had a screwdriver controlled regulator without any gauge or readout, it was an art to get the correct voltage input.

if the boat is new to you, you may find that the previous owner had stuck it up to max for winter charging and it needs turning down. Get a multimeter and start to fine tune it once the sun comes out.

 

Newer controllers, especially MPPts, tend to bulk charge at around 14.5 and then float at 13.5.

 

I have been experimenting using my old M&R controller to equalise across the battery bank this summer once the tracer has done it's full charge stuff. It seems to have worked, I always have to be on hand to turn the regulator up and down though.

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We have a steca solar charge controller but it got disconnected when the engine was serviced recently and needs to be reset.

I think this must be our problem and would explain why the batteries got overcharged.

i have no idea how to reset it so i'm now on the search for an electrician!

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