Leaving an oscillating fan running?

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

Here in south Florida humidity is a killer. So far all the portable dehumidifiers I’ve looked at drain into a very small reservoir. Does anyone know of one that has a drainage hose that I can drain into a sink?

All the ones I have had do.
It’s usually as simple as screwing the cap off of the male hose fitting on the water tank, and connecting a garden hose. I have always just made up a short 3/4” clear vinyl hose. In our sailboat I drain it into the shower sump that is pumped overboard. That is where I drain the AC’s too.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

I’m not real comfortable leaving the AC on. I keep thinking how much water it’s pump puts out and what would happen if a hose failed. But maybe I’m not thinking it through. If a hose failed the AC would shut down and turn off the pump. So maybe it’s no more dangerous than some other thru hull failing. I confess I don’t go all thru the boat closing thru hulls when I leave the boat.

If it failed on the suck side of the pump it would shut down, but the water would continue to flow without a pump and run out of the busted hose. If it failed on the pressure side, the pump would just pump the water into the boat.

It’s a risk, but superheating the inside of the boat I believe does damage the foam cushions and vinyl upholstery etc.

I haven’t done it, but it would be child’s play to make a high water alarm off of a good bilge pump switch, hook it to a car alarm in the cockpit, let everyone know that if your boat has a car horn going off, it’s a high water alarm.
Maybe your spare bilge pump switch, it should never get wet so it’s still a spare.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

Here in south Florida humidity is a killer. So far all the portable dehumidifiers I’ve looked at drain into a very small reservoir. Does anyone know of one that has a drainage hose that I can drain into a sink?

I’ve not run into a decent small one yet that didn’t have some provision for draining the condensate through a garden hose fitting.

[a64pilot]

Just be sure to get one with a compressor, there are now Peltier plate ones and they work about as well as the coolers

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

Here in south Florida humidity is a killer. So far all the portable dehumidifiers I’ve looked at drain into a very small reservoir. Does anyone know of one that has a drainage hose that I can drain into a sink?

Frigidaire does, so do lots of others on Amazon. They use an adapter and you add the garden hose.

[nhschneider]

During our recently-completed circumnavigation, we left our boat on the hard in Fiji, Malaysia and Trinidad for months at a time (Trinidad was an entire year) and we always left an air conditioner running the whole time as those places, with their tropical climate, could virtually destroy the interior of a boat. We never had a problem.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[rslifkin]

On most boats, I'd think the A/C situation isn't too concerning if you're not away for long periods of time. Yes, it's a decent bit of water moving, but we're generally talking no bigger than a 3/4" through hull and hose. So even if something fails, that amount of water should be well within what can be managed with bilge pumps for a significant period of time while on shore power to keep the battery charger running.

[tarian]

Originally Posted by flyingfin

You are better off with leaving a dehumidifier running for a few hours a day, on a timer.
Dump the condensate overboard via the sink in galley or head. A fan just moves the moist air around

Thisi sthe way forward IMHO I leave a dehumidifier on for weeks at a time , draining via a hose into Sink on AC power, it keeps the Humidity around 40%
which keeps the boat bone dry and I can even keep my bedding out , again dry and no musty smellls or molds

[thomm225]

Solar Fan!

My boat has a solar fan just forward of the mast.

It does a great job moving the air and there are no worries.

[TrentePieds]

A 15" fan would seem ginormous in the confined interior of a Skimmer 25, so are we sure that that is indeed the boat the OP is talking about?

On the other hand, the mistyping or misreading the Skimmers 3K displacement as 30K could easily lead to misstating the displacement as 15 tons.

So, OP, is it a Skimmer 25?

TP

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Solar Fan!

My boat has a solar fan just forward of the mast.

It does a great job moving the air and there are no worries.

I would try for a solution like this too, but I have no personal experience with keeping a boat in a tropical area.

Otherwise, if an appliance like a dehumidifier or AC is warranted, I'd look to protect the boat as much as possible with a proper-rated fuse or breaker and position of the unit.

Also, I have not seen this commercially yet, but it's entirely possible to monitor a device for current, case temperature, smoke etc and to trigger an alarm, remote notification and device shutoff if out of spec readings are found.

[CarlF]

Everything presents some risk. There's always the chance of a meteor strike

But I think the risk of an AC fan is minimal - especially if left on less than full speed. Secure it so it can't fall over. Be sure the outlet on your boat is in good condition (corrosion in an AC outlet is a sure route to fire).

But as others have said, just blowing humid air around won't help much. You need to get fresh air in and humid air out. Do you have some vents and ports open?

I have a Notcua 4" computer fan that has been running since I bought the boat. These are extremely high quality. It draws 1 watt. Has been on for five years (spec 150,000 hours MTTF). Can't hear it. It's in the engine space connected to a 4" vent hose to exhaust heat all night after the engine has been used without running a noisy fan. Also removes smells from there. Cost $20 on Amazon.

But in Alabama, I would consider either a dehumidifier (which has a fan) or running the boat AC set to about 80 degrees. Once mildew gets it's hold in a boat, it's very hard to clear.

Many boat's sink each year from their AC system. Inspect all water hoses between the seacock and the unit every year. I replace them every ten years even if they look OK.

[OS2Dude]

We have a marine A/C in our 1985 Catalina 30 and we leave it on all the time. (Except maybe the 5 days of spring and fall weather we get around here....) I would be a little more concerned about a 12 volt fan, as I had one melt after running continuously for a couple of months. We now use 110v fans and have had no issue with them even after near continuous running for 4 years.

[RNWilson]

On occasion I have wanted to leave a device running unattended that wasn't really meant for permanent installation and to prevent me obsessively worrying I did the following: (assuming a dedicated electrical box for the device) I installed a simple tubular inline fuse inside the electrical Box with an amperage rating just slightly over the required amperage for the device. The theory is that if there is an internal short in the device it will blow the fuse and prevent any excess Heat. From Starting a fire. Breakers in an electrical system are designed to protect the wiring in the system not the internal components or even the power cords of devices that are pluged into the circut. 15 or 20 amps flowing through a short inside of a fan will create a lot of heat but a 1 to 2 amp inline fuse will blow before any heat can build up. This might possibly not make any sense but it makes me feel a lot better!

[Mike Banks]

Why are you running it at all? A Peltier system de-humidifier dumping its condensed water into a galley sink will serve you better and keep your vessel dry.