Independence - Updates | Maintenance & Care

[Polly]

The SAR and two lifeboats were out for ages at Dungeness, and then Grendel, was it, mentioned Indy crew being busy watching out for mines, so was this a sighting being followed up?

[Meantime]

Robin,

Tim Waters is a very fair and good BSS tester, so your in good hands there. I think you said you needed fire extinguisher's? I've used the following and they are one of the best and cheapest I have found by quite a margin. As I know your aware, don't even think of looking in a chandlers unless you want to line their pocket.

https://www.fireandsafetycentre.co.uk/Products/1457/2kg_Dry_Powder_Fire_Extinguisher.html

 

[grendel]

Polly I believe the suspect object was in the Solent (maybe it was Bessie, placed there by the crew of HMS Troutbridge).

[Polly]

Yes so that they could carry on sunbathing in peace. 

[Islander]

Robin, have a look here, if you haven't already ordered your extinguishers.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIRE-EXTINGUISHERS-for-Protection-in-the-Car-Caravan-Taxi-Workplace-Office-Cheap-/151385379327?var=&hash=item233f4591ff:m:mbNKmZqlfz6ng40P3OSBQBw

If you order more than one the price drops very quickly and postage is FREE We have 3x 2Kg ones on both our boats and no prob with BSS. Lloyds approved too.

Colin

[Vaughan]

16 hours ago, LondonRascal said:

I also need to find what type of hydraulic oil to use in order to top off the large tank. I would guess this holds perhaps a 100 litres of oil judging by its size.

Peachments in Brundall make hydraulic bow thrusters, so they can advise about the oil. At Crown Cruisers we always used Total Equivis, supplied by them.

[FairTmiddlin]

Finally got round to editing the rubbish footage from the 4th at Dungeness

Hadn't really felt like doing this up till now, as finally laid to rest my great freind yesterday. I now feel closure on that and hope to get on with life a bit more now

 

 

 

 

[LondonRascal]

Quote

I think you said you needed fire extinguisher's? I've used the following and they are one of the best and cheapest I have found by quite a margin.

Thanks for the link - but they come in at £14.70 with VAT and then delivery is is £8.95 on top - however, good old Amazon can have one for £16.00 delivered.  http://amzn.eu/gECkV3Z  handy to know. 

[Meantime]

35 minutes ago, LondonRascal said:

Thanks for the link - but they come in at £14.70 with VAT and then delivery is is £8.95 on top - however, good old Amazon can have one for £16.00 delivered.  http://amzn.eu/gECkV3Z  handy to know. 

The ones I referenced above do get cheaper for delivery the more you order. I note that the ones that Islander referred to are also certified to BS EN3. The ones I linked to are also certified to MED Marine Equipment Directive. It would be worth checking the "budget" ones on Amazon to ensure they will meet the BSS fully. The BSS makes particular mention of the fact that CE marking does not indicate certification of performance to EN3. It also makes no mention of Lloyds register certification. There are nine accreditation marks that the BSS will accept at least one of. CE marking alone is not one of them.

I believe in any case that Tim Waters carries new ones, so if that were the only fail he can sell you some.

Good luck with the test.

[LondonRascal]

I wonder if you can have Foam and CO2 extinguishers and not just dry powder? If so, I would get a commercial sized version and strap it somewhere as a 'proper' extinguisher capable of actually doing something for longer.

I found a different extinguisher, £1.00 more but Kitemarked to EN3. http://amzn.eu/9SPV5Pe 

[Islander]

Robin, your first Amazon listing is the same item as in my eBay listing, different supplier. Amazon are cheaper for small quantities but I bought 6. Anyway, Tim was happy with the Commander Edge extinguishers. I do wonder if the Lloyds rating is something for offshore boat in sewer ants

Colin

[JennyMorgan]

2 hours ago, FairTmiddlin said:

Finally got round to editing the rubbish footage from the 4th at Dungeness

Hadn't really felt like doing this up till now, as finally laid to rest my great freind yesterday. I now feel closure on that and hope to get on with life a bit more now

 

 

 

 

She rode that sea well, must have been exciting being aboard. There have been suggestions elsewhere that she'd benefit from having stabilisers fitted, not with the evidence of this video. Well done Indy! Wish that I'd been there!

