Gas safety - am I fooling myself

[tillergirl]

Whoops what have I done to offend. Please rest assured that I am unlikely to raft up to you but I've got someone saying I'm OTT and you saying the opposite. Can you be a bit more specific.

Boatone - yes Corgi installed and tested, two stopcocks in the system.

We seem to have drifted away from the question!!!!

 

[Talbot]

You have done nothing to offend me, It is just that I dont particularly like the set-up and would be concerned that you might go Boom! (Otherwise I would be delighted to raft up and talk.)
This is based on my understanding of your set-up gleaned from these posts. Of course my understanding may well be faulty and your system be fine

 

[tillergirl]

I still don't know what it is you don't like about the setup? The fact that I keep the gas bottles in a gas tight locker with an overboard drain with two stopcocks, fitted and tested by a Corgi guy? Or that I have no sniffers?

 

[Talbot]

I think it is the gas tight locker Plus probability of water in drain line with pressure from boat being heeled over, plus concern whether the pressure on the outside pipe could overcome the seal on the lid.

Dont have these problems in a cat

 

[tillergirl]

Got you. My practice is to close the skin fitting seacock whislt underway and open it again on arrival. I'm afraid though I don't turn the gas off at the bottle everytime I use it.

 

[Nimrod30]

Alternatives

I once had to calculate the energy in kJ which is stored in a 6kg bottle of propane for a chem. exam and the zero's stretched across the page (until I counted them up and worked out the exponent).

Now I'm doing med because I passed that exam and I have had a talk to an SAS soldier in my class about assessing injuries from explosion. He explained that if blood is coming from the victims ear then the probability of internal injury is very high. He also suggested that confined spaces, like a boat, make the injuries worse.

I have chosen a kerosene stove because the fuel is relatively inert if it is not vaporized, it means that my deck has no rusting gas bottle to spoil its line and kerosene is fun to use.

I sleep better on board because of this though kero does have it's own risks.

Make sure that you get domestic kerosene as aviation kerosene contains naphthalene and this will kill you if you get too much of it. Just as you might in a confined space like a boat.

If you think that suggestion sucks then
1. Get a gas detector/ alarm with an automatic solenoid shut off. BEP New Zealand can send you one of these.

2. Check the bottle collars regularly with soapy h2o as the steel and brass like swapping electrons with each other and the bottles leak first at this point. This is especially important as you are filling this locker with salt h2o on a regular basis.

All the best

 

[tillergirl]

Thanks for that. I was trying to forget I once saw a gas bottle explode in building fire; good impression of a space ship. But I have a chum who uses kerosene and has to heat the burners with meths to prewarm them which is an event accomopanied by a lot of flame. Is there a way of getting round this. Alternatively I seen a Dutch yacht with a diesel stove but again the lighting procedure is pretty complicated and slow.

 

[Nimrod30]

Thanks for not taking me too seriously.
There is a way around the meths to prime the burners you buy a propane torch with self ignition like Jamie Oliver would use to caramelize the sugar on a cream brulete (sp) and you heat the burners with this. Real simple and clean but now you have propane back on board but now it’s in a mild steel canister that is only 0.5 mm thick.
That is why I said that using kero is so much fun. I have a fire blanket for the inevitable yellow flame ups that can occur if the burner is not fully primed. I have never had to use it. I avoid lubbers using the stove and if they do I keep a weather eye out for them.

If you do go for kero avoid an external pressure tank that is connected to the stove via a rubber hose as you may as well go back to propane. I knew of a boat called cinders of all things that burnt to the waterline and sank as the hose came off the back of the stove. I hope that your boat dose not have a silly name that would tempt the gods to wrath as it seems they always end up in trouble.

The slowness can be overcome by putting hot water in a thermos once it has boiled as most of the time a cupper is the reason for lighting it up. Good practice prior to storms as well.

Diesel can be lit with a bit of paper soaked in meths and this makes for a quicker light but a diesel stove is a warm delight if you live in a cold climate. The hole in the cabin roof 5" for the flue is a big one so you need to reinforce this well. The flue really stuffs up any thoughts of gimbling but with fiddles and big pots you might get by. Time from start to tea is 2nd longest only to wood stoves but you could leave the kettle to boil all day long.

All the best

 

[DRW]

Hi, the recommended UK installation specs are laid out in this site, and might be of help for you.

http://www.calormarineshop.co.uk/installation/marine_gas_installation.htm

(The boat humour section is not too bad either, even though it is a bit American)

Regards, David