Man found dead on Boat

[Ange]

This sort of event is a harsh wake up call when you get a bit complacent. We have a CO alarm opposite the stove at head height - I've been meaning to get another for the back bedroom and not got round to it. We also regularly take the smoke alarm off the ceiling because burning wood means we have a lot of smoke in the cabin every time we open the stove door and I swear when that thing goes off it takes hours off my life! Sometimes we get up in the morning and find we've forgotten to put the alarm back up. Another smoke alarm clearly needs to be purchased and placed further back in the boat.

 

Got to stop saying I'm doing it and sort it!

Edited January 4, 2014 by Ange

[Maffi]

This sort of event is a harsh wake up call when you get a bit complacent. We have a CO alarm opposite the stove at head height - I've been meaning to get another for the back bedroom and not got round to it. We also regularly take the smoke alarm off the ceiling because burning wood means we have a lot of smoke in the cabin every time we open the stove door and I swear when that thing goes off it takes hours off my life! Sometimes we get up in the morning and find we've forgotten to put the alarm back up. Another smoke alarm clearly needs to be purchased and placed further back in the boat.

 

Got to stop saying I'm doing it and sort it!

I don't think you should have your alarm on the ceiling. Are they not supposed to be on a wall

[KJT]

 

Odd they say the cause of this tragic event is being investigated by the police. This is normally the job of the HSE.

 

MtB

 

 

The Police would be involved in any 'sudden death' in their capacity as the Coroners Officer.

 

Ken

[Kristian]

IMHO makes the BSS/BSC a joke when CO alarms and smoke alarms are still not mandatory!!!!!

[blackrose]

I don't think you should have your alarm on the ceiling. Are they not supposed to be on a wall

 

The instructions that came with mine showed installation on a ceiling. I thought the only places you shouldn't install them is near a corner where there may be "dead air" that doesn't move - or is that smoke alarms?

 

The "Which?" website says that "According to Energy UK, the optimum location for the alarm is the ceiling."

 

http://www.which.co.uk/home-and-garden/heating-water-and-electricity/guides/carbon-monoxide-detectors/

 

The method i use is to stand on the roof with all 3 of the boat's C.O. alarms and hold them one at a time a couple of feet down wind of the chimney.

 

Crude maybe,but it sets them a squawking!

 

Three CO alarms? I have two and I thought I was being a bit cautious.

 

I have one on the ceiling in the middle of the saloon/galley and one in the corridor leading to the bedroom. That one is on the wall above the gunwale, the idea being that it's between the stove and the bed and it's closer to head height as I sleep.

Edited January 4, 2014 by blackrose

[Guest]

How to site a CO alarm on a boat according to the BSS

 

Because they are not designed primarily for installation on a boat a degree of compromise is involved.

 

(The location of CO alarms on boats comes up so often on here that link deserves to be made sticky IMHO)

 

 

.

Edited January 4, 2014 by The Dog House

[pearltoo]

How to site a CO alarm on a boat according to the BSS

 

Because they are not designed primarily for installation on a boat a degree of compromise is involved.

 

(The location of CO alarms on boats comes up so often on here that link deserves to be made sticky IMHO)

 

 

.

Such sad news.

Thank you for the above link. I agree it should be made 'sticky',...... It could just save a life, one day.

 

( Greenie for you, if I can figure out how to do it ! )

[bottle]

Do not get confused when positioning smoke alarms and CO alarms.

 

They are different.

[comfortably numb]

When be bought our boat a year ago I bought 2 Co2 alarms but have only installed one of them because I couldn't decide where to put the other and since then have never got around to putting the other one up.

 

It's tragic incidents like these that emphasise the importance of them and I shall be putting the other one up today.

[George94]

My CO alarm went off recently, on a cold night.

 

I couldn't find out why, and eventually removed the battery for a moment, which stopped it. I also opened various hatches etc..

 

The battery is fine, and I am still mystified as to what caused the thing to go off.

[MtB]

The Police would be involved in any 'sudden death' in their capacity as the Coroners Officer.

 

Ken

 

I thought this would be the case but the newspaper article specifically refers to it an accident.

 

It says the police are investigating the accident, not that the police are investigating to rule out foul play. I imaging this is just sloppy journalism and the HSE will take over once the police are satisfied in was a genuine accident.

 

MtB

[furnessvale]

 

I thought this would be the case but the newspaper article specifically refers to it an accident.

 

It says the police are investigating the accident, not that the police are investigating to rule out foul play. I imaging this is just sloppy journalism and the HSE will take over once the police are satisfied in was a genuine accident.

