Solar Vent

[lpdsn]

I'm toying with the idea of fitting a solar powered vent. I'm curious to hear of others' experiences with them.

 

[Gwylan]

I'm toying with the idea of fitting a solar powered vent. I'm curious to hear of others' experiences with them.

Our experience is that the cheap ones have a short life and indifferent performance.

Probably an opening hatch will be more useful and better value.

 

[ctva]

I bought the posh expensive one first that fits the Tannoy. Best bit of kit for ridding the boat of the damp boaty smell. When that packed in, I got a cheap plastic one off eBay and bastardised it, without too much effort to replace it at a fraction of the cost. We’ve had three in total over 18years and the third is still going.

Go for it, you will not regret it. We now have the one that has a battery so charges during the day and will run a good bit of the night to reduce condensation, or leave it on solar where it works during the day. Way better than an open hatch.

 

[Greenheart]

Our experience is that the cheap ones have a short life and indifferent performance. Probably an opening hatch will be more useful and better value.

I doubt it's fair to dismiss solar vents on the negative experience of one cheap example, and one of their benefits is surely that you don't need to leave a hatch open when the yacht is unattended.

Not pretending to have experienced good or bad, myself...but I reckon they're probably well worth having, as long as you buy a pair...

...that way, you set one to suck fresh air in, while the other, positioned far from the first, blows the inside air out, and neither has to fight a pressure-gradient. Obviously, keep any interior door between the two vents, open.

I really hope they're as good as they're claimed to be, they've been on my shopping list for ages, right under 'Yacht'.

 

[LiftyK]

I fitted one many years ago. It was a decent one from West Marine. It was great while it lasted but the fan motor or its battery (used to continue ventilation for a while after the sun goes in) failed after a season. Thr fan would not operate even in direct sunshine. The quality of solar panels and batteries may have improved since then but I have formed the view that anything with hard wired rechargeable batteries has a limited lifetime. It's a bit like an electric toothbrush. I only get those that operate on removeable batteries.

 

[Gwylan]

I doubt it's fair to dismiss solar vents on the negative experience of one cheap example, and one of their benefits is surely that you don't need to leave a hatch open when the yacht is unattended.

Not pretending to have experienced good or bad, myself...but I reckon they're probably well worth having, as long as you buy a pair...

...that way, you set one to suck fresh air in, while the other, positioned far from the first, blows the inside air out, and neither has to fight a pressure-gradient. Obviously, keep any interior door between the two vents, open.

I really hope they're as good as they're claimed to be, they've been on my shopping list for ages, right under 'Yacht'.

They are in principle good for the boat - especially the heads. Elsewhere we have dorades that keep the boat aired in summer and winter.

They are all the worse things you can say about Chinese, but there do not seem to be any other sources.
We are on our third in 14 years. Not sure if that is good or bad.
At an average of £70 each that is rivalling NASA and their wind cups for the wooden spoon of boating bits.

The solar panel or the battery are the bit that fail. Their manufacture make any kind of servicing improbable. Though when the present one fails I will use the 'hot knife' to open the necessary bits and install new batteries, the necessary electronics and a small solar panel.
Previous failures have been mid season and it has been necessary to replace them and move on.

 

[MonniotC]

My boat - an Achilles 24 - originally had one mushroom vent, and everything inside always went mouldy. This was always the case over several years, even after I fixed most of the leaks. I then fitted another mushroom vent (through the forehatch), and added a grille in the companionway hatch. Result? Totally dry inside for the last 5 years. No mould at all.
The moral of this story is that you don't need solar powered vents. You just need more of them.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I had one on my Mirage which worked for a very short period. At the pre purchase survey, the surveyor advised that in his experience, they didn't last more than 18 months and this proved very accurate. I removed the guts and found that the connections to the tiny solar panel had corroded and I was unable to repair them.
I didn't replace the guts and continued with just the shell.
If I were to fit another one, I'd either wire it into the solar powered boat system or make an effort to weatherproof the connections of the unit and hope for the best.

 

[FirstAway]

We bought a cheap solar vent which also lasted a couple of years, I then replaced it with a computer fan, canableised from an old machine. It ran off the boats batteries charged with a solar panel, I connected it via a voltage sensitive switch set to 13.0 volts - when the sun shone the fan ran, at night or in the rain it did not. It made a huge difference to the interior of the boat, and ran for years until we sold the boat.

 

[Daydream believer]

I had a reasonable one in a stainless steel frame. I think that they are best fitted in the sliding hatch because in, say, the forehatch they are prone to shock & damage if the hatch is slammed shut. Mine lasted the 3 years that I owned the boat & worked well.

 

[ffiill]

WEll I bought a cheap and cheerful one 10 years ago to replace the defunct expensive ones.
Still going strong.

 

[Greenheart]

We bought a cheap solar vent which also lasted a couple of years, I then replaced it with a computer fan, cannibalised from an old machine. It ran off the boat's batteries charged with a solar panel, I connected it via a voltage sensitive switch set to 13.0 volts - when the sun shone the fan ran, at night or in the rain it did not. It made a huge difference to the interior of the boat, and ran for years until we sold the boat.

That sounds a very satisfactory solution which I'll try to remember. :encouragement:

 

[Quandary]

I have one in our store, brand new never used it is still in its box with fitting instructions, it was a spare that came with our Finngulf in 2007, it was never needed as the original two worked fine for the ten years I had her. Make, Nicro, model stainless steel minivent 1000, capacity 700cu. ft. per hour, 7" dia with 3" vent, shut off damper, mounting hardware, interior trim ring; made in USA by Marinco. If you want it send an offer by PM.

Google reveals that current UK price is circa £100 but I might take half of that.

 

[lpdsn]

Thanks for all the replies. I suspected the batteries would have a limited life in practice. I'll have to think about the idea of a computer fan and whether I can come up with a feasible arrangement with a small solar panel nearby. Thanks too for the offer Quandry but I still haven't yet measured things up exactly to see what I would go for.

 

[Roberto]

FWIW, physically, if a fan pumps air in when the sun is shining, it will pump relatively warm air, which can hold (a lot) more water/moisture than colder air: once this air is cooled, say during the night, relative humidity will go up and possibly be followed by condensation.
Likewise, it s not a good idea to open up and ventilate the boat during one bright and sunny winter day, then close everything and go home.

Example, 1 cubic metre of air at 60% relative humidity and 25degC will hold about 14g of water.
Say the temperature drops to 10degC, the same cubic metre air will be saturated by 10g of water, meaning you will have 100% humidity and 4g of water condensed in droplets inside the boat, or maybe slightly less RH and more liquid water.

 

[benchmark]

Personally i not say anything but good things.
I had one of the marine round models with an internal backup battery so it also ran at night when the sun was gone, it worked miracles . Prior to this I often had mould pin spots but after I installed it, problem disappeared. The fan lasted the 3 yrs I had my boat until I sold it .
On my current boat, I bought a cheap model designed for a shed and modified it to suck out air form the boat , it has worked without fault for 2 years now.