Cruise News

Engine Room Blog 12/01/2006

by Chris Carey & Engine Room Staff

Now that the science has finished for this cruise, the Engineers have been asked to contribute a piece to keep the web-readers interested before we get to Cape Town.

Left to Right, the Engine Room department consists of the following people: ETO (Electro-Technical Officer) – Jim (‘ll fix it) McIntyre Motorman – Les Hillier Chief Engineer – ‘Sam’ Moss Second Engineer – Steve Bell Third Engineer – Keith Connor Third Engineer – Chris Carey (front)

A few facts and figures to start with:

We have four marine diesel engines coupled to electrical generators that supply all of Discovery’s power needs. The total power output is approximately 3,000kW, which is enough to light 50,000 light bulbs. It is also roughly the same output as 35 basic Ford Focuses! We can carry a maximum of 512 tonnes of Fuel Oil and we burn on average 7.5 tonnes per day. We carry 208 tonnes of fresh water for drinking, cooking and washing purposes. The Fresh Water tanks are filled to capacity before we embark on a cruise and to avoid running out of water we make our own through two evaporators in the engine room. Together they produce around 8 tonnes of water per day and depending on how many showers the scientists and crew take, the usual consumption is 12 tonnes per day. The single propeller is turned by a giant electric motor that is one of the few remaining items of original 1962 machinery to be kept on after the ship was rebuilt in 1992 to bring it up to modern standards. The original Main Engines were replaced at this time.

We prefer to keep our lives in the engine room as trouble free as possible. In order to do this we use a computerised Planned Maintenance (PM) system. Every month we get a printout from the computer with a list of scheduled tasks to complete. The basic principle behind planned maintenance is that a little work every now and again helps to keep the machinery running properly for longer and any faults that do manifest themselves can be nipped in the bud before serious damage is caused. Much the same as looking after your car the jobs consist of things like cleaning filters, checking oil levels, taking measurements and recording running parameters, ensuring bolts are tight and routine overhauls and replacement of consumable parts. For the most part this system runs very efficiently and we are lucky that we do not suffer many breakdowns of the plant. Major overhauls of the Main Engines are carried out when the ship goes into a dry dock, or refit period. After the de-mobilisation in Cape Town the ship is entering a 25 day refit programme that will see the complete overhaul of two of the Main Engines. Cylinder heads, pistons, cylinder liners and crankcase are cleaned, inspected and measurements taken to ascertain their continuing life expectancy – parts being replaced if they fall out of tolerance with manufacturers limits. A third engine is due to have its cylinder heads removed for cleaning and overhaul. There is also some repair work being carried out to the Propulsion Motor. Some of the copper windings are being removed for repair and re-insulating, damage caused by years of continued use and prolonged heat.

Main Engine & Generator

View of Propulsion Motor & Thrust Bearing

The Engine Room operates on a UMS system, (Unmanned Machinery Space). This means that the Engine Room does not have to be continuously manned by watchkeeping Engineers. Instead we work from 8am to 6pm, and every night there is a Duty Engineer who is on call to answer any alarms that may occur during his duty period. We each take it in turns to carry out a duty day and the Duty Engineer is responsible for keeping the daily service fuel tanks topped up, pumping out waste water from the engine room bilges, logging the running parameters of the propulsion plant and basically keeping an eye on things to make sure the engine room is run cleanly, efficiently and safely at all times. An Engineer can use all five of his senses when carrying out his rounds…

The Motorman is an invaluable resource in the Engine Room. Every day he starts by cleaning down the Main Engines and then tops up the sumps with fresh oil if they require it, then whips a mop around the floor plates to remove any dirt, oil or grease that could be a slip hazard. Woe betide any Engineer who leaves a mess after they finish working! After that he sometimes assists the Engineers if they require extra help with a task, or out comes his paintbrush and roller to smarten up the Engine Room. Since the dry-dock last May the motormen have repainted the motor room, engine room floor plates, ETO workshop, Engineer’s workshop and incinerator space. The transformation has been amazing and the fresh coat of white paint on the bulkheads (walls) has let us all see the engine room in a new light!

In the afternoons it is his responsibility to burn any garbage accumulated by the ship. Usually a collection of oily rags, paper and cardboard is burnt. Plastic can also be burnt, but has to be done independently as the ash has to be specially disposed of. The incinerator is also used to burn waste oil sludge from the Engine Room.

The ETO is also on day-work (although he is on call 24 hours a day) and he is responsible for maintaining and repairing the electrical side of the ship’s systems. His talents run from changing fluorescent tubes to fathoming the intricacies of the Scientific Winch control system. With the introduction of complicated PLC logic controllers into so many of the ship’s systems in recent times, the ETO is a very valuable person to have around when things get a little tricky!

The Engine Room is always a noisy place to work. We are all very careful to ensure that our ears are properly protected – either with ear defenders for prolonged exposure, or disposable ear plugs for short periods of time. Whatever ear protection is used, the materials filter out the damaging high frequency sound waves and muffle the other sounds. We can still detect abnormalities in the sound of the running machinery quite easily although conversation is tricky unless you shout close to another person’s ear!

Another factor of engine room work is heat – or sometimes the lack of it! This cruise has seen us leave a hot Port Elizabeth where the engine room temperature was around 40ºC. At Crozet it was less than 15ºC – especially under the ventilation blowers! Now on our way back up to Cape Town it is rising again to around the 40ºC mark. When it is that hot, we take regular breaks from the heat by cooling off in the workshop, office or Control Room. Plenty of water is drunk to replace the fluid lost from sweat and we also take re-hydration solutions to replace the salts. On the flip side, down in Crozet we had to resort to wearing t-shirts under boilersuits, or even wearing a jacket on the really cold days!

It’s certainly an interesting job in the Engine Room, and every day is different. We happen to be lucky on this cruise as we make a very good team and we feed off each other for experience and ideas.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about or lives “down below” and it has given you an insight into the areas that are not often seen by the scientists on board.