Another alarm?

[Iliade]

Fit one! End of story. Lest otherwise it is...

Mine has only given true alarms in all the years I have owned it (the boat grill.) Being a cheapskate of the highest order I take it home with me to keep an eye on the somewhat doddery Baxi real flame fire then back to the boat when we are overnighting. This means that:
a. I get my money's worth.
b. I remain aware of it's functionality.

The day I bought my first boat they carried a dead family out of their boat at my new marina... £30 and a few false alarms is money well spent, though I don't see the point of a CO alarm telling you that the saloon chartworms are being gassed while you are at home.

 

[zoidberg]

My life was saved by one, which Sarabande had put on a bookshelf in the Rival 34 we 'shared' some years ago. It was a bitterly-cold winter's night, the boat was snugged up and so was I, and the Taylor's paraffin wall heater - on full - developed an unseen fault with the burner.

I was lucky to get away with it. The story's in here somewhere.

Perhaps I'd put a question to those who 'can't be bovvered'.... It's OK by me that you choose to run the risk of CO poisoning, but how do you justify taking that risk-decision for other people - family, friends - who may stay on board, and who weren't asked?

 

[Barnacle Bill]

My life was saved by one, which Sarabande had put on a bookshelf in the Rival 34 we 'shared' some years ago. It was a bitterly-cold winter's night, the boat was snugged up and so was I, and the Taylor's paraffin wall heater - on full - developed an unseen fault with the burner.

I was lucky to get away with it. The story's in here somewhere.

Perhaps I'd put a question to those who 'can't be bovvered'.... It's OK by me that you choose to run the risk of CO poisoning, but how do you justify taking that risk-decision for other people - family, friends - who may stay on board, and who weren't asked?

I find this response very helpful, because it pretty well defines a (perhaps 'the') major danger: a combustion heater, particularly if it's unflued, in an enclosed space.

In my view, awareness and knowledge of the danger can prove more useful than simply fitting an alarm, and with this you are in a position to carry out your own individual risk assessment, for your own boat.

For example: the only two possible sources of CO on my boat are the cooker and the engine. The cooker is used for a short period of time, generally with the hatch open to let the steam out. The deisel engine exhaust discharges overboard, and I check it for leaks - this is important (possibly more so for other deisel exhaust toxins than for CO). I am now aware that ventilation is also important. I now know that if I want to heat the boat, an electric blower heater is a much safer option if you have shore power.

Personally I am annoyed by my gas alarm, which is actually designed to give false positives if the battery voltage is low (a not infrequent occurrence on sailing boats). Neither am I keen on the proliferation of alarms - depth, battery monitor, gas, bilge, smoke, CO, low voltage on cell phones, texts, emails, engine, GPS, anchor, VHF etc, and I personally find it difficult, when one goes off, to identify which one it is. So I am careful - not 'can't be bovvered' - in fitting a new one.

(Someone should design a central alarm control panel so that you can quickly identify and 'acknowledge' (i.e. silence) alarms, like on an aircraft, but that's for another thread).

I'm not criticising the RYA policy of this general advice to fit an alarm - just selective in what advice I follow. On a Comp Crew course students are told why gas is dangerous and how to minimise the danger. They are not just told to fit a gas alarm. I think this is a good approach.