4 December 2005

What's up with all those pipes? Engine room secrets revealed

by Andrew, onboard the Esperanza

Just as the bridge is manned 24/7, the engine room also has to be looked after all hours of the day and night. And even with a vast array of sensors for everything from bilge water levels to oil temperatures (360 automatic alarm points in total) it's still important for someone to go down there every hour and have a look. During the day the engineer types handle this job. At night it is an important part of the watch keeper's rounds.

Lately, I'm on the eight to twelve watch, with 4th mate Emily. Part of my job is helping keep an eye out for icebergs and other hazards to navigation. The other part is walking the ship every hour looking for problems. I've had some training in this, and been doing it for some years. But every ship is different, and the engine room in particular tends to be a mystery to most of us. Coloured pipes, blinking lights, assorted dials, and all sorts of machinery that turns on and off seemingly of its on volition.

So it was a welcome thing today when Mannes, the chief engineer, gave a briefing on what is what and how it works - complete with instructional video, fancy drawings, an engine room walk through and tips on what to look for while doing rounds.

First, all those pipes are not painted different colours because we are fond of rainbows. Each colour actually means something. Red for fire suppression equipment, green for sea water intake, yellow for lube oil and blue for fresh water. Then there are the three main engines. The two that came with the ship when we bought it are painted green and the new one we installed for high fuel efficiency running is blue - although I don't think that the colours mean anything in this case.

When doing a round through the engine room, its best to be systematic about it. Follow the set route and always look to the right. That way you don't miss anything. Mannes's training was extra cool for us watch keepers since now we'll know things like difference between the reverse osmosis fresh water maker and the one that uses engine heat to evaporate fresh water from sea water. In case you are wondering, the reverse osmosis water maker is where we get our drinking water, while the evaporative water maker distils such high quality fresh water that it is used only for the engine. Sometimes I think the engineers have odd priorities, but I don't care as long as they keep the ship moving forward, the toilets flushing and see to all the rest of that engineering goodness.

You may never be fortunate enough to drink reverse osmosis desalinated Southern Ocean water on board a Greenpeace ship, but you can still join us on our incredible journey by signing up as an Ocean Defender today.

   

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