Run your blowers!
We have had FIVE boat explosions here in AZ in the last two weeks! At least three were fuel injected boats! Be safe!
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Though I run my blower a lot (and replaced the blower/venting when I purchased it), are all 5 of these explosions related to not running the blower?
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All are under investigation still, but I can't think of very many reasons why a boat blows up, other than gas fumes.
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Another one????
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How long does everyone run theirs prior to turning the key?
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The newer BUs have it automatically come on after entering the ignition code, it runs for about 2 mins then shuts off. Assuming two minutes is adequate.
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Last weekend at Lake Powell... This boat just ended filling his gas tank and crank to BOOM. Thank goodness nothing else was hurt in the process. Captain was life flighted to a local hospital with something like 80% of his body burned.
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Yes, that one is included in my five...
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Was that on the Utah side or Arizona side of Powell. . :p
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when we are in the staging area, doing the stuff like putting the boards up rotating racks out. loading up people and ice and anything the other brought.. First thing I do is kick the key on for some tunes and hit the blower on... This way by the time we get to the ramp it's been on a while.
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My storage and gas station I use are about 2 miles from the ramp. When I fill up at the gas station I turn on my blower there so it runs for at least 4-5 min by the time dip the boat in the water.
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Does anyone else just lift the engine cover before heading out just to make sure everything is sound anyway? Anytime we've gone out the driver does that at the house just to check stuff, then when we get there we use the blower, then fire it up. It might sound like over kill, but we've never had a problem doing it that way.
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^^^i just always life the engine cover when we're loading gear and before backing it in. Hit the blower when I actually sit in the drivers seat before I get backed in. If we're docked, just hit the blower while everyone is loading into the boat and getting settled.
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I lift the engine cover the entire time Im in the ramp area. This way we are loading the boards, coolers, gear etc... Then waiting in line to get the boat in. I back it up with my buddy in the boat with the cover open, run the blower and start with the cover open. Better safe than sorry
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Gasoline fumes are heavier than air, lifting the engine cover does not clear them out!
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fumes are a scary thing. I pray for the guy in the accident above. I was burned in a boat explosion restoring my old supra. my shop vac filed with gas fumes and blew. I was burnt about 50% of my body 4 days of skin graft surgery and 21 days in the hospital. I am fully recovered and now am spec aware of running blower more than normal.
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Dirty ~ That was at Antelope Point Marina...
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I lifted my cover an found a mist of fuel coming from an incorrectly installed oring on the fuel line. Glad I looked. Now I like to look at the engine, glance at hoses, belts and sniff around for anything odd.
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On a fuel injected engine I am not sure how fuel vapors would get in the engine compartment unless there was a leak. In that case I am not sure how running the blower a bit it going to help matters much. Also I never fill on the lake but would wait awhile if I did.
So, I do run the blower most of the time but no one has been able to explain why it's really necessary. I'm not sure if anyone knows. |
Once I get to the ramp, i turn the blower on. It goes off when we're in the water, so maybe 2-5 minutes. With all the nanny state stuff we have, I'm amazed it isn't somehow hardwired to turn on...
I however never do the "open engine compartment, smell for gas fumes first" technique, which is technically part of the pre-start routine. On occasion we've forgotten to turn the blower off for awhile while on the water, no harm done thus far that i can tell. |
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Also, when you fill the boat tank you force whatever gas vapors are in the tank out the breather tube. On my SAN the breather tube is vented to the side of the boat; however, I have seen a couple boats where the vent tube was no longer attached to the surface vent, but instead flopping around under the gunnel. I think it is Supra that use to use big spring loaded clamp that falls off sometimes. Latest incident... |
Great thread...it's amazing how serious gas fumes in the engine compartment can be.
Tim Performance Boat Candy |
Sounds like a good episode for "Mythbusters"
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I don't think I've run my blower more than 10 times in the 7 years I've owned my boat. This thread is a good wake up call . . . .
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Please don't tell anyone in the non wakeboarding section that I posted a good thread!
Thanks! BTW, in post above I was trying to say, "depending on the cam and age of the engine" |
I did find this post in another thread and thought it made sense!
Carb vs. FI makes zero difference. Most of the gas fumes in the bilge results from fuel leaks and a FI engine actually has higher fuel system pressure then a carb engine. You can go 100 life times and never have fumes in your bilge and never have a problem, but gasoline fumes are heavier then air and if you ever have fumes and the right ratio everyone might die. Gas tanks never ever vented into the bilge, it is and always was about fumes accumulating where they were not meant too. |
Since I've only owned ski boats and that boat in the picture looks rather larger. Do they have adequate blower on say cabin cruiser, etc. Even fountain boats seem to have very large enclosed engine compartments. Seems like they would need fairly large blowers?
