'Gas, gas, gas!'

[oldbilbo]

It kills..... yotties like us, and our children.

I was certainly one of those 'close calls' last spring. Had it not been for a simple little CO alarm box left on board by a sailing friend, a forumeer, I would certainly have figured in the list of fatalities.

Is it timely to make a plea for us all to give thought and space to having a cheap CO alarm device on board, sooner rather than later? I know they cost just a couple of quid, via Aldi/Lidl, and can even be had free from some local Fire and Rescue Services....

I say again....

“Quite early in the season I was reading late at night, aboard,and anchored. It was remarkably cold outside, the Taylors paraffin cabin heater was on full blast, and I was reducing the prior season's stock of single malt and water.

Right opposite me on the other side of the cabin was a bookshelf. I noticed a small white plastic box propped up on the books. Numbers displayed on its LED screen seemed to be increasing. Dimly I wondered what the box was for....

I needed a pee, so eventually heaved myself to my feet and clambered onto the deck. While clinging to the shrouds and lowers, admiring the stars, I was struck by how clean and fresh was the air I was now breathing, compared with that down below. Eventually the penny dropped!

It took just a few moments to open the hatches, go below, and turn off the Taylors heater, which was pumping out Carbon Monoxide as a consequence of an unusually bright yellow flame. The damn thing was trying to kill me! Insidious or what?

It was, I think, a lucky escape."

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?288854-Close-calls-this-season&highlight=lady%20campanula

 

[Champagne Murphy]

Get an AUDIBLE one! any boat with a fossil fuel burning device-engine, oil lamp, heater, gas burner- ANYTHING!

 

[johnalison]

I am most grateful for your concern for my welfare. I promise I will get one.

 

[sailorman]

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...ient-tragic-events-i-have-ordered-a-CO-dector

 

[Woodlouse]

Perhaps another good start would be for people to stop sealing themselves into their boats. I get the feeling that since its no longer necessary for the well being of the structure of the boat proper ventelation is a rare thing on modern boats.

 

[sailorman]

Perhaps another good start would be for people to stop sealing themselves into their boats. I get the feeling that since its no longer necessary for the well being of the structure of the boat proper ventelation is a rare thing on modern boats.

my guess with the tragic accident was that the genny was in the cockpit with the enclosure sealed or with little ventilation
This is the craft

 

[alant]

It kills..... yotties like us, and our children.

I was certainly one of those 'close calls' last spring. Had it not been for a simple little CO alarm box left on board by a sailing friend, a forumeer, I would certainly have figured in the list of fatalities.

Is it timely to make a plea for us all to give thought and space to having a cheap CO alarm device on board, sooner rather than later? I know they cost just a couple of quid, via Aldi/Lidl, and can even be had free from some local Fire and Rescue Services....

I say again....

Do CO alarms, pick up other gases, such as Butane/Propane then?

 

[Rivers & creeks]

We fitted two of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kidde-0122UK-Smoke-Carbon-Monoxide/dp/B000WH2S9C/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1364902762&sr=8-5 when we installed the eberspacher a few weeks ago. Combined fire and CO, pls a CO only with a digital readout. They don't make a sound with the Eber on 24/7 but light the Origo rings and all three alarms go off within minutes. Scary, so now replaced in marinas with two electric rings. We only use the Origo at anchor so the hatches will all be open in future when we cook with it.

 

[alant]

We fitted two of these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kidde-0122UK-Smoke-Carbon-Monoxide/dp/B000WH2S9C/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1364902762&sr=8-5 when we installed the eberspacher a few weeks ago. Combined fire and CO, pls a CO only with a digital readout. They don't make a sound with the Eber on 24/7 but light the Origo rings and all three alarms go off within minutes. Scary, so now replaced in marinas with two electric rings. We only use the Origo at anchor so the hatches will all be open in future when we cook with it.

Make sure these combined alarms are placed in the correct position.
Some people think CO is heavier than air, but it isn't (almost the same), so some recommend placing it at the same level as your nostrils would be (maybe lower if sleeping).


http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&scli...42,d.d2k&fp=2e5a99ae973ebf82&biw=1024&bih=508

 

[TrailerSailer]

If it was a genny, personal experience tells me that you have to be really careful where you place them. In the open air is NOT a safe place. I have a portable genny and did place it in the cockpit with the air flowing over it and the exhaust pointing overboard. What I did not realise - until my CO alarm went totally bananas - was that the air flow came over the coach roof, flowed around the cockpit and in through the companionway and finally out through a forward hatch. Thus the CO was brought into the boat rather than over the side as it appeared.

