Alaskan Sea-Duction
Guru
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2012
- Messages
- 8,084
- Location
- USA
- Vessel Name
- Alaskan Sea-Duction
- Vessel Make
- 1988 M/Y Camargue YachtFisher
Definitely some good stuff in there. The only one I disagree with is the suggestion not to keep oil in there. As long as the containers are adequately secured and not too close to a heat source, it's fine. If it gets hot enough down there for engine oil to be a danger, you're probably on fire.
It is interesting that Racor has fancy heat reflectors available to cover the fairly thick plastic bowls for fire protection (ABYC requirement on new construction?), yet the engine room can have 20 quarts of oil in very thin plastic jugs. My oil jugs are only "protected" by plastic milk crates secured in the engine room. Does the ABYC have any guidance on this?
The Racor filters are often mounted pretty close to an engine. Plus, diesel fuel is easier to ignite than engine oil. And the Racor is connected to a much larger source of liquid (fuel tank) that could potentially continue to flow if the bowl is ruptured (unless your tanks have anti siphon valves like a gas boat).
It is interesting that Racor has fancy heat reflectors available to cover the fairly thick plastic bowls for fire protection (ABYC requirement on new construction?), yet the engine room can have 20 quarts of oil in very thin plastic jugs. My oil jugs are only "protected" by plastic milk crates secured in the engine room. Does the ABYC have any guidance on this?
Definitely some good stuff in there. The only one I disagree with is the suggestion not to keep oil in there. As long as the containers are adequately secured and not too close to a heat source, it's fine. If it gets hot enough down there for engine oil to be a danger, you're probably on fire.
My last boat had a built-in oil storage tank in the ER, probably around 20-30 gallons.My concern with oil in the engine room is not that the containers are going to catch fire because of heat, but will the containers chafe and develop a leak, which then causes a problem.
I keep a jug of oil in the back of my pickup in a milk crate. The plastic has been fine both from UV and chafe, so I don't think there is likely to have a leak, but a leak in the pickup bed is a mess, while a leak in the engine room could have far more serious consequences.
If the stored oil will not leak, or if it does, it is contained, I don't see what the big deal would be with oil in the ER.
Later
Dan
Definitely some good stuff in there. The only one I disagree with is the suggestion not to keep oil in there. As long as the containers are adequately secured and not too close to a heat source, it's fine. If it gets hot enough down there for engine oil to be a danger, you're probably on fire.
Don’t like to store very heavy things near through hulls. Particularly marelon. Had experience when crewing of a near sinking with a milk crate full of chain striking a thru hull. Have no issue storing stuff in the engine room but not unsecured heavy things.
I'm very interested to hear how you dealt with the fire. I once came very close to a similar fire. The gasket on the gen set lube oil filter developed an pin hole leak. It was spraying a fine mist of lube oil onto the main engine turbo. Fortunately there was an insulation blanket on the turbo which had not yet gotten saturated to the point the oil reached the turbo. The odor of hot oil got me to take a look and deal with the problem before ignition.As a matter of actual experience:
My dual Racors are mounted, together, on the aft bulkhead, about 24" from the transmissions of each engine, Mine are the 500s, without the metal heat shield. In 2000, I had a hydraulic hose fail on the Port trans, which led to a fire at that location, due to the hydraulic fluid having spewed onto the trans housing, which got hot enough running without fluid, to ignite the fluid.
The air filter housing, located above the fire, was consumed. The unprotected Racors showed no effect whatsoever.
I'm very interested to hear how you dealt with the fire. I once came very close to a similar fire. The gasket on the gen set lube oil filter developed an pin hole leak. It was spraying a fine mist of lube oil onto the main engine turbo. Fortunately there was an insulation blanket on the turbo which had not yet gotten saturated to the point the oil reached the turbo. The odor of hot oil got me to take a look and deal with the problem before ignition.
Thank you for the full story! Good thing your friend was the curious type.I had a friend along on a crossing of Georgia Strait. One of those guys who asks annoying questions, lots of them. At about the geographic centre of Georgia Strait, on the route from Vancouver to Nanaimo, he lifted the floor hatch above the Port engine, aft end, and we both saw flames. That hatch was immediately closed, both engines stopped and the fire extinguisher grabbed from its nearby handy location. The hatch again raised, the fire was put out in seconds. Frequent checking confirmed that it was out., then we could start shaking. We carried on to Nanaimo and when the wives arrived in the morning, told his nothing about the fire and mine only enough so she knew not to mention it to his. The insurance adjuster did a thorough investigation and told me where the fire had started and how. Disassembly of the trans confirmed the lack of fluid and the heat of friction.
My replacement FE is twice the size of the original and for several years I also carried a trash pump with a fire hose.