Engine Room Watchkeeping Rounds Guide for Marine Engineer

In this article we will see about the things that you need to look after when taking the engine rounds. With the advent of UMS ship, the traditional watch system of engine room like 4 hours on and 6 hours off, is somewhat obsolete now.

Now all the engineers work from 8 in the morning to 5 in the evening. But the time period can be less or more as per the management of the vessel.

Everyday an engineer (officer) is the duty engineer. Means he or she will take the morning and evening rounds of the engine room and will make sure that every thing is in place. We will see it later as what you have to see in the rounds. Because In the night, he or she is the one who will attend the alarm, if comes one.

So one day 4th engineer, then 3rd engineer and then 2nd will be duty engineer. Duty engineer is the one who will also look after the departure and arrival of the ship, if happen on his watch. We will discuss about that later in separate article.

But! What you have to check in these morning and evening rounds is quite important. Engine room is a big place to look for. So, if you well aware of the things that you have to look for in your rounds, then it will make sure that you get lesser alarms and better running of the machinery. This article will be quite useful for those who are newly promoted officers in the engine room.

Here are some of the things.

1)    The best approach for the rounds is to start from the funnel area and then down to the bottom platform.

2)    Before you start your rounds, it is advised that you have checked the latest trends in the computer regarding the tanks and other activities. If your ship does not have such system than, then you can straight away start your rounds.

3)    Make sure that you have some spare rags, gloves, adjustable spanner and a good torch.

4)    The arrangement of the machinery in an engine room can be different, but the general approach towards the rounds is same.

5)    At the funnel area, try to check, if they are any sparks coming out and also the colour of the smoke.

6)    Check the condition of the fire flaps.

7)    If you have waste heat recovery system on your vessel, then you might want to check the level of water in the HP and LP drums too. CHECK the level of water in the expansion tank. If it has dropped drastically from the previous day, then you have a leak in the HT system.

8)    Have a look at the oil fired boiler like flame quality, fuel to air pressure and water level indicator.

9)    In the air conditioning plant for accommodation and for the provisions, have a look at the inlet and outlet temperature. Check the ampere of the pumps. By using the torch, you can have a look at the refrigeration level.

10)                        The calorifier, have a look for steam leaks and also the water level.

11)                        Now comes the platform that has the compressors and air bottles. Check for the oil levels in the compressor and drain the air bottles. Drain air bottles till the time, you don’t see the water coming out of it. Check the cooling water for the compressor.

12)                        Generally on the same platform you have the hot well also or de-aerator tank as well. Check for any signs of leak of oil in that.

13)                        On the same platform you night have the sewage treatment also. In this you don’t see much of the things but yes check for the functioning of the air blower.

To be continued. Hope you enjoyed reading this article. You can read the next part of this article here.