Bilge blowers on diesel boat

[on-one]

My boat has 4 bilge blowers which I'm guessing are a leftover from when it had v8 petrol engines.

One of them doesn't work but before I replace or remove I want to confirm is there a benefit to having blowers on a diesel boat? I don't like having stuff on the boat that doesn't work or have a purpose are they useful and if so when?

[ranmar850]

You are probably right, must have on the older style of carburettor'd inboard. Vent out the fumes before you start, they say, foolproof. Then one day you flick the switch on the fan and the bugger blows up anyway, from the fan motor;D Seen it happen, he survived but was not in a great way for a while. Yacht clubs had a saying, " 2 kinds of petrol inboard owners--those who have been blown up, and those who are going to be" But back on topic, diesel fumes are not such a risk per-se, no real call for blowing out the bilge before you start.

[scottar]

A lot of our boats run fans to try and keep the engine space cooler but they suck in not blow out

[on-one]

Thanks, have been doing a little reading and it seems like whilst there's no need to run them pre start running them to extract heat after shut down is useful and also, as mentioned above, benefits in being able to suck air in. Since the holes are already in the boat I might set them up with two to extract and two to suck air in.

[ranmar850]

Yes, larger boats will use those--I'm guessing you have a walk around engine room there.

[on-one]

more of a crawl around

[brett62]

Going from petrol sterndrive to diesel at present and removed the 2 x engine blowers and installing a 3" extraction fan which will suck warm air out and have vents from inside the boat to drag cool air in. Most blowers used for removing fuel fumes are not made for continuous use and don't have the ability to do much in the cooling department due to the capacity. I will also install a thermostat so only in service when required. Important thing for diesels is give them cool dry air and plenty of it. Getting the hot air out is also of great benefit to all the other equipment located near the engine and the extraction point on my installation will be next to the turbo and exhaust elbow which are the hot points.