Ship Simulator

English forum => Small talk => Topic started by: clanky on July 21, 2010, 10:09:53

Title: engine rooms
Post by: clanky on July 21, 2010, 10:09:53
Engine rooms are horrible, smelly, dirty places anyway; you wouldn't like them! :p
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Ballast on July 21, 2010, 11:31:16
I couldn't have said it better  ;D
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: larsdehaan on July 21, 2010, 11:35:22
Engine rooms are horrible, smelly, dirty places anyway; you wouldn't like them! :p
you forgot noisy but engine rooms can be clean when you call Mike Rowe
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Ballast on July 21, 2010, 11:47:15
The noisy part fades away after a few years  :doh:

(http://i31.tinypic.com/35lb5eo.jpg)

You don't need Mike Rowe to keep a 21 yr old engineroom spic and span, just a crew that do their job with pride and joy.  ;)

Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: larsdehaan on July 21, 2010, 11:48:33
but ballast mike rowe adds time and maybe a little fun
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: llamalord on July 21, 2010, 14:30:30
Especially when you're not the one doing the work.  :doh:
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: clanky on July 22, 2010, 08:32:14
Ballast, am I seeing things or is that an 8 cylinder MaK engine, I thought they only came in 7 or 9 ???
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Ballast on July 22, 2010, 11:18:27
Yep, MaK 8M32 3520 kW  :thumbs: I'm quiet suprised i actually know that one  ::)
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: clanky on July 22, 2010, 11:39:36
IMHO MaK's are presently the best medium speed engines around.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: clanky on July 22, 2010, 11:40:31
or maybe it would be better to say that they are the least awful medium speed engines around!
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Ballast on July 22, 2010, 11:48:17
I guess so, i hear non of the engineers complain about it during coffee time  ;D
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: dycore on July 23, 2010, 18:48:32
@ballast,toevallig ook een filmpje met geluid van die MAK ergens op het www ?
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: clanky on July 24, 2010, 09:20:01
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=MaK+marine+engine (http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=MaK+marine+engine)

 :P

alternatively

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKNEQMIlsVE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKNEQMIlsVE)
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Ballast on July 24, 2010, 09:48:16
I've split this topic in 2 parts, to keep the orginal one on topic and to give the engineers a place where they feel at home  :P

@Dycore, i don't have a movie of the MaK, but i'll try to make one once i get back on board  :)
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Ballast on July 24, 2010, 09:53:53
(http://i29.tinypic.com/2nvzccn.jpg)

A look inside one of the cylinders
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: clanky on July 24, 2010, 10:32:23
I've split this topic in 2 parts, to keep the orginal one on topic and to give the engineers a place where they feel at home  :P

I love the way the thread starts with me randomly moaning about how horrible engine rooms are!

I remember when I used to go to the engine room occasionally, on the bright side my typing skillz are pretty good these days.




* edit - fixed quote
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: TNeves on July 24, 2010, 20:27:26
Ballast, am I seeing things or is that an 8 cylinder MaK engine, I thought they only came in 7 or 9 ???

You have many types, 6,7,8 and 9 inline cylinders. And other types, like V16.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: clanky on July 24, 2010, 22:19:17
I have never seen an 8 cylinder MaK engine before IRL.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Trampship Man on July 24, 2010, 23:14:15
Engine rooms are horrible, smelly, dirty places anyway; you wouldn't like them! :p


I think that the noisiest enginerooms of all were perhaps those of the days of the reciprocating steam engines.
Though I`m absolutely certain that they were also the most FASCINATING engine rooms of all.  The fascinating bit also goes for the old stokeholds, though some will probably think me crazy for that.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: clanky on July 25, 2010, 20:22:07

I think that the noisiest enginerooms of all were perhaps those of the days of the reciprocating steam engines.
Though I`m absolutely certain that they were also the most FASCINATING engine rooms of all.  The fascinating bit also goes for the old stokeholds, though some will probably think me crazy for that.

The only recip steam engine I have ever seen is on P.S. Waverly, not particularly noisy, but certainly fascinating, I was lucky enough to be at Glasgow Nautical College as a cadet with one of the engineers from the Waverly and we used to go down at the weekends during the winter and help out with the winter refit.

The guy I was at college with eventually ended up as the chief engineer.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Traddles on July 25, 2010, 22:53:55
The Liberty ships had a triple expansion steam engine (Three cylinders for those who don't know) High, medium and low pressure steam went first to the smaller cylinder (HP) next to the medium sized Cylinder (MP) and finally to a quite large diameter low pressure one. (LP) This type of engine was actually remarkably quiet with no thump, thump, thump like a diesel engine. First time I sailed on one after a five cylinder Doxford engined ship I woke up in the night to almost total silence and thought the ship had broken down. :doh:
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Stuart2007 on July 26, 2010, 00:36:10
Doxford J type.

http://www.doxford-engine.com/images/gallery/27.jpg

Last design by this company let down by the couldn't-give-a-toss country.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: laganviking on July 26, 2010, 01:37:25
Stuart!?  :o

He is still alive :2thumbs:
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Traddles on July 26, 2010, 12:08:35
Unlike a lot of modern diesels, the Doxford opposed piston engines had visible movement showing at the top of the engine with the top piston whizzing up and down. "clanky" would be better able to describe this being an engineer himself, rather than a mere Mate like me!  Wm. Doxford of Sunderland built many ships as well as engines and were a very well established Company at one time. This is a six cylinder engine of similar design to that which was fitted to many of the Harrison Line ships I sailed on. The ones I experienced were all 5 cylinder jobs.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: clanky on July 26, 2010, 23:20:27
Wow, there is a blast from the past!  Doxfords at one point powered a huge percentage of all ships at sea.

