Why does my diesel boat have bilge blowers?

[Robert Vetrano]

My Cummins powered Meridian has 2 bilge blowers in between the engine room and lazarette on the stbd side. They are failing. Why are these used on a diesel boat, and when should I use them? (I’m fully aware of the reason and usage for gas boats). Is it for engine room cooling? While running or back at the dock?

Topic

[Rob Schepis]

Underway during a looooong no wake zone when heading back to the slip and then continued after engine shutdown.

[donald roth]

Chris Schultz wrote:

I run my blowers all the time. Don’t see any hurt in venting and cooling the engine compartment while underway.

If your blowers exhaust air out of the ER, you probably should not operate them with the motor running.
A diesel motor consumes prodigious amounts of air, and many if not most installations have barely adequate venting, so running exhaust fans will only contribute to negative air pressure, which in turn can degrade performance and fuel efficiency.

[Chris Schultz]

Run the blowers

I run my blowers all the time. Don’t see any hurt in venting and cooling the engine compartment while underway.

[Robert Vetrano]

That’s kind of what I’m thinking, as my 391 was available with either gas or diesel. Where I was going was this is whether or not I need to install continuous duty blowers. But it’s sounding like I don’t. I do have a long no-wake zone to get back to my house……so I’m able to cool things down. So I guess my procedure now will be to run the blowers on the way home and for a bit after I shut down.

[Brad Arrington]

To remove heat

On a diesel boat they are to remove heat from the engine space after running the boat. It’s a good practice to run the boat at idle for a few minutes after being at speed in order to reduce heat in the engine. Some boaters have a no wake zone where this is accomplished; some don’t. One way to help reduce heat when you don’t have have a no wake zone is to run a bilge blower.

Meridian made some models that could be powered by either gasoline or diesel engines. They may have left the twin blowers in order to simplify the build process and not deviate from standard build practices. My boat’s only power options are diesel and has a single blower.

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Robert Vetrano

[Pequod]

Remove heat from engine room.

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Robert Vetrano

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