Use of Engine Room Blowers

I'm wondering how many members that have diesel engines actually use their engine room blowers. Do you use them only at start up, while cruising, after shutdown or not at all?

I fall into the "not at all" category.


-- Edited by SeaHorse II on Sunday 10th of April 2011 09:33:25 PM

Blowers are not necessary for safe operation of a diesel powered vessel, but might be helpful in providing sufficient air for engine operation, if in fact your air intakes are too small.

Use mine all the time.With the engine bay being shared by

1/ two old Lehmans
2/ one Onan 7kw gen
3/ a 240volt Eutetic compressor
4/ a smart charge charger
5/ an 1800w inverter

A little fresh air can't be a bad thing, especially in the height of summer here in Oz.

I built a plenum box under one of the large cowl ventilators on volunteer and installed a small electric fan designed for a car radiator, on a hot summer day it exhausted hot air out of the engine room at the ceiling level, I never actually checked but it appeared to drop the engine room temps by 15 degrees or so. The units are designed to run a long time and when it wasn't exhausting it would turn the blades slowly ( unless I had the other cowl vent closed) and allow the engine to pull some air into the engine room. I would leave it running up to 1/2 hr. after shutdown if it was a really hot day to help keep the boat cooler

HOLLYWOOD

We use ours for 20 mins or so after a long run, especially if its a hot day and we have been running the last few miles at WOT.

I test mine a couple of times every season.

I use mine, the last half hour before end of day shutdown.* Seems to lower engine room temp.* If I return to my slip and shore power may run it longer when weather is hot.

JohnP

I use mine to help the air flow, along with a couple of computer fans I installed in a few strategic places. Makes the engine room cooler and brings fresh air to the engine.

Some dry stack vessels need the blower running in hotter climates. A few*Nordhavns have blogged on this issue.*Some dry stack rely upon engine intake air to cool the exhaust pipe thus overly heating the ER - 110 volt high volume fans are not uncommon on commercial dry stack vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, using an air sourcce other than that coming back down the dry stack hole.

On wet exhaust systems a fan is great/necessary when working in hot ER to do maintenance when newly arrived at the dock, or broke down on the water.

At Lake Powell I had ran the blower about 30 minutes after skiing in 115 degree summer sun before*I could do any under hood engine work

I have one installed but never remember to use it. It still works because I accidentally hit the switch every once in a while.

R.

Our engine room is fairly well ventilated, but when*a new 3000watt inverter/charger was installed in the space, also installed a 12VDC 3" brushless fan (.52A)*with plumbing that supplies cold outside air to the back of the inverter/charger.

It runs whenever the ER is warm and the inverter/charger is working.

Used all the time. Air is cheap.

Anthony, that'a a heck of a weather front you have on your Avatar

we use ours most of the time underway. If it is a cool, under 60, I will not use the blowers. I figure a slightly cooler engine room is a good thing.

Use ours whenerever we're running. keeps fumes out of the ER as well

I have 2 x 240 V 8 inch axiel fans one suckin and one blowin.
The suckin unit is on a thermostat set at 40 Deg C and exhausts up thru the funnel.
I have both units on especially during the warmer days as the Eng Rm can get pretty warm.
The engine sucks outside air for efficiency
I have a 5 KVA engine driven gen set so have 240 V most of the time I am cruising.
I run them of the inverter sometimes when I get to anchor just to get the Eng Rm cooler if I am going to do a bit of service work.

Benn

hollywood8118 wrote:


I built a plenum box under one of the large cowl ventilators on volunteer and installed a small electric fan designed for a car radiator, on a hot summer day it exhausted hot air out of the engine room at the ceiling level, I never actually checked but it appeared to drop the engine room temps by 15 degrees or so. The units are designed to run a long time and when it wasn't exhausting it would turn the blades slowly ( unless I had the other cowl vent closed) and allow the engine to pull some air into the engine room. I would leave it running up to 1/2 hr. after shutdown if it was a really hot day to help keep the boat cooler

HOLLYWOOD

Click to expand...

Hollywood,
I would love to see a pic of this. I use to run the Jabsco 12 volts when we arrived at the boat to freshen her up, one blower draws air from the aft head, and tended to let her run almost all the time. The unit near the head pulled air into the ER, and then the other blower vented outside.
Problem is, these Jabsco 35400-0000 blowers have a limited service life, I have probably replaced three in the last 5 years. I bet your set up would live much longer.

Never...I never have any. KISS If I need to cool the ER to work after a run, I place a floor fan fwd of the fwd ER door and open the cockpit lazarette hatch.