Just curious, DC |
Yes! Most of the big boats have fuel vapor sensors in the engine compartment and automatically turn on the blowers when they sense any kind of fuel vapor.
This is another advantage a diesel boat would have, it's pretty hard to ignite diesel fuel vapors.. |
Run mine as soon as I get to the ramp while getting the straps off and loading last minute items. Why open the hatch when all you need to do is flip a damned switch?
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I probably don't run mine as much as I should, but always run it briefly when I drop the boat in, and the whole time I'm fueling on the water. After starting and before backing off the trailer I open the hatch and check for any fuel or water leaks. You'd be surprised how many boats I've seen that don't have working blowers though... Or bilge pumps for that matter.
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Okay, found the detector for $120. That mod is def on my short list for the winter. Great piece of mind against dying or being burned to a crisp.
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my blower has more hours on it then my engine!! LOL!
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That's a waste of money, just flip the ****ing switch 3 minutes before you start the boat. Is it that hard?
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Maybe the breeze would help? Maybe there are tailing fumes or a higher level of pressure holding fumes that could be exhausted. Maybe lifting he hatch would allow air flow or movement at those "heavier" levels. Maybe you would smell the problem and not turn the key? |
Lifting up the hatch at least gives the pressure of an explosion a place to go. Assuming your really dumb and lift the hatch, smell the fumes, but turn the key anyway, the flame goes out through the open hatch. With a closed hatch it has to blow something open to get out, think flying fiberglass shards, the back seat ect. Some of these things may pierce the gas tank and cause further issues. I had it happen to a jet ski when I was a kid, loose spark plug wire on a stand up, fortunately the hood wasn't strapped down and I just lost some hair on my arms when the flame came out and got a nice sunburn. Had the hood been strapped it probably would have cracked or shattered and who knows where the pieces might have gone.
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The stoichiometric air/fuel ratio of gasoline is 14.7:1. A volume of 100% gasoline vapors will not ignite, it needs oxygen to burn. Again, fuel vapors are heavier than air. You can't clear them all out just by opening the hatch. How about the ones collecting under the floor near the fuel tank? It's possible that by opening the hatch you are just giving the fuel vapors sitting down in the bilge the oxygen mixture it needs to really explode. You need to pump the fuel vapors out from near the lowest point in the bilge. Fortunately boats come with blowers to do just that.
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Science ^^^ There you have it
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Pray for your engine not to blow up? God Bless
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The concentration changes very rapidly. Lets say that you have a high pressure gas leak in your boat, under the engine cover. The concentration is above 7.6% and doesn't blow up, but when you open the engine cover, presto, the concentration changes and kaboom! This is why we have anti-spark intake covers and marine specific starters. While the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio of gasoline is 14.7:1, this only says that at this ratio all the fuel and air would be converted to CO2 and H20 with no waste product. You can still have an explosion with left over air or left over fuel. 2 C8H18 + 25 O2 → 16 CO2 + 18 H2O An interesting read is about Smokey Yunick's Hot Vapor Engine. He built a motor with the belief that if he made the gasoline completely vaporize the surface area of the gas would be greater; therefore, the explosion would be quicker and more violent in the cylinder resulting in more power and better economy. I saw his engine run at the University of Florida probably 20 years ago. Anyhow, be safe! |
Needless to say, but if you ever catch a wiff of gasoline in the bilge you need immediate repairs. Do not operate! Something is wrong and the results may be deadly. A healthy engine and fuel system should never smell like gas (older manual choked carbs excepted).
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Of course you can have a condition where gasoline is a pure gaseous form without an air mixture present. Is gasoline somehow a magical liquid that does not undergo a phase transition to a gaseous form when heated? A great example is the head space in a partially full gasoline container that has been heated. If it’s partially vented during heating air will have been purged due to the heavier specific gravity of the gasoline in its gaseous state. This is done intentionally to decrease degradation of the fuel from oxidation during long term storage. Quote:
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Yes, hence the definition of stoichiometry. This was meant to illustrate how adding air to a fuel rich environment via venting the hatches could actually increase the combustion potential. Gasoline in an IC engine will readily ignite at ratios as rich as 9.5:1 and as lean as 16:1, depending of course on in-cylinder conditions, combustion chamber design, spark energy, etc. Anyway, run your blower people! |
This may sound dumb, but when I was a kid, I was told that it is not as important to run the blower after towing the boat a moderate distance. I still do my best to remember to run the blower, and will actually be doing something to remind myself every time after reading this post. But would towing make a difference and why (other than motion and maybe some air being vented into the engine compartment) would this be the case
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some boats (malibus, for instance) have ram-air ventilation from the windshield to the bilge so towing definitely ought to help out.
