Tag: Smoke

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Cottage Life

What can the colour of your outboard engine smoke tell you?

Photo by Lillian Tveit / Shutterstock

If your outboard engine smoke is not its usual colour, it may signal a problem. Reach out to your local mechanic to diagnose the issue.

White smoke may mean water or vapor. “Usually, white smoke is a sign that the engine is running hot,” says Kevin Dault, of Maple Leaf Marinas. If the engine isn’t getting enough water for cooling, the remaining water will evaporate, producing a white colour. It could also indicate a water leak in the cylinder head or gasket.

Blue smoke is a result of burning oil. This is normal in older two-stroke engines that run on a fuel-oil mixture, but in newer engines “this could be a sign that the engine was overfilled with oil or that the engine is just getting worn out,” says Dault.

Black smoke can be a sign of overfuelling or a “rich” fuel-air ratio. The engine is designed to burn a specific mix of fuel and air and too much fuel can cause the engine to run rough and produce black smoke. According to Dault, there are many possible causes, including a stuck-open fuel injector, a malfunctioning fuel pressure regulator, or a defective carburetor float.

This was originally published part of the article, “Secrets of the Outboard Whisperers,” in the Mar/Apr 2022 issue of Cottage Life.

Read more: Outboard engine trouble? Advice from the experts

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Cigarettes Affect Memory

Another secondary effect added to the long list of symptoms associated with smoking, is that memory and reasoning can be affected.

French researchers made this discovery while analysing medical records of 5 000 participants, ranging from age 35 to 55, and found that smokers did not perform as well in areas such as memory, reasoning, vocabulary and verbal fluency, in comparison to non-smokers.

"Smoking in middle age is associated with memory deficit and decline in reasoning abilities," concluded Dr. Séverine Sabia from the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Villejuif, France.

 

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Friends Can Help You to Stop Smoking

Professor Nicholas Christakis and his team have put forward the hypothesis that ending a smoking habit can be contagious.

Between 1971 and 2003, 12 067 smokers participated in a study.  Researchers at Harvard University were particularly interested in the social interactions of smokers among their coworkers, families, friends and neighbours. 

According to their observations, kicking the habit is not just an individual accomplishment, but rather something that can snowball among groups of people. 

Professor Christakis explained, "Your smoking behavior depends upon not just the smoking behavior of the people you know, but also the people who they know Anecdotally, we hear people say they quit smoking because their spouse or friend quit." 

One thing is certain, the perception of smokers has changed drastically in recent years.  Today, smoking is no longer considered to be socially acceptable.  The research was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.