When things go up in smoke

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

Yes, it IS easy to be critical in hindsight, but it`s more important on a public forum  to point out where people have gone wrong in order that others DON`T do the same.

 

It`s also wrong to state what you may "think" rather than to believe others advice, especially someone who is trained in firefighting.

 

Yes it IS correct to turn the gas off, but at the cylinder, NOT at the fridge or cooker, so a trip to the cockpit (with your lifejacket already on) to get to the gas locker, rather than down to the galley would be the right thing to do

 

If deisel gets sqiurted onto a hot engine, the vapours given off can be EXTREMELY volatile, believe me, i know, i`ve dealt with them in the past, so if there IS a wiring issue, which you could only GUESS at and sparking is occuring in a gas filled space, by opening the engine hatch, even by a small amount, could result in an explosion of gasses.

 

The correct way of finding a hidden fire is by feel, which is breifly mentioned somewhere above, where you feel for excessive heat on hatches or locker doors etc.In my training, we were tought NEVER EVER GO LOOKING FOR A FIRE, If you suspect one, then get you, and anyone else with you, to safety as quick as possible.

 

 

To say someone did the right thing when in fact they did somethings that could have had disasterous consequences, and make possibly guarded qritisisms to those pointing out where they went wrong is misguided at best, and dangerously irresponsible at worst. If any member or guest of this forum, was to see Robins video, and do the same because of what they`ve seen or read, but have a different and possibly deadly outcome, how would you feel?.

 

 

There are ways and means to deal with possible fires, so let`s listen to those best qualified?.

[JanetAnne]

Well Robin. It seems you did right while doing wrong and wrong while doing right! To my mind the end result was pretty close to perfect so the journey to that result seems appropriate.

 

When my owner used to 'spanner' race cars they used a system where a pull cable mounted on the outside of the vehicle enabled a marshall etc to isolate the battery instantly without opening bonnets etc. The same system was employed to trigger the fire extinguisher should it be needed. These are compulsary on such cars before they can race and checked as part of scrutineering.

 

Well, as a direct result of your escapade, I will now have such a system fitted next to my helm. Three red pull handles, one for batterys, one to a fire extinguisher in the engine bay and the other to the gas tap isolator. No leaving the helm and lifting hatches in a hurry, just pull. Job done. We hope to never use them...

 

By the way, been there, done that....

 

 

[Oddfellow]

Robin the system i have got is just a simple relay which connects both banks together when the ignition is on allowing them both to be charged by the alternator, they are also connected individually to the shore power battery charger to recieve a charge, im led to believe a much simpler setup with minimal voltage drop and no electronics as such to go wrong!

 

A split charging relay does exactly as you say; connects the battery banks together when it is energised. Combined with a small alternator, this can make charging more troublesome as you are increasing the resistance that the charger has to overcome. A split charge diode does not do this, it pushes power back to each battery bank independently as the diode allows power travel in one direction only. The price for this is a small volt drop.

 

Brian wards offer another alternative to this which I have not tried. It has is a timer split charge unit which will give 30 minutes of full power to each battery bank in rotation. I suspect becasuse this is a timed swicthing unit that there is no voltage drop at all on this.

[andy]

Hi Robin I think that you did extremely well . I would like to think that I would do the same but you don't know how you will react. No one is the same.

[CaptainJoshie]

Hi Robin

 

Your experience has prompted me to fit one of these to our boat:-

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301625827960?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

 

I stand on top of our 'engine room' so opening it while moving would be difficult, but if we had a fire I could with above squirt in a fire extinguisher and douse the fire without letting oxygen to feed it.

 

I must now get a safe gaseous type fire extinguisher to use, a powder type would make to much mess.

 

Just to add I have just fitted a 'Sterling Power ProSplit R Zero Loss' unit and Sterling advise fitting fuses to the charging cables to each battery. I in fact fitted resettable 300amp cutouts (3, as I have 3 banks of batteries) as I'm not a fan of high power fuses.

Edited May 16, 2015 by CaptainJoshie