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<TITLE>Forwarded story about safety of fans onboard</TITLE>
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<FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'>[from Southbound_Group on Yahoo Groups] <BR>
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Hi Cruisers,<BR>
</SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10pt'><FONT FACE="Georgia, Times New Roman"> <BR>
</FONT><FONT FACE="Arial">I thought I would share a fan story for what it's worth....<BR>
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</FONT><FONT FACE="Arial">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.<BR>
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</FONT><FONT FACE="Arial">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.<BR>
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</FONT><FONT FACE="Arial">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.<BR>
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</FONT><FONT FACE="Arial">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.<BR>
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</FONT><FONT FACE="Arial">Cheers,<BR>
</FONT><FONT FACE="Georgia, Times New Roman"> <BR>
</FONT><FONT FACE="Arial">Glenn Tuttle<BR>
M/V Tothill<BR>
San Andres, Colombia</FONT></SPAN></FONT>
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