Robbabob
Senior Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2009
- Messages
- 678
Hey, all y'alls!
Been in and out of here during the off season, and had a scare a few weeks ago I thought I'd share: It's long, but you'll hear me saying it like we have a few extra minutes to share together. Before I start, I'll share the purpose of the post, then you can read what happened... just in case you just want to hear about our WiFi thermometers.
Due to our emergency, AND that we live 45 minutes from the boat, I did some research on a WiFi enabled thermometer (because we have WiFi at our dock). We wanted to know when/if there was a problem before it happened, not after we could have done something. I found the NetAtmo(.com) to have less problems overall than the competitions reviews, so we purchased it; none of them were perfectly praised. It comes with 2 units, one for the inside and one for outside, and they are just probes. Meaning, they don't give you a readout, they just sit there. The indoor unit runs off a usb plug with 120 adapter, and the outside unit uses 2 batteries.
Being WiFi, you check them using anything that can connect to the Internet: smartphone, tablet, PC, etc. It also sends out alarms to your smart devices when C02 levels inside become too high, or when the temperature falls too low. Being the bilge heater is supposed to kick on at 40? and kick out at something like 50?, a freeze condition would mean it failed. We would have the time to drive there and correct the condition, or at least be able to start the engines for heat.
It is 36? outside at the boat right now, and roughly 45 in both the cabin and the bilge. Allows us to feel comfortable and not have to make the 2 hours total trip for a check up. I paid $155 on Ebay for the comfort of knowing, other sellers have for mostly higher; around $180. If you do not have WiFi available at your boat, this product will not be for you.
'And now,,,,, the rest of the story.'
Being in the Chattanooga TN area, some of the 28'+ boats go out for a stroll on the warmer winter days. With that in mind, we purchased a bilge heater for Christmas to take care of the engine compartment, and 2 ceramic heaters with manual knob for the interior. Before the first big freeze a few weeks ago (down into the single digits at night), we set everything up in preparation: heaters all plugged in, directed to the locations we felt would be of most benefit, etc. Zipped up the isinglass and went home.... feeling great about our preparations.
The following weekend, we went for a wellness check. Cold outside, so we didn't think too much about it being cold within the helm isinglass. Opened the cabin and found a horrible scene; only the fore-cabin ceramic heater was on. Went to the breaker panel and found 1 of the 2 A/C breakers were tripped! PANIC really setting in now. Reset the breaker, but it popped again in no time.
A quick review of our preparation the previous weekend... we had never had the bilge heater on/tested before. Since each of the ceramic heaters were on separate circuits, each could draw the HIGH setting load without issue, by themselves. I put the ceramics on low setting and the aft circuit still blew with the bilge heater on. Uh boy. put both heaters on the same circuit using an extension cord and on low setting. Now we had all heaters able to function without blowing the circuit.
"SOB, how are the engines? Oh crap..." With it being about 25?F at the time, both engines labored to start. The port engine cranked up and had an odd squeak in back around the belts. I couldn't figure it out, so I took a video to share here. The starboard engine also cranked up and ran smooth. Although dirty still, both of the engines had good oil (not milky). Brought both up to temp and easily noticed the starboard engine's thermostat opened for lake water much sooner than the port engine. I figure this needs replaced.
Seems we dodged a bullet, but still have that squeak. I called a friend that works at our marina, and he brought another worker over to investigate. He couldn't figure it out either, and when he was shimmying around to get his head inside, he used the exhaust box (box both sides of the exhaust go into for a single exhaust output the transom), the sound muffled and nearly went away. He released his weight and it came back. He guesses there must be baffle material in there that either became dislodged or a piece of ice formed and won't let it swing free. Either way, seems we have 2 good engines, still, and the extra noise will only be a nuisance until we look at fixing/replacing the box.
Yup, we're lucky she's a strong old bird.
Been in and out of here during the off season, and had a scare a few weeks ago I thought I'd share: It's long, but you'll hear me saying it like we have a few extra minutes to share together. Before I start, I'll share the purpose of the post, then you can read what happened... just in case you just want to hear about our WiFi thermometers.
Due to our emergency, AND that we live 45 minutes from the boat, I did some research on a WiFi enabled thermometer (because we have WiFi at our dock). We wanted to know when/if there was a problem before it happened, not after we could have done something. I found the NetAtmo(.com) to have less problems overall than the competitions reviews, so we purchased it; none of them were perfectly praised. It comes with 2 units, one for the inside and one for outside, and they are just probes. Meaning, they don't give you a readout, they just sit there. The indoor unit runs off a usb plug with 120 adapter, and the outside unit uses 2 batteries.
Being WiFi, you check them using anything that can connect to the Internet: smartphone, tablet, PC, etc. It also sends out alarms to your smart devices when C02 levels inside become too high, or when the temperature falls too low. Being the bilge heater is supposed to kick on at 40? and kick out at something like 50?, a freeze condition would mean it failed. We would have the time to drive there and correct the condition, or at least be able to start the engines for heat.
It is 36? outside at the boat right now, and roughly 45 in both the cabin and the bilge. Allows us to feel comfortable and not have to make the 2 hours total trip for a check up. I paid $155 on Ebay for the comfort of knowing, other sellers have for mostly higher; around $180. If you do not have WiFi available at your boat, this product will not be for you.
'And now,,,,, the rest of the story.'
Being in the Chattanooga TN area, some of the 28'+ boats go out for a stroll on the warmer winter days. With that in mind, we purchased a bilge heater for Christmas to take care of the engine compartment, and 2 ceramic heaters with manual knob for the interior. Before the first big freeze a few weeks ago (down into the single digits at night), we set everything up in preparation: heaters all plugged in, directed to the locations we felt would be of most benefit, etc. Zipped up the isinglass and went home.... feeling great about our preparations.
The following weekend, we went for a wellness check. Cold outside, so we didn't think too much about it being cold within the helm isinglass. Opened the cabin and found a horrible scene; only the fore-cabin ceramic heater was on. Went to the breaker panel and found 1 of the 2 A/C breakers were tripped! PANIC really setting in now. Reset the breaker, but it popped again in no time.
A quick review of our preparation the previous weekend... we had never had the bilge heater on/tested before. Since each of the ceramic heaters were on separate circuits, each could draw the HIGH setting load without issue, by themselves. I put the ceramics on low setting and the aft circuit still blew with the bilge heater on. Uh boy. put both heaters on the same circuit using an extension cord and on low setting. Now we had all heaters able to function without blowing the circuit.
"SOB, how are the engines? Oh crap..." With it being about 25?F at the time, both engines labored to start. The port engine cranked up and had an odd squeak in back around the belts. I couldn't figure it out, so I took a video to share here. The starboard engine also cranked up and ran smooth. Although dirty still, both of the engines had good oil (not milky). Brought both up to temp and easily noticed the starboard engine's thermostat opened for lake water much sooner than the port engine. I figure this needs replaced.
Seems we dodged a bullet, but still have that squeak. I called a friend that works at our marina, and he brought another worker over to investigate. He couldn't figure it out either, and when he was shimmying around to get his head inside, he used the exhaust box (box both sides of the exhaust go into for a single exhaust output the transom), the sound muffled and nearly went away. He released his weight and it came back. He guesses there must be baffle material in there that either became dislodged or a piece of ice formed and won't let it swing free. Either way, seems we have 2 good engines, still, and the extra noise will only be a nuisance until we look at fixing/replacing the box.
Yup, we're lucky she's a strong old bird.
