[C36IA] Forwarded story about safety of fans onboard

[Gene Foraker]

Two things about the story jump out at me.   Portable Halon fire 
extinguisher?    I didn't know they even still made these, especially a 
17 pounder.   Not the best choice for putting out a fire in any case.   
Halon is just for special situations and is almost impossible to find 
due to environmental concerns.  

It also seems strange that he could put out or control the fire with one 
portable extinguisher, yet it was a total loss.

Gene Foraker

Walter Conner wrote:
> [from Southbound_Group on Yahoo Groups]
>
> Hi Cruisers,
>
> I thought I would share a fan story for what it's worth....
>
> Back many years ago while living aboard our ketch in a small condo 
> marina in Clearwater, Florida, the boat next to us, an Endeavor 43, 
> caught on fire one morning.  When I noticed the fire, flames were 
> already shooting out of the companionway, igniting the bimini and sail 
> covers.   I yelled for my wife to call 911, grabbed a 17 pound halon 
> extinguisher, and jumped over onto their boat.  We were literally a 
> fender apart.  A quick blast of the halon extinguished the flames on 
> the bimini and sailcover, allowing me to shoot the remaining halon 
> directly down the companionway, bringing the fire under control until 
> others brought dockside water hoses onto the boat to keep the fire 
> from re-igniting.  Fortunately, our neighbors were not aboard, and 
> nobody was hurt.  Because of local beach traffic, the fire department 
> didn't arrive for about 10 minutes, and continued to water down the 
> smoldering fire.  The boat, although it didn't sink, was declared a 
> total loss.
>
> When the fire marshals came to investigate the cause of the blaze, 
> they attributed it to a 12 volt fan, mounted in the salon above a 
> sitee.  The fan had been left on and the motor seized up, so the 
> owners thought it was off when they left the boat. With time, the 
> motor windings become hot enough to melt the plastic housing.  The hot 
> melting plastic dripped onto the sitee igniting the fabric and fire 
> quickly spread throughout the cabin.
>
> This tragedy could have been avoided if a low amperage in-line fuse (1 
> or 2 amp) had been installed where the fan connected to the boat's 12 
> volt wiring.  The circuit which the fan was connected was protected by 
> a circuit breaker, probably a 10-15 amp breaker, and did not trip when 
> the fan motor seized up.  An in-line fuse would have blown, preventing 
> the fire.
>
> The next day, I installed in-line fuses to all three of our 12 volt 
> fans.  I would highly recommend that anyone with any 12 volt fans do 
> the same.  It might save your boat.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Glenn Tuttle
> M/V Tothill
> San Andres, Colombia
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>
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