Battery box vent

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Probably one for Sahona.
My Domestic batt box containing 2x110ah batts is made of ply and glassed inside and out, the lid is not completly air tight, but when I removed the batts tother day there was a drop of acid in the bottom of box, so because the box in beneath the quarter berth I would like to extend the two breather tubes from the batts to somewhere that their fumes wont be drawn in by the eber which is beneath the cockpit sole.
What should I do, leave it as it is and clean out the box periodically or extend the batt vent tubes maybe into a glass bottle out with the batt box?
Your views would be greatly appreciated.
C_W

[sahona]

How do you know it was acid Eamonn? (don't tell me you tasted it and it was weaker than the poteen)
My first guess would be condensation since GRP's a glassy cold surface at this time of year.
What condition are the connections - any green or white fuzz?
All cell levels equal (no cracks in the batt cases?)
Battery compartments need to be ventilated to allow the hydrogen created during gassing to fly away.
I believe Ebers breath from outside the hull so yours shouldn't explode from inhaling hydrogen...
By all means extend the breather pipes, but if they pass liquid instead of gas, there's maybe too much effervescence in the batteries and you need to check the charging levels.
Please do not berth next to us in Cumbrae if you are hoing to run the heater!--- just in case I'm wrong.

[aquaplane]

While it's true that the burner bit on an Ebber is not open to the inside of the boat, hydrogen doesn't take much to set it off, a spark from the blower motor, or even a hot surface will do.

It's a good job it's dead light and soon takes it's self off upwards, if you let it go that is.

I have seen a battery compartment sprinkled with white powder, it turned out to be bicarb to neutralise any stray drips from testing with a hydrometer.

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Bill, I would say from the smell of it that it was acid, bearing in mind that the batt vent/breather tubes are inside the batt box, as for the eber it is just below the cockpit sole and about 3ft aft of the rear end of engine and will be drawing all its air (combustion and heating) from the under cockpit area.
There is no isolation between any of the compartments in HB ie, the lazerette shares common air with the engine bay and all cockpit lockers and bilges etc.
The engine bay is not an isolated area and has no sound proofing other that what is on the underside of the companionway step.
Dont forget that this is a home completion boat and badly done at that, but I doubt if you will find many older sailing boats where every seperate compartment is isolated from each other completly as far as air movement is concerned.
Unless I fit ducting to a deck vent and likewise for combustion air, there is no where else I can draw air from for the eber except the air around it below the cockpit sole, and come to think of it the batt vents are better left as they are in the box.
All batt connections and for that matter all boat wiring is new as of last winter and all in spotlessly clean sound tight condition.
BTW Bill, never let it be said that I refused to share the eber with anyone, well peices of it anyway!
Thanks C_W

[sahona]

I thought all Ebers had a coaxial inlet/flu that made a most annoying farting resonance when in use.
Is that not part of the safety regime for this type of heater?
Also, should the warm air not be drawn from, and returned to, the target area?
Not sure if I would want to live in a cloud of super-heated bilge-poo! - especially as there may be OTHER GASSES
down there as well.
You could end up sharing more than the Eber amongst your erstwhile friends!
Do you have a red flag?

[cpedw]

I thought all Ebers had a coaxial inlet/flu that made a most annoying farting resonance when in use.

I thought so too until I bought a Webasto (much superior but basically the same device). The coaxial fitting that makes the horrid noise is just an exhaust, not a heat recovery inlet as well. The inner pipe is the exhaust. The outer is blanked off. It's about 3 inches long and serves to keep the mounting flange cool enough to attach safely to the structure of your boat.
Derek

[Clyde_Wanderer]

I dont have any ducting on the heating air intake end of the heater, nor is there any combustion air intake hosing/piping etc, just drawing from the area around heater.
though I could take the heating air from the saloon area via a ducting.
I must admit that there is no fumes from the engine while running ecxept what comes out of the exause end and this doesent find its way back into the inside of the hull.
Thanks anyway for the advice.
BTW Bill, cant afford a red flag and a Burgee in the one year.

[sahona]

Thanks for that CPEDW, you learn something new every day on the web!
I'm still dubious about lying alongside Eamonn though...

[aquaplane]

The Wallas heater has a sealed system similar to a domestic boiler. The combustion chamber is not open to the cabin at all, I thought that all the makes would be the same.

The hot water heater I'm used to is a Coleman, and that has an open flame exhausting into the cabin so good ventilation is a must for that. It doesn't get used much so it's not a big problem.

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Bill, if I wanted to blow anyone or their boats up I wouldent use my boat as the explosive even though it is plastic! so come alongside anytime if you see me kneeding something between my fingers it will just be the excersice ball for Arthritys in my hands.

aquaplane, I dont have any hot water system in HB thankfully.
The heating air of the ebers passes over the outside of the exchanger, so no combustion fumes get passed through unless the exaust is leaking and they get sucked in by the heating air intake fan.
I fired up mine this eve, took 2 attempts to start, partly due to the fact I hadent opened the fuel valve on the tank , anyway everything went fine and after 15min running I had to go down to 1/2 heat as the boat was getting very warm.
The only gripe I have is the noise from the pulse pump, sounding like someone tapping the bottom of hull with a toffe hammer, I'll end up with all the Dolphins in the North Atlantic gathering around the boat some night
Oh and dont buy outlet vents from a company called EberBasto as they fell apart as soon as they got warm.
Dident want to leave the boat and face the cold tonight.
Btw, have any of you came across any pics of your boats on Google Earth? I found some taken around Fairlie bay, and must have been taken last season.
Thanks, C_W

[sahona]

I fitted a Wallas to the shipman years ago (thanks for stirring the dormant cell Aquaplane), so that's probably where my "coaxial" thoughts came from - same as wall-mounted central heating boilers.
I really don't think heaters should be allowed to draw bilge gasses into the combustion chamber.