[grendel]

the problem with extinguishers is that they have to be applicable to the use they will be put, for example a fuel fire and an electrical fire may well need a different cylinder, when I was a fire marshall we were told, if the fire is bigger than a waste basket then leave it be, the fire extinguisher should be used to clear your passage to the outside.

Of course that is in an ideal world, when you are not on a boat away from a safe area to get off.

Perhaps we need our resident expert Jayfire to comment.

[Bound2Please]

a lifetime ago when I worked on the railways they had extinguishers that were green in colour, when let off even if pointed away from a fire the gas turned headed for the fire and extinguished fire. I saw a demo of a diesel fire that was well going put out with a small one. They were withdrawn as the do gooders said the gas was harmful to the ozone layer. I think it was called something like pyrene in them.

[S37]

Hi Robin, Ref bow thruster control... I was put off by the £250 cost to replace mine so I took it apart and got the part numbers off the individual parts which are mostly from industrial controls. Ordered online, think the exact same joystick and switch contact was less than £40. To make it look nicer I then got Brian Wards to make a new panel the same size as the old one so it looks as good as new. Same applied to the bow thruster contactor, marine suppliers wanted marine prices.... I checked the part number and the same product is used on fork lifts.... £70 inc delivery. 

Mine was a Volvo penta QL thruster.

 

[TheQ]

Pyrene was the name of the fire extinguisher company, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pyrene_Company_Limited

Green, Fire extinguishers generally contained BCF, Bromochlorodifluoromethane..  (carbon tetrafluride if you go back that far)

Blue, Dry powder,

Black, CO2

Cream, Foam

Red, Water.

 Now they've changed the rules again, all fire extinguishers are  Red, but with a coloured label to say what's  inside.

if you are buying an extinguisher I'd go for Blue  that just about covers everything

 

[Meantime]

58 minutes ago, LondonRascal said:

I wonder if you can have Foam and CO2 extinguishers and not just dry powder? If so, I would get a commercial sized version and strap it somewhere as a 'proper' extinguisher capable of actually doing something for longer.

I found a different extinguisher, £1.00 more but Kitemarked to EN3. http://amzn.eu/9SPV5Pe 

The BSS states that each individual fire extinguisher must be a minimum rating of 5A/34B, therefore it must be capable of class A and B fires. CO2 is only suitable for class B fires and therefore couldn't be used. Foam would be ok and I guess a mix of foam and dry powder as they both are suitable for both classes. You must meet minimums for the BSS, but can exceed this as I have done.

The minimums for your boat being over 36ft are 3 individual extinguishers, of which each must be a minimum of 5A/34B, but with a minimum combined value of 21A/144B.

My boat only needs 2 extinguishers and a combined minimum of 13A/89B. I have 3 x 13A/89B (basically 2kg) extinguishers in suitable places.

The BSS also covers fire blankets and escapes, but interestingly doesn't cover automatic fire suppression in engines bay unless I've missed it.

I have attached the latest BSS regs, of which section 6 deals which fire extinguishers and also shows all nine of the allowable certification marks.

 

ecp-private-boats-ed3_rev2_apr2015_public_final.pdf

[TheQ]

I once was on my annual fire training course in the RAF, I was given a CO2 extinguisher and told to put out a fuel fire, in a tray 3ft square.  The instructor Didn't know I had been on the firemans strike and had more training than normal, and promptly put out the fire with C02.

