Hydrocarbon alarm

[behavin]

has anyone had any experience of hydrocarbon fume detectors in ribs?

I have one fitted and its doing my head in as it won't stop beeping so either i do actually have a vapour problem or the thing is faulty ??

I've disconnected the thing at the mo' its i think a DEP fume alarm that has a three colour light...green for ok amber for test and red for alarm.
On starting the engine it will chirp then go quiet and then start beeping.
I've chased the wire down and it goes through the deck in the console i'm guessing next to the fuel tank?

any thoughts?
cheers
pete

[Nauti Buoy]

Originally Posted by behavin

has anyone had any experience of hydrocarbon fume detectors in ribs?

I have one fitted and its doing my head in as it won't stop beeping so either i do actually have a vapour problem or the thing is faulty ??

I've disconnected the thing at the mo' its i think a DEP fume alarm that has a three colour light...green for ok amber for test and red for alarm.
On starting the engine it will chirp then go quiet and then start beeping.
I've chased the wire down and it goes through the deck in the console i'm guessing next to the fuel tank?

any thoughts?
cheers
pete

Hi

I have a hydrocarbon fume detector on my Parker Baltic rib and have to say it has only gone off twice since I have had my rib, mainly when I have been banked right over throwing the rib about, other than that it has not gone off. When I switch on the batteries it chirps a couple of times, performing a system test but is silent afterwards.

I believe Simon Hawkins on here also had a similar problem with his Ribcraft, and that drove him nuts too.

regards

Richard

[Milo72]

Hydrocarbon alarms tend to go off because of where they are situated... generally under the deck near the tank, the trouble is, the fumes from the fibre glass resin very often will set it off! My Ribcraft is 2yrs old now and more often than not still sets it off. The only solution is to unplug it.

[al40]

Will it not also depend on the engine? If it's a 2-stroke there will be some unburnt fuel/oil in the exhaust and that could set the thing off, especially in turns when you move back into the fume cloud.

In fact thinking about it, even a modern 4-stroke will stll produce unburnt fuel (tiny quantities) in the exhaust, especially with the constant on-off throttle action in a RIB.

Edit - just re-read your post....

This (exhaust) still would not explain why it goes off when mounted under deck. As Milo72 says, Resin could be the case, especially if it's sealed under the deck.

[codprawn]

Fuel spills during filling could also be a cause.

[behavin]

It could have been a fuel spillage that set it off as i did over fill it at last refill but that was two weeks ago.

Does anyone know how these work and is there any way it can be reset or cleared? or have i just got to wait for the fumes to evaporate?

At the mo' its disconnected but i think i may fit an inline switch so at least i can shut it off it it goes off for no apparent reason.

just to clarify : i cannot smell any fuel/petrol vapour on the boat or inside the console at any time.