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Do you have a blower in the engine compartment for diesel

Bahama 30 engine compartment blower

3K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  bvermeer 
#1 ·
Thought I would throw this out to you all. I am dropping in my shiny new Beta 16 tomorrow. One of the things I pulled out was a blower that was installed by the previous owner. Any of you have an engine compartment blower? I think it may have been installed to help with the overheating of the Volvo that was in there before.

thanks

kent
B30 Jazzed
 
#2 ·
Kent--

Any engine benefits from having hot air exhausted and cooler fresh air admitted to the engine compartment. We have a blower that runs whenever the engine is operating that extracts and discharges hot air from the top area of the engine compartment and two static vents with ducting that admit cooler air to the lower area of the compartment. This arrangement also helps discharge fuel and hot oil odors from the boat such that our accommodation has no "engine smell" which can be tough for those prone to sea-sickness.

FWIW...
 
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#3 ·
I recently re powered my I30 with the beta 14. Lot's of fuely, oily, hot smell used to come from the Volvo to the point I was considering a blower. With the beta, I have none of that. I have about 30 hours on the beta now. I have a custom stainless exhaust mixer wrapped in exhaust insulation and tied with stainless wire ( a lot more surface area than the stock exhaust). My engine compartment barely gets any warmer than ambient.
 
#4 ·
I think a blower is still a good idea on a diesel boat. It can provide cooling and fresh air to the compartment. Cool air and lost of it is what diesel's like to breathe... I believe they "process" roughly twice as much air as a gas engine... 19:1 mixture regardless of compression.
 
#5 ·
Engine Compartment Blower

Something else to consider. The battery compartment is right next to the engine and also needs to be vented when the batteries are charging. I have a vent between the engine and the battery compartment. There is also a vent into the hanging locker (which has been converted into drawers). When the engine is running the blower is on, sucking air from inside the boat through the hanging locker, the battery compartment and into the engine compartment. I am working on a smaller fan that will do the same when plugged into shore power with the battery charger running.

Oh, and the Volvo is out of the engine compartment and the engine beds removed. Would you believe the beds are screwed together 3" x 8" solid mahogany (total 6" wide), bedded to the hull in epoxy and glassed into the engine compartment hull only. On the bulkhead sides (galley and quarterberth) they were only stapled, no glue anywhere! There was a rattle at cruising RPM that I couldn't locate. Now I know where it came from!
 
#6 ·
Beneteau supplies a blower with their diesels, which runs whenever the engine runs. I think it's a great idea, and plan to add one to our boat for the reasons listed above. If you can arrange for the blower to run say, 5 minutes after shutdown I expect the residual heat from the engine could be reduced.. a nice idea in summer.
 
#8 ·
Bert doesn't suprise me, although they have done the job for 30 years! I worked for San Juan Boats in the mid 80's and was interesting what went on! the new motor is in the boat, just have to line it up and bolt it down. I plan on doing that tomorrow. Then the rest of the stuff to follow! saw your comment on the exhaust, think I will look at changing it, now is the time!

kent
 
#9 ·
Kent

You're way ahead of me. The engine hasn't even arrived yet. I've discovered (a while ago, that is) that the engine pan for the saildrive unit is 23.5 inches wide. As you probably know, the engine compartment is only 22" wide. Looks like I will be moving cabinetry. At least there is space to do that and it will be intruding on space that generally isn't used. I have to move the batteries over a bit is all.
 
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