We were recently asked by a Major Ship Manager to carry out an inspection of all Fuel & lube oil separators and plate heat exchangers on two newly activated ships. The vessels had been in cold layup for 4 years in the Far East. We carried out the initial inspection and found major faults on both vessels separators.
This included: Missing parts, Corrosion, salt damage to control panels, major faults on the separator running gear, damaged auxiliary systems. It was decided that all separators would have to be completely stripped and further checks carried out, meaning we were going to have to carry out a Re-Activation of the Refrigerated Cargo Vessels.
In the mean time our heat exchanger team at Premier Separator Services, stripped out all plate heaters on board each vessel and transported them to our workshop. After cleaning & crack detection it was found that we had a major problem with chloride attack due to leaks in the central cooling system. Many of the auxiliary plates were stainless steel and these had been pin holed with the chloride attack and therefore had to be scrapped and replacements found. That was nearly 2000 plates cleaned; crack detected, replaced, re-gasketed and refitted onboard both vessels with in 10 days. The separators took a little longer, but after nearly 6 weeks working in very difficult conditions all 18 separators were ready for service. This job was very difficult due to the long lay up of each vessel and lack of any service records. But we managed to complete the job of the Re-Activation of two Refrigerated Cargo Vessels prior to both vessels setting sail, this was a great success.
If you want to find out more on Separators, take a look at our other case studies and blog posts here.
