I've talked about it before, but one of the things that the AB and the cook must do during their watch is regular engine room checks, and/or security rounds. It's a simple hourly check on the engines to make sure they aren't any major leaks, smoke, noises that sound out of the ordinary, etc. We also pump out the ecology dams on a regular basis, which is an area under the shaft where fresh sea water will leak in through the packing or from the adjacent rudder compartment.
At any rate, I was cooking dinner last night and had to take a break to make my rounds. I put on my ears (hearing protect) and started down into the engine room. I got 2 steps down and noticed pink fluid all over the deck beneath the ladderwell. I immediately recognized it as diesel fuel and noticed it was pouring out of the centrifuge. The centrifuge is a device that the fuel runs through and it helps keep our day tanks full at an appropriate rate depending on our RPM's. I immediately went back into the house and woke the chief and then went back down to see what I could help with.
The chief came down, bypasses the centrifuge and begin to take it all in. Apparently something had broken inside of it and it re-routed all the fuel out through a relief valve on the side which essentially just dumps it onto the deck in the engine room. I don't know how many gallons were dumped, but judging by the mess, it was probably 10-20 at least.
I grabbed some diapers (absorbent pads) and began soaking up what it could. The chief took over and I headed back to the galley.
So, long story short, those mundane engine room checks are mostly uneventful, but they exist for a reason. We could have easily dumped 200-300 gallons into the bilge had I not been making my rounds every hour. It felt good to nip something in the bud for a change.
Posted with Blogsy
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