What is the proper way to use a gen set for overnight cruising?

Fireman431

Rear Admiral
Joined
Sep 17, 2007
Messages
4,292
Re: What is the proper way to use a gen set for overnight cruising?

$35-50 online? Which ones?

I found mine on eBay. A buy it now price of $90 for a 3 pack.

Your blowers should be pulling the air From the Bilge and Blowing it overboard.

Yes, you are correct, but the do pull the fresh air in from the same level. Since no bilges are airtight and the negative pressure created from a bilge blower means that air will come from the closest source, that would mean whatever is available around the bilge vents.

For the folks who are blowing chunks about generators...you can calm down and take into consideration the facts of the matter. The craft in question is a big-arse cabin cruiser with a factory installed marine genset. That means the generator is in it's own room, insulated both acoustically and thermally, is water cooled just like any inboard engine, and exhausts thru the hull into the water to further reduce noise and fumes.

It is perfectly safe to use 24 hours a day whether moored or underway, which is precisely what it was designed/intended/installed for! There is a reason they cost between 5-10 thousand dollars to buy/install.

Well said!

Factory installed or not, they still have the potential to leak CO2 into the cabin. THere's a reason it's called the silent killer.

I'm sure you meant CO, not CO2, but I'm not nitpicking. Please tell me you meant CO is the silent killer, not generators are the silent killer :eek:
 

tullydf

Seaman
Joined
Sep 3, 2012
Messages
65
Re: What is the proper way to use a gen set for overnight cruising?

CO detecter(s) DEFINITELY!

As for running all night...I have a 36 mainship and when I stay on the hook, I only run the genny and hour or two at a time. My primary concern is to keep what is in the freezer frozen. The right combination of battery set-up and spuratic genny use can be adequate. I never run overnight. I simply couldn't sleep with a running engine unattended...but that's just me. With intake hoses, raw water pumps, belts, potential for overheating, CO emissions and who knows what else, it would be tough to catch a wink. Mind you I have my four children and wife aboard. If it's that uncomfortably hot that you would need AC overnight, I would find a marina and plug in.

Dave
 

CaptainKickback

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
1,060
Re: What is the proper way to use a gen set for overnight cruising?

Over 300 two night outings and never (I repeat) never any CO alarms. And yes, they were working.

My Cruisers had 3 blowers, all sucking the air out of the bilge. I'm sure fresh air was sucked in through a number of places, but frankly, didn't care to do a blue smoke test.

No one (avg 15 boats per night (i.e. 9000 boats)) every yelled at me to shut my generator down.

As for temperature, people heat a cabin up fairly well. Doesn't take much to be too hot to sleep comfortably.

Sea ya...
 

H20Rat

Vice Admiral
Joined
Mar 8, 2009
Messages
5,199
Re: What is the proper way to use a gen set for overnight cruising?

Over 300 two night outings and never (I repeat) never any CO alarms. And yes, they were working.


It only takes one... The difference in between zero and one is that the zero guy is alive to post it, the 1 alarm guy isn't.
 

Fireman431

Rear Admiral
Joined
Sep 17, 2007
Messages
4,292
Re: What is the proper way to use a gen set for overnight cruising?

I've had alarms go off. Thank goodness they were there. One night a Co alarm went off in the salon while we were on the hook overnight. We were in cabins and neither of those went off. Got up to find the rear sliding door open about 1". Just enough to let in exhaust when the wind changed.

Also had a bilge alarm go off (CO in the bilge). It was from the genset exhaust getting pulled in because I left the blower on! The genset exhaust was on the same side as the fresh air intake for the bilge blowers. Never noticed that before. That was soon swapped to the other side.

Thankfully in both instances that the alarms were there and working properly. A few minutes of ventilation was all it took to correct the issues. To the poster above who wrote
It only takes one... The difference in between zero and one is that the zero guy is alive to post it, the 1 alarm guy isn't.
, I beg to differ. It's the guy without the alarm who isn't here anymore.
 

Quit It

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Aug 6, 2012
Messages
298
Re: What is the proper way to use a gen set for overnight cruising?

I just picked up a Kiddie CO detector to back up the OEM for $20.
 

CaptainKickback

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
1,060
Re: What is the proper way to use a gen set for overnight cruising?

It only takes one... The difference in between zero and one is that the zero guy is alive to post it, the 1 alarm guy isn't.

I'm not sure what your motivation is to make a statement like that, but I doubt its a positive one. The OP was worried about running his generator overnight. Are your trying to scare him? Are you trying to denigrate those of us that run our generators overnight? Do you even have a generator?

None of us said it can't happen. I don't think anyone said they didn't need detectors in their sleeping areas. And actually, your 1 alarm guy IS ALIVE because he had one.

Sea ya...

The OP , and we are saying
 
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