 

MtB

Genuine question. Does the HSE get involved in the investigation of incidents in private homes?

 

George ex nb Alton retired

[MtB]

 

Three CO alarms? I have two and I thought I was being a bit cautious.

 

I always advise at least two CO alarms, from different manufacturers. If you have one, you don't KNOW it works. Ok it might beep when you press the TEST button, but this just proves the test button makes it beep. If you buy two both from the same source, they are both quite likely to fail from old age or a manufacturing fault together so you may not be any better off.

 

Have two or more, from different manufacturers, or buy the CO detector test kit I linked to above, and test periodically. Or do both.

 

Here's the link again:

 

http://www.safelincs.co.uk/detectagas-co-detector-tester/

 

MtB

Edited January 4, 2014 by Mike the Boilerman

[Captain Fizz]

Smoke alarms should be mounted on the ceiling and CO alarms as I understand it, at average head height for the location.

[Alan de Enfield]

IMHO makes the BSS/BSC a joke when CO alarms and smoke alarms are still not mandatory!!!!!

 

Whillst it is 'sensible' to have these alarms, they are not mandatory in houses (as far as I know) so why should the be mandatory in boats.

 

It is still a free country and you can pretty much do 'whatever you want to yourself' it's if you start to risk third parties (renting your boat for example) that H&S and other regs come into force.

 

On a similar safety vein - caravan parks have a legal minimum spacing between either touring vans or static caravans so as to improve the survivability of an accident in the event of a fire or gas explosion *. Marina's seem to be exempt from this with boats being alongside each other or just the width of a finger pontoon apart.

 

* Having seen a gas storage place 'go-up' a year or two ago with gas bottles being shot 100s of feet into the air and 100's of feet horizontally - with one going thru' the side of a car 100 yards away from the fire I don think a minimum of 5 metres (or soon to be 7 metres) spacing on caravans would be of much help.

[Mac of Cygnet]

I don't think you should have your alarm on the ceiling. Are they not supposed to be on a wall

 

When the Fire Service came round to the house and fitted (free!) smoke alarms, they fitted them to the ceilings.

[Guest]

 

When the Fire Service came round to the house and fitted (free!) smoke alarms, they fitted them to the ceilings.

 

That is normally the correct position for a smoke alarm whereas a wall is normally the correct place for a CO alarm.

 

As Keith (Bottle) has hinted at in his post a bit of confusion has possibly crept into the the thread.

[Athy]

As MtB suggests, sloppy journalism - the best photo they could find to illustrate the article was of a fire engine driving down a road.

If I understand the map correctly, this happenened at the location immediately south of the bridge which you cross to get to Tesco's, near the former arm now used for moorings at one end and winding round at the other. There used to be a little encampment there: an old 'bus, a caravan and two or three elderly boats. Last time we passed there (late November) we noticed that the vehicles had left the site and that the boats had moved on also. It is not easy to moor there as the towpath surface makes it difficult to knock one's pins in - is this where the unfortunate chap was parked?

 

EDIT: I see that the man was described in a local news report as a "well known boater" - local character, or celebrity?

I see also that the Narrowboat World web site has stated in a headline that Carbon Monoxide was the cause of death - then stated in the accompanying article that it may have been the cause.

Edited January 4, 2014 by Athy

[Bee]

Some time ago I found my boat filling with fumes from the stove, no doubt lots of CO as well, reason? windy day, a corner of a soggy tarp had flopped over the top of the (short) chimney, have a look at stuff on the roof just in case, I was lucky.

[stewey]

Coincidentally with this sad topic, I noticed that todays Amazon "Deal of the Day" is the Fireangel CO-9D Digital Sealed for Life Carbon Monoxide Alarm. Reduced from £29.99 to £15.99.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00441S9GS/ref=gbsl_tit_c-1_6707_4998e18a?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=0MYHV9AG8V3GYQYEAW06&pf_rd_i=350613011&pf_rd_p=460016707

 

Stewey

[Grace and Favour]

Excellent link, Stewey - - - - ✔

[Dharl]

First heard this story on news today, it is terrible and so sad. We walked along the South Oxford at Banbury in November and might have passed this gentleman.

 

Thanks for the link have now got a CO alarm for our camper van

[Beaker]

Thanks for that, stewey, much cheaper than B&Q, even with employee discount.

 

Have a greenie!

[Gingerbeer]

What a horrible thing to happen in the new year. My heart goes out to his family and friends.

[Nightwatch]

Excellent link, Stewey - - - - ✔

I agree. And one is winging its way to us.

 

Martyn