He wasn't expecting that

[FairTmiddlin]

54 minutes ago, Bound2Please said:

a lifetime ago when I worked on the railways they had extinguishers that were green in colour, when let off even if pointed away from a fire the gas turned headed for the fire and extinguished fire. I saw a demo of a diesel fire that was well going put out with a small one. They were withdrawn as the do gooders said the gas was harmful to the ozone layer. I think it was called something like pyrene in them.

Halon Gas Extinguishers (green ones) Not only hazardous to the Ozone layer ( if you think that way) But very obnoxious to humans so obnoxious as to be terminal

 

[Guest]

45 minutes ago, grendel said:

the problem with extinguishers is that they have to be applicable to the use they will be put, for example a fuel fire and an electrical fire may well need a different cylinder, when I was a fire marshall we were told, if the fire is bigger than a waste basket then leave it be, the fire extinguisher should be used to clear your passage to the outside.

Of course that is in an ideal world, when you are not on a boat away from a safe area to get off.

Perhaps we need our resident expert Jayfire to comment.

Sorry Grendel I can't seem to see what the actual question was, did Robin ask something?

You are correct in that an extinguisher is rated dependent on it's use so for example a water extinguisher may be rated 13A, the A referring to the classification of fire and the 13 is a reference to the size of fire it is useful for 'in test conditions'.

Any fire of any size should be left alone and the room sealed (I know, but I have to say that) and extinguishers should be placed by the exit door of a means of escape, so that if someone chooses to use the extinguisher they can immediately exit the room, and ideally close the door, to safety.

The advise to leave the fire isn't just due to extinguishers being incapable of dealing with anything larger than a bin fire, but more that people are generally unaware of what is happening in the atmosphere due to pyrolysis which is what then prevents them being able to exit.

All extinguishers are now coloured red with a 5% colour coded band denoting their contents, this is to comply with British Standards since the late 90's, the green vaporizing liquid extinguishers are illegal (except aircraft and military) and have been for many years.

Sorry if none of that is relevant, I am just trying to guess what the original question was from what others have posted

[FairTmiddlin]

There is a very large Halon Fogger not far from me.

As you come from the last exit of the channel tunnel, you come through what looks like a bridge that was not finished.

In case of fires they are taught to open the engines to full throttle, alert fire control and the halon fogger is tripped from a heat source detector just by the tunnel exit

[SueH]

Going slightly off topic.

Hi Jay.  Many years ago when I was in the WRAF we used to have a small red extinguisher used solely for electrical fires which was 'abolished' under 'Elf & Safety'  For the life of me I can't remember what it was called.  Any ideas?

Sue

[BrundallNavy]

14 minutes ago, SueH said:

Going slightly off topic.

Hi Jay.  Many years ago when I was in the WRAF we used to have a small red extinguisher used solely for electrical fires which was 'abolished' under 'Elf & Safety'  For the life of me I can't remember what it was called.  Any ideas?

Sue

I remember when they checked the extinguishers in the WRAF block at St Athan all the gas cylinders where missing, cannot think what the girls used them for 

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, SueH said:

Going slightly off topic.

Hi Jay.  Many years ago when I was in the WRAF we used to have a small red extinguisher used solely for electrical fires which was 'abolished' under 'Elf & Safety'  For the life of me I can't remember what it was called.  Any ideas?

Sue

Not sure about that one Sue, it's before my time I think, I will see if I can find out for you. Was it a military only extinguisher do you know?

27 minutes ago, FairTmiddlin said:

There is a very large Halon Fogger not far from me.

As you come from the last exit of the channel tunnel, you come through what looks like a bridge that was not finished.

Not sure if you were replying to me there but you are correct, the channel tunnel has it's own exception too.

An exemption can be applied for, but it needs a lot of justification and is very tightly controlled.

[SueH]

34 minutes ago, FairTmiddlin said:

Halon Gas Extinguishers (green ones) Not only hazardous to the Ozone layer ( if you think that way) But very obnoxious to humans so obnoxious as to be terminal

 

Sounds like I remember - perhaps I mis-remember the colour.   After all it is 30 years since I left!!!