As we know most journal bearings including stern tube bearings work on a hydrodynamic wedge type principle, such that at full speed the shaft is lifted slightly by the oil pressure and also not longer exactly centered port starboard in the journal. I am not exactly sure however of what magnitude thi...

My vessel had a similar problem sometime in the past( its an MAN med speed)-Not sure if the exact cause was ever determined , but we changed to the practice of always changing to diesel fuel for a at least 30 min before shut down, and the problem so far hasn't come back.

Actually it turned out not to be the ballast but the lamp.
Apperently this cycling is typical behaviour for a HP sodium lamp as it nears the end of its life.
The wikipedia page on HP sodium lamps explains the electro-chemical process involved.

Thanks- I thought so- unfortunately no spares, but at least I wont have to climb the foremast, the ballast unit is at the bottom.

Does anyone know what causes high pressure sodium lamps to come on and off intermittently? We have a floodlight that comes on brightly for few minutes, then goes dim, but not completely out, it sputters and flickers for a while and then comes on again at full brightness. It cycles like this every th...

Google may be your friend , but unfortunately it does not always match conditions in the real world. UV trip is relatively easy to test on most generators while the machine is running.- if the machine has voltage trim or has the breaker easily adjustable settings. The overcurrent trips are more comp...

Good Day , Are you saying the big loop is in parrallel to the delivery line.? If it is so and not going into a return line there would be no flow during the intercycle period so the hot water would tend to go cold anyway. Its possible that it was meant to provide some sort of continuous flow as you ...

Thanks for your replies, I checked out the similar thread in The Training Room So it seems that Countries that have seperate steam and motor tickets are the exception rather than the rule. It seem to me that the big crewing nations, i.e Phillipines, India, Poland ,Ukraine- etc are into streamlining ...

I was reading the post on Teekay tankers and the comments on Steam tickets which got me to thinking- why do we still have them? I am Australian and we basically follow the British system as I imagine you do in Canada. So we have seperate steam and motor tickets. As I am sure you you know steam time ...

Good Day Eikud, A few questions to assist in fault finding and get ideas. I am assuming the hydro lock happened upon start up ??? How long had the engine been shut down for , a few hours, more than a day? Have you had any torrential rain recently, Is it p0ssible that rain water could have leaked int...

Thanks for your replies- Not too worried about the budget, it is only a "guide". Yes ,I agree correct the oil is critical. I remember on the previous vessel , the lubes contract was with Shell, but the only non Shell oil we used was the "Atlas Copco Roto Inject Fluid". Even thoug...

Our vessel runs and Atlas Copco GA22 screw type air compressor as the "working air" compressor. Its one of those package types in a big blue box. It runs 24 /7 although its unloaded probably about 70% of that time. As part of an investigation into next years budget, I was looking through t...

Good Day there, When all else fails - read the instructions, i.e have a look at the manual for the emcy gen , it should state the acceptable fuel specs for the engine. Also your SMS ( unless its one of those useless generic ones) may be able to shed some light, Depending on when the vessel is tradin...