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Ventilation people!


Calranthe

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I am still very new to all this boating stuff but after a walk on the canal at the weekend (Trent and Mersey) I always find myself chatting to boaters now I went past a black or dark blue/green NB (light was failing) and I saw an elderly gentleman working on his mushroom vents, I asked what he was up to and he said that he was sealing them for the winter, I said (assuming he meant resealing to stop ingress of water) ahh having leaks ? No he replied i'm sealing them so I don't get cold at night (understand I was on my way home to wife so this conversation happened as I slowed for a second) I said isn't that a bad idea and he just said something under his breath and I moved on.

Now I do not remember the name of the boat it was around the stoke area of the canal.

My knowledge of this kind of this is limited but common sense screams to me that those vents are there for a damn good reason and blocking them would be like me on a GRP sealing the vents and running the heater/cooker just not so bad due to most NB having more places air can ingress but a NB would have more items that could create carbon monoxide.

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It may be that he has enough ventilation for the type of combustibles he uses. I have a lot of gas burning devices on my boat so I am required by the BSS to have a lot of ventilation even when I am not using them. So I block them off when I am not using them and open the doors when I do, so I don't freeze to death. Alternatively, he may have got the balance wrong and will not wake up one morning.

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I think half the trouble is that some people don't understand the difference between "cold" and "drafts" 

You can stay toasty warm with plenty of ventilation if you can control the drafts. I remember spending Christmas on our boat in freezing weather a few years ago and the metal vent cover in the stern door had ice on it which was growing in thickness by the day. Obviously the condensation was freezing on it. When we sleep our feet are around 3' from that icy vent but we didn't feel cold at all. 

I have been known to place something in front of a vent to redirect any draft if the wind has been blowing in the wrong direction - not against it so it is not blocked. 

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5 minutes ago, Laurie.Booth said:

I thought it was an advisory thing on the BSS?

It is, but there for a good reason.  In my opinion BSS is mainly about harming/polluting others, but less concerned about the boaters own health & safety - I agree with this approach.  Though that does not mean I don't have ventilation, a non slip gang plank and heat/smoke & CO alarms.

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33 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Unfortunately he is not the first, nor I doubt the last.

vents004.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

But why do builders still insist in putting bloody great holes in doors where the wind can blow straight through. There was one in a boat test last month

 

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I agree, if you are cold in the winter on a boat then something is wrong with the heating setup you have, it is acceptable for the first cold weather on a new craft but most NB and even GRP I have seen can and balance the heat/health situation quite well and if not another duvet/cover/coat/layers of material or a thermal blanket will get you uncomfortably warm far better than risking life.

I was in my youth prone to crazier stuff, thus I went camping up Snowdonia in the winter, took a foil blanket with me, that plus a basic sleeping bag and I was damn toastie in the tarp tent.

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2 hours ago, system 4-50 said:

It may be that he has enough ventilation for the type of combustibles he uses. I have a lot of gas burning devices on my boat so I am required by the BSS to have a lot of ventilation even when I am not using them. So I block them off when I am not using them and open the doors when I do, so I don't freeze to death. Alternatively, he may have got the balance wrong and will not wake up one morning.

Quite right. With a lot of gas burning devices and a lot of berths, you need a lot of ventilation. Obviously you dont need as much if you are not using the burners or have less people on board. That said we have never sealed ours up and just up the heat of the stove - with a decent Ecofan of course. Guess the guy sealing up his mushrooms didnt have an Ecofan.:)

  • Greenie 1
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Ventilation requirements are well specified in various British Standards, and where specified it has to be dedicated ventilation. Adventitious ventilation, (draughts to you and me) is not counted, and many narrowboats have plenty of this. As already stated, draughts can be diverted, and if you have an appliance that draws air(Stove, cooker, boiler etc) if thereis an open path even through a few bends, then it will draw it without draughts. Obviously cabin size also comes into play, as the average yoghurt pot comes nowhere close to a 50ft narrowboat, so the effects of appliances are minimised.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I looked at my CO monitor at the weekend. It gave a reading of zero. I then asked it what the recent max was it had detected and it said 17.

At what level of reading should the alarm go off? I have no idea.

I looked at my CO monitor at the weekend. It gave a reading of zero. I then asked it what the recent max was it had detected and it said 17.

At what level of reading should the alarm go off? I have no idea.

It's alright. I found some information on the Kidde website

http://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/us/support/help-center/browse-articles/articles/what_are_the_carbon_monoxide_levels_that_will_sound_the_alarm_.aspx

 

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All our vents are wide open... as are all but one of the portholes - organised use of the stove and heating ensures a hot, comfortable and moisture free boat.  OK so I am a bit obsessed with monitoring humidity but I'm determined not to suffer from condensation spots... hence the good ventilation.

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11 hours ago, Cheshire cat said:

 

I looked at my CO monitor at the weekend. It gave a reading of zero. I then asked it what the recent max was it had detected and it said 17.

At what level of reading should the alarm go off? I have no idea.

It's alright. I found some information on the Kidde website

http://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/us/support/help-center/browse-articles/articles/what_are_the_carbon_monoxide_levels_that_will_sound_the_alarm_.aspx

 

Localised CO can be caused by many factors. Opening the stove door can give a spike. I remember some years ago a friend of mine had a tenant complaining about a boiler flue smell. I attended with an analyser to check for him, suffering a barrage of verbal abuse from the tenant. After monitoring the flue and finding no leakage, whilst the verbal torrent continued, I let the sensor wander towards the cigarette she was waving about. The meter went off the scale, but her red face was from embarrassment not CO poisoning.

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