Too much ventilation!

[blackrose]

Had my BSS inspection this afternoon - 4th one on this boat. Passed everything with flying colours. He said the instant water heater I just replaced couldn't have be installed any better. 

 

The guy vas very thorough and after doing his fixed ventilation requirement calculations reluctantly agree with me that I could safely block off half the low level vents and the boat would still be above the ventilation requirements based on oxygen burning appliances and occupants (berths).

 

I have 2 big door vents at the bow and stern. He did the calculation based on the louvre size and quantity and also made allowances for the grilles which partially obstruct my ceiling/roof vents. I never notice it's draughty but maybe I have got too much low level ventilation and I'm wasting energy in winter.... 

 

Edited August 13, 2018 by blackrose

[ditchcrawler]

You could mount a baffle plate over the outside which would stop wind hitting the louvres. I saw one boat where it had louvres like that but no hole in the door behind them. 

[blackrose]

He's sending me the certificate but from memory he calculated that I needed 48in2 ventilation in total split between high and low level. I currently have 35in2 high level and about 80in2 low level ventilation, so I could block off 1 of those door vents at each end of the boat and still easily exceed the requirements. This doesn't even take the gaps around the doors into account.

Edited August 13, 2018 by blackrose

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Don't block them off. Put an ad in the "for sale" section and sell the excess ventilation to someone whose boat hasn't got enough. ?

Jen

[Ray T]

A couple of suggestions gleaned from this forum in the past! 

Edited August 13, 2018 by Ray T

[blackrose]

I can't even work out what I'm looking at in that first picture! 

 

I'm quite happy about that inspection today. He was here for 2 hours - spent a lot of that time chatting and drinking coffee, but he was also very through and the only thing he could fault me on was leaving a hosepipe and a pair of wellies in the gas locker. Gave the boat no advisories either. He told me I'd done well with all the installations - that's the second inspector who's said that. It's nice when a qualified person praises one's work. 

[Ray T]

The first picture is flying saucer type air vents capped over with wood and blacking and some sort of gue covering them. It was from a long running saga where a lady was given advice and help from forum members but took some of that advice too far. I believe she painted the whole of her boat with blacking.

Edited August 14, 2018 by Ray T

[blackrose]

Blimey. Some people really shouldn't work on their own boats.

[rasputin]

does the instant water heater have a pilot light?

 

[Paul C]

There's a good argument for the BSS to be at a much more frequent interval than 4 years

[DandV]

I just slipped some thin card behind the inner grille during the cold seasons and removed it during the summer

[blackrose]

6 hours ago, rasputin said:

does the instant water heater have a pilot light?

 

Yes, why do you ask? 

5 hours ago, Paul C said:

There's a good argument for the BSS to be at a much more frequent interval than 4 years

I disagree. It's only testing the boat on the day of the inspection, so whether it's 4 years, 2 years or annually is largely irrelevant. However, if you want to pay to get your boat tested more frequently then I'm sure you're free to do so. 

[blackrose]

5 hours ago, DandV said:

I just slipped some thin card behind the inner grille during the cold seasons and removed it during the summer

Have you done a ventilation requirement calculation for your boat? If not, then what you're doing is particularly foolish. 

[DandV]

The steel doors were provided with sufficient ventilation to fit a solid fuel or diesel  stove that was never fitted, so it was a fairly simple to check and

to deduct it's requirements and ensure that the requirements for the people and gas cooker were still being met. 

Edited August 14, 2018 by DandV

[DandV]

Apologies to blackrose. In my original post and then my reply I did not stress enough the absolute need to always provide sufficient ventilation. Carbon monoxide is seriously dangerous and is product of incomplete combustion which itself always occurs to varying degrees from heating and cooking from non electric means. The next hazard is Carbon dioxide production which stimulates the breathing response increasing the risk of gas poisoning. Lack of oxygen after depletion by combustion is also fatal. 

Finally lack of ventilation will retain breathing and combustion produced moisture giving conditions favourable to the production of toxic moulds. Also mouldy clothes are not a good look or smell!

Edited August 14, 2018 by DandV

[rasputin]

3 hours ago, blackrose said:

Yes, why do you ask? 

I disagree. It's only testing the boat on the day of the inspection, so whether it's 4 years, 2 years or annually is largely irrelevant. However, if you want to pay to get your boat tested more frequently then I'm sure you're free to do so. 

Does your cooker have a flame failure device on it, or do you have a Woodburner? 

[cuthound]

13 hours ago, Paul C said:

There's a good argument for the BSS to be at a much more frequent interval than 4 years

 

It's a better argument for testing the sanity of potential boat owners before allowing them to buy one ?

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

It's a better argument for testing the sanity of potential boat owners before allowing them to buy one ?

If they were sane they would never buy one

[cuthound]

2 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

If they were sane they would never buy one

 

Catch 22 eh, mm might have to rename my boat ?