Petrol engines – engine compartment ventilation.

[QBhoy]

Hi
It may not be obvious but you will almost certainly have an intake of air into the engine space. Almost certain of it.
The blowers. These are to be run before starting and at slow speeds. Crucial you do this with carb engines that can have vapour low lying in the engine space. Not sure I’ve heard of it happening on a boat like yours with a huge space down there but the smaller us speedboats with their boxed in compartments and some fletchers are famous for going boom on start up.

 

[Hambleite]

My parents had twin volvo petrols on carbs, back in the late 80s and I can remember them always running the blowers prior to start up.

Just out of interest, would this procedure still need to done an an EFI/MPI installation?

And, do you think that an EFI/MPI installation would be 'safer' than a carb installation?

I'm not trying to start a debate about overall safety and relative risks but to me, having a 'closed' fuel system seems like a safer design rather than a carb, which is basically a bucket with a hole in the bottom!

 

[Grubble]

My parents had twin volvo petrols on carbs, back in the late 80s and I can remember them always running the blowers prior to start up.

Just out of interest, would this procedure still need to done an an EFI/MPI installation?

And, do you think that an EFI/MPI installation would be 'safer' than a carb installation?

I'm not trying to start a debate about overall safety and relative risks but to me, having a 'closed' fuel system seems like a safer design rather than a carb, which is basically a bucket with a hole in the bottom!

The EFI isn't much different to a carb, it just blows petrol into an open bucket via an injector.

The MPI is "closed" as you say, but pressurised fuel can still leak at all the various connections in the system, so a blower is a must.