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Most boats are designed to self vetilate while underway on the water. My Tige has two inlets at the bottom of the windsheild which has ducts that flow to the rear. The boat being covered while on the trailer while traveling then the self ventilation won't happen. While you are at idle on the water the self ventialtion doesn't happen either. Per recomendations and my experience you should run the blower for about 3-5 minutes before starting and while idling. It can be shut off while underway. In addition, when we unload, I always open the hatch, take a look around, listen for the blower to make sure it is on, check for water in bilge, anything out of the ordinary, and take a sniff for fumes. I also typically let the blower run all day, as mentioned above a $20 blower every other year is cheap insurance against an explosion and risk to myself and passengers. Here in Houston, we usually hear of the explosions happening about every other year +/-, usually at the gas pump on the water because they did not run the blower for a reasonable amount of time before starting the boat.
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are all marine blowers intrinsically safe? They require electricity to operate, just as the starter does. I assume that it is the spark created when closing the circuit to the starter that ignites the fumes. If that assumption is correct, then I will assume the same thing can happen with the blower as well. Electricians and mechanics please explain.
great thread |
Marine equipment is designed to be intrinsically safe - blower, alternator, starter, fuel pump, EFI (or carb), engine controls, etc. That is why you don't use those components from a automotive environment - most of the time they are not built to that standard. I have personally witnessed a minor explosion and fire immediately after an automotive starter being bolted onto a MerCruiser. It was a great lesson in using the correct parts.
Also, there is a big difference between automotive and marine grade flexible fuel lines. |
If marine equipment is intrinsically safe, and my boat is new, why do i need a blower? in other words, what is causing the spark in these explosions and are all these incidents in older boats? Any of these explosions in wake boats newer than 2008?
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Yes, brand new boats have blown up at the ramp their first time.
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Do you guys use your blower everytime you switch riders? Or just after filling up or extended stops?
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Every time I am at idle speed for more than a couple of minutes the blower goes on. While fueling, the blower goes on. When on plane, the blower goes off - just before the rope goes tight. Make it a habit, and it may save your life and the lives of those aboard.
Most fuel leaks are the result of chafing of the fuel cell, chafing of a hose, and a break in a hose by a fitting. Other causes include fuel filter loose, alcohol eating away the inside of your hoses, alcohol eating fuel system gaskets, loose connection to fuel tank fill hose, etc. Even if your boat is new, run the blower and make it a habit. Then, when you are in some other boat, you will follow the same habit and be safe. |
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Things like the starter and blower are created so the spark is not exposed where it can ignite any vapors. A interesting item...a starter rebuilding guy told me that often the failure of a marine starter comes from a contained gas from the spark in marine starters at results in corrosion. He noted automobile starters do not have a contained system. He also cautioned to replace a marine starter with a marine unit.
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I had an interesting experience with this subject. After installing a new fuel sender fro some reason it didn't seal well. I filled up before we hit the lake and didn't think to check anything. We put in, filled the ballast and were getting ready to ride. I popped the rear hatch to get something and smelled fuel & saw a couple inches of what i thought was water in the bilge. Turned out to be fuel. Luckily we were close to the dock and idled back close enough to get the boat on the trailer with minimal effort. Drained about 5 gallons of fuel out of the bilge. I was scared $hitle$$ the whole time. I soaped & scrubbed the bilge quite a few times to get it all out...........I run the blower from 5 minutes before we put in the water until wipe down now..................and I habitually check everything out after fueling......................
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Burn Notice
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OK I waited until everyone had a chance to digest their lunch. Oddly enough after positing to this last week I was the one who managed a nasty burn. In this case I had fuel on my shirt from running and then fixing a cracked fuel line on my hedge trimmer. It did not seem like much fuel but I could smell it. While walking to the house for a new shirt, I walked by and kicked a branch into my burn pile that would not start and was sitting lifeless for 30 minutes. I heard a woosh and found myself on fire. Oddly, the but pile still looks untouched.
Then I heard from a coworker who said he used mineral spirits to clean his forearm of paint. Someone walked by with a cigarette and his arm went up in flames. Our receptionist then told about her husband who was working on getting a car started. They had put fuel into the carb and it belched fuel then ignited. He spent the next 3 weeks in the hospital burn unit. My new rule, if you can smell it be very careful and prepared. |
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