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ME258

Fuel Oil Contamination of Boiler

Technical committee

Ship type Tanker

Date of build September 22 1992
Navigation route Japan - PG
Trouble machinery
Category Pump
Name Main engine fuel circulation pump
Type HHB-10MJ
Date of trouble On/around September 9, 1994

1. Outline of breakdown
After entering dock, inspection of boiler found a large amount of oil within the steam drum and water
drum. Subsequent investigation revealed that oil contamination extended to atmospheric drain tank,
COPT condenser, T/G condenser, and all feed-water and condensing systems, and high & low-pressure
circulating water systems.

2. Cause
Since the contamination was fuel oil, contact points between fuel system and steam system were
investigated. As a result, it was determined that the main engine fuel circulation pump was the cause.
Said pump has a heating jacket in mechanical seal and is designed to run steam through it. The jacket
uses an O-ring to seal off steam. This O-ring deteriorated thermally and allowed fuel to enter the steam
drain system.
Further investigation found that 10K steam was run in a location where 3K steam should be run, due to a
mistake on the part of dockyard.
Consequently, deterioration of "O"-ring of mechanical seal, etc. was accelerated by the heat. As a result,
fuel began to leak, and leaked fuel carbonized to clog the jacket and pump shaft feed-through section.
Then, leaked fuel entered steam drain line.

3. Repair
Since oil contamination had extended to the entire steam plant, boiler was cleaned by soda boiling, and
feed-water & condensing systems, high-pressure & low-pressure circulation systems were chemically
washed.

4. Countermeasures
The following measures have been taken to prevent recurrence.
1) The purpose of heated steam is to protect mechanical seal at cold start-up. Thus, the line was
modified to allow steam to be stopped when the conditions of engine room temperature and fuel oil
viscosity do not require heating.
2) Since mechanical seal heating steam drain is directly piped to atmospheric drain tank, there was a
delay in detecting contamination by fuel oil. Thus, piping was changed so that mechanical heating
steam drain may all be directed to the inspection tank.

1
The Marine Engineer Feb.1995
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Fig. Cross Section of Main Engine Fuel Circulation Pump

2
The Marine Engineer Feb.1995