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Running Blowers While Underway

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nightstalker

Regular Contributor
Went out today with a couple of guys at my marina. After running my twin Crusaders for about 15 minutes, I shut down the two engine compartment blowers. One of the guys asked me why. He said he keeps his blowers on while he is underway, I never even thought of that. Is it OK to shut them down, or should I keep them running while underway?
Thanks
Nightstalker
 
I read somewhere that running the bolowers all the time could cause the blowers to over heat and catch fire. I run mine only at idle speeds
 
if your blowers are rated for continuous duty, running them all the time shouldn't hurt anything.

If the boat's ventilation system is designed and installed correctly, you shouldn't have to run the blowers while running. it won't hurt to run them while in the no wake zone.
 
In their infinite wisdom, the designers of our helms, decided that all of the switches should be located below in the saloon helm station and not up on the fly bridge. This makes it real easy to switch things on and off while underway. Fortuantely we usually run with my brother an myself so one of us becomes the remote
 
The blowers can run continuously without a problem--mine have for years.

I NEVER shut them off, and neither should you. Why? Because it's oh so easy to forget to put them back on! And what a disaster that could be. (Think about it.) Blowers are cheap, so when one of mine eventually wears out, I'lkl simply replace it.

Jeff
 
nightstalker said:
Went out today with a couple of guys at my marina. After running my twin Crusaders for about 15 minutes, I shut down the two engine compartment blowers. One of the guys asked me why. He said he keeps his blowers on while he is underway, I never even thought of that. Is it OK to shut them down, or should I keep them running while underway?
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makomark said:
if your blowers are rated for continuous duty, running them all the time shouldn't hurt anything.
Click to expand...

For reasons slightly different from Jeff's, I too run my "Continuous Duty" blower motors (2 of them) when my engines are running. The key is in "Continuous Duty" motors!
The cost is more, but I think it's warranted (over that of purchasing lower quality) if you want to do this.

Do the math re; cu in X's RPM X's number of engines, and there's your volume of fresh cool air required.

For one 350 cu in engine....., that's roughly 2.43 cu ft of air per two crankshaft revolutions (4 complete cycles).
That's 2,430 cu ft of air in one minute @ 2k rpm (4,860 divided by 2).
Granted..... the engine will/should pull this in on it's own.... but if we can assist this, I think that it adds to the amount of available cooler air.

I'd actually like to find or make a good clean system that would allow me to duct my intakes as to directly pull in outside air.
Perhaps another story for another day! :)

.
 
Rick:

you've added another variation to the thread's original theme. Your math will yield the minimum volume of air to enable the engine to run. You need to add to that some cooling air which can also function as a vapor (potential fuel leak) remover, too.

I agree that mechanical ventilation (with the proper equipment selection) will almost always provide a better end result than passive ventilation. That said, there are merits to having an efficient passive system.

Regarding your 'ultimate venting system', I think sonny Hines figured it out a while ago, before he retired from building custom fishing yachts. His find was the 'fast' boats needed an improved vent system as the traditional approach suffered at higher hull speeds. the end result was to apply a mechanical blower to provide positive pressure to the entire machinery space. No separate engine ducting required and all the equipment in that space reaped the benefits.
 
knuckle47 said:
I'm replacing my hatch covers with expanded metal grating !
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Excellent! :D

makomark said:
Rick:

you've added another variation to the thread's original theme. Your math will yield the minimum volume of air to enable the engine to run. You need to add to that some cooling air which can also function as a vapor (potential fuel leak) remover, too.
No... I agree, that was the minimum for just what an engine would consume at that particular RPM.


Regarding your 'ultimate venting system', I think sonny Hines figured it out a while ago, before he retired from building custom fishing yachts. His find was the 'fast' boats needed an improved vent system as the traditional approach suffered at higher hull speeds. the end result was to apply a mechanical blower to provide positive pressure to the entire machinery space. No separate engine ducting required and all the equipment in that space reaped the benefits.
With my luck, Mark...... I'd end up pressurizing my cabin from the air leaks between the engine bay and cabin bulkhead.
Click to expand...
If I were to build something to duct outside of the engine bay, it'd have to be very low profile at the engine. Not much space above.

sammi said:
I leave mine on all the time..............mostly because I forget to turn them off.
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No kidding...... there's some truth to that.
The continuous duty squirrel cage blowers are very quiet. I'll often climb down from the F/B only to then hear them still running, and have to climb back up to shut them off.
 
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