Check Your Gas Locker Drain!

[rognvald]

D,
I don't really see your test as stupid since, if it is a cockpit locker propane storage area, it was intended to drain ingress of water and condensation overboard. This is exactly how I have tested my drain for the last twenty years. However, I have access through the aft bulkhead in my port aft cabin for a visual inspection/maintenance and the hose's path is a direct/semi-arced line to the through hull. Perhaps your layout is different, however, with every negative there is a positive . . . and the positive is that you have found another area on your boat that needs an inspection/access area to properly service/maintain your boat. Many times, these things are overlooked by the builder and it requires a vigilant owner to discover these areas of concern. Good luck and safe sailing.

[foufou]

The propane locker drain could be checked by dropping small bb's down. If there is no trap they will roll on out

[deblen]

LP Gas Systems Part 1: Installation and Safety | | PassageMaker

[Martin S]

This is a great post. Congrats Dockhead. As we can see from the comments this is very difficult to test. Being able to trace the line visibly would be a big help as one can see whether there is a clean flow. However if it not visible and there is a hidden u-bend, how can we check if the u-bend is free of water. If you don't know the route of the drain this is going to be tricky. You have me thinking Dockhead and this is something I haven't checked...thanks for the prompt!

[Mirage35]

Originally Posted by foufou

The propane locker drain could be checked by dropping small bb's down. If there is no trap they will roll on out

Clever!

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I've just had an unpleasant maintenance glitch.

My gas locker drain clogged, and the locker filled with water from the deck (sailing upwind in rough weather ), and drowned the expensive solenoid valve

I unclogged the drain with a plumber's snake, and guess what it was? Silt! Now how could silt collect in a gas locker drain line? How indeed? Well, trapped in a low point in the drain line, that's how!

It is very hard to see the drain line -- parts of it only with an inspection mirror and after emptying the lazarette and crawling deep inside it. So I never saw these low points before.

Now it is absolutely imperative, that gas locker drains have no low points. Because water will stand in the low points (just like in the trap in your sink drain). This does not prevent water from going through -- it just siphons. But it stops gas cold! It means that leaked gas can't drain!!

So as far as I can tell, my boat has NEVER had a working gas locker drain

Now it's going to be a major operation to get to it, in order to properly reroute it, maybe shorten it. I might even have to cut some fiberglass

And I see now also how utterly stupid I was, to test the gas locker drain, by pouring water down it Useless test! What was I thinking all those years? . I think rather we need to blow air down it or try to suck air up to feel if there is any resistance (or any gurgling). And such a test would be absolutely critical to know whether the drain is actually working -- FOR GAS.

No matter how careful you think you are, where safety of stuff like gas is concerned, there always seems to be something you have missed

This just reinforces my hatred of LPG on boats -- just rams home the point that even being pretty careful with it, might well not be enough.


Maybe some wiser or savvier cruiser, has a better test of the gas locker drain? Or are all of you making the same mistake I've made for decades?


If I could find a drop-in gimballed electric stove to replace my SMEC one, I tell you, I would rip the whole business out right now.

A good post. LPG scares the hell out of me also but does cook better.

[foufou]

By the way those solenoid valves are $20 plus or minus on Amazon

[Terra Nova]

DH--you were very fortunate to have discovered this builder's flaw in such a way as you did. I would provide a large scupper, rather than a small drain line.

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

If I could find a drop-in gimballed electric stove to replace my SMEC one, I tell you, I would rip the whole business out right now.

The route I'm going has only the induction cooktop gimballed, the electric oven is fixed and having gimballed panholders inside the oven. Both domestic appliance..

BR Teddy

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

Speaking of taking water into your gas locker, I recently saw pictures of a boat for sale with an air tight gas locker lid. The thought is good - you won't get anything into the gas locker to mess up your tanks or pipes. But it also means that even with a working drain, it won't drain because air can't get in to let the gas out.

That "thought" is the ABYC requirement.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

DH--you were very fortunate to have discovered this builder's flaw in such a way as you did. I would provide a large scupper, rather than a small drain line.

That was my thought also. Although we can't see it. The bottom of the locker must be above the water line. A direct route out makes sense.

[MarkSF]

When Bristol built my boat, they made the propane locker drain tube out of fibreglass, one with the propane locker and the stern, and a straight downhill run. There is no possibility of a U bend forming. I thought that's how all the boat builders did it.

[Hydra]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

Speaking of taking water into your gas locker, I recently saw pictures of a boat for sale with an air tight gas locker lid. The thought is good - you won't get anything into the gas locker to mess up your tanks or pipes. But it also means that even with a working drain, it won't drain because air can't get in to let the gas out.

On my boat, there are 2 pipes connecting the gas locker: the low one is the drain, the high one is for air. Anyway, the locker isn't as watertight as I would like: when heeled to more than 45° on starboard tack, water seeps inside around the hatch.

Alain

[rognvald]

Originally Posted by deblen

LP Gas Systems Part 1: Installation and Safety | | PassageMaker

Excellent article, D. This should be read by everyone on this Forum . . . especially the requirements for a safe installation of the propane locker of which Dockhead's system clearly violates. Good luck and safe sailing.

[crazyoldboatguy]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

Speaking of taking water into your gas locker, I recently saw pictures of a boat for sale with an air tight gas locker lid. The thought is good - you won't get anything into the gas locker to mess up your tanks or pipes. But it also means that even with a working drain, it won't drain because air can't get in to let the gas out.

So, if the locker is fully sealed and a leak develops, wouldn't the propane flow out of it due to the slightly increased pressure in said locker caused by the leak? I realize some residual may remain but would quickly drain once the owner opens the locker to investigate the incident.