No harm done and I now know where to place the genny so that the wind does actually take the exhaust away from the boat - and I do check the CO alarm regularly when running the genny just to be safe.

 

[prv]

Some people think CO is heavier than air, but it isn't (almost the same), so some recommend placing it at the same level as your nostrils would be (maybe lower if sleeping).

I've just read the instructions for the Kidde alarm being recommended on these threads, and they say the same thing. Mount at head height on the wall, or lower if in a bedroom.

Pete

 

[chewi]

BBC reports on the fatal incident this weekend caused by possible CO have been bizarre.
Shots to camera from a suitable lake (maybe the correct one) with a boat in the background implies the boat on show is the culprit, but so far today I have seen a daytripper, a sailing boat and a motorboat all shown in interviews which were very misleading, and particularly bad business for the daytripper.

They interviewed somebody local who said "some appliances on a yacht USE CO so perhaps there had been a leak..." and the editor & journo were so ill informed they both allowed that drivel to be broadcast.

 

[sailorman]

BBC reports on the fatal incident this weekend caused by possible CO have been bizarre.
Shots to camera from a suitable lake (maybe the correct one) with a boat in the background implies the boat on show is the culprit, but so far today I have seen a daytripper, a sailing boat and a motorboat all shown in interviews which were very misleading, and particularly bad business for the daytripper.

They interviewed somebody local who said "some appliances on a yacht USE CO so perhaps there had been a leak..." and the editor & journo were so ill informed they both allowed that drivel to be broadcast.

See #6
this is the boat
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...boat-tragedy-police-name-woman-and-child.html

 

[chewi]

See #6
this is the boat
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...boat-tragedy-police-name-woman-and-child.html

so I understand, it was the mobo, but if I owned the daytripper I wouldn't have been pleased to see their report of " a boat" with only mine shown in the background.


Sad tale , and especially illuminating that even though they realised , it was too late for them to survive.

 

[[2574]]

t even though they realised , it was too late for them to survive.

Yes that's the scary thing; the dose of gas was such that having taken mitigating action it was still too late. I didn't realise that was the case; I assumed that if you got out in to the fresh air the danger would fade. Clearly not.

 

[Biggles Wader]

CO is especially dangerous because it sticks in the bloodstream even if you get away from the source.It combines with Haemoglobin the same as Oxygen does,but is better at it than Oxygen so it needs to be extracted from the blood so Oxygen can get back in.Blood transfusion or hyperbaric chambers are used,but it is often too late to stop the process.

 

[Windy Tonique]

BBC reports on the fatal incident this weekend caused by possible CO have been bizarre.
Shots to camera from a suitable lake (maybe the correct one) with a boat in the background implies the boat on show is the culprit, but so far today I have seen a daytripper, a sailing boat and a motorboat all shown in interviews which were very misleading, and particularly bad business for the daytripper.

They interviewed somebody local who said "some appliances on a yacht USE CO so perhaps there had been a leak..." and the editor & journo were so ill informed they both allowed that drivel to be broadcast.

Agree and I cannot believe that they used and showed the amateur filming, presumably by 16 year old witness Josh Kynaston, of a stretcher being carried off to the air ambulance. Very distasteful and distressing for the relatives. I also cannot believe the number of people stood around watching with children what must have been a very upsetting scene. My heart goes out to their families and the man who survived.

 

[Rivers & creeks]

Agreed, showing the CPR was distasteful and unnecessarily intrusive, this was the BBC not Five.

 

[saltylegs]

Do CO alarms, pick up other gases, such as Butane/Propane then?

Butane and Propane can set off a CO detector along with lots of other vapours giving false alarms, but it usually takes fairly high levels.

 

[Heckler]

Yes that's the scary thing; the dose of gas was such that having taken mitigating action it was still too late. I didn't realise that was the case; I assumed that if you got out in to the fresh air the danger would fade. Clearly not.

Steelworks, mid70s, blast furnace, serious CO risk. Foreman walking past the base, falls over, electrician goes to rescue him, falls over. BA clad men got them away, was touch and go. They fed them pure oxygen BUT it took days before they recovered, there were concerns about brain damage. As others have said, CO fills red blood corpuscles and is hard to get rid of. This stops oxygen being taken around the body.
We had the same situation offshore Angola. H2S does the same. Strong concentration and you fall over, unconscious!
Stu