My only experience of Doxfords was a 3 cylinder beast on a msall container ship called the City of Manchester (ex Ellerman's), I spent a month staring at this thing wondering how the whole thing managed not only to keep running, but to stay in one piece.

As Traddles says they have two pistons which means that the forces usually absorbed by the cylinder head are actually transferred to the crankshaft, making them very fuel efficient, but mechanically very complicated.  Unfortunately the company did not put the money into research and development that others did and eventually the popularity fell away and the company went out of business as other manufacturers produced better and better engines. Their hayday was the J-type which is shown in the photo in Traddles post.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: IRI5HJ4CK on July 28, 2010, 15:08:12
If I'm honest I know little about the engineering side of things...but all this has really interested me.

Is there any particularly popular engine now that you see as an engineer clanky? Or is there a large multitude of different makes of engine? I've heard of Wärtsilä, Deutz and a few others, but as my said my knowledge in the engineering department is little to none...it's something i'd like to learn about :)

Jack.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Stuart2007 on July 28, 2010, 21:40:26
In addition to the J type- one of which was being installed in Beamish when I was there, they have a model of a seahorse, which actually started development AFTER the J type was started, but was abandoned due to XYZ (I can't recall- help anyone?)... but the later J types saw a lot of useful stuff from the Seahorse.

There is a damned impressive model of a J type in the London Science Museum... To think, most people on this forum would never believe Britain used to make anything at all, let alone ships and engines.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Stuart2007 on July 28, 2010, 21:41:35
Incidentally- Wartsilla- in the English tongue is it pronounced

Wartsillar

or

Wartsiylar

????#

Answers on the back of a postcard or alternatively on this forum
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: IRI5HJ4CK on July 28, 2010, 22:42:40
There is a damned impressive model of a J type in the London Science Museum... To think, most people on this forum would never believe Britain used to make anything at all, let alone ships and engines.

I think it's a shame that the industry went out of Britain...I suppose it was just thought at the time it'd be easier to import things at a lower cost..not good in the long run though :-\

Also; i've always pronounced it literally as it's spelt. But that's because I don't think i've heard differently..

Jack.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: clanky on July 29, 2010, 07:58:28
Stuart, I think the correct pronunciation is along the lines of Vertsilja, but most people say Wartsilla.

Jack, there are a huge variety of engine types around, the two main categories are 2 stroke / slow speed engines and 4 stroke / medium speed engines.  Within these categories there are various manufacturers who all offer various models of engine aimed at different power output ranges.

In the medium speed market (mostly smaller ships and larger ships with multiple engines (cruise ships and ferries) the leader would be Wartsilla with MaK rapidly catching ground with their new M43 engine which has proved to be very reliable and very fuel efficient, although MAN / B&W and Deutz are still major players.

In the slow speed market there are only really two companies who matter and those are Sulzer (Wartsilla) and B&W.

When a ship is designed the naval architect will predict the power requirement to give the required service speed and then look at the engines available in that range, most engines can be purchased in various cylinder configurations (apparently MaK's come in an 8 cylinder version!) so that you can have a 6300kW MaK M43 (7 cylinder) or an 8100kW MaK M43 9 (cylinder) or pretty much any figure you like within the range.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Stuart2007 on July 29, 2010, 20:37:37
Sulzer is owned by MAN now, isn't it?
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: clanky on July 30, 2010, 07:52:27
No, B&W are owned by MAN, Sulzer by Wartsilla.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: IRI5HJ4CK on July 30, 2010, 10:12:20
Stuart, I think the correct pronunciation is along the lines of Vertsilja, but most people say Wartsilla.

Jack, there are a huge variety of engine types around, the two main categories are 2 stroke / slow speed engines and 4 stroke / medium speed engines.  Within these categories there are various manufacturers who all offer various models of engine aimed at different power output ranges.

In the medium speed market (mostly smaller ships and larger ships with multiple engines (cruise ships and ferries) the leader would be Wartsilla with MaK rapidly catching ground with their new M43 engine which has proved to be very reliable and very fuel efficient, although MAN / B&W and Deutz are still major players.

In the slow speed market there are only really two companies who matter and those are Sulzer (Wartsilla) and B&W.

When a ship is designed the naval architect will predict the power requirement to give the required service speed and then look at the engines available in that range, most engines can be purchased in various cylinder configurations (apparently MaK's come in an 8 cylinder version!) so that you can have a 6300kW MaK M43 (7 cylinder) or an 8100kW MaK M43 9 (cylinder) or pretty much any figure you like within the range.


Ahhh I see!! Thanks very much...at least I know a little more now than I used to :doh:

I was reading the last paragraph and I was thinking; have you ever seen a ship that has been over powered/under powered? Might sound like a daft question, but I was curious as to whether or not it's ever happened..

Jack.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Stuart2007 on July 31, 2010, 13:08:27
No, B&W are owned by MAN, Sulzer by Wartsilla.

Ah, thanks. Paxman, Honsby, Ruston, Mirlees, all grouped together and I believe these are now owned by MAN then...

This, without drifting off topic, is precisely why national governments should never let all their market leaders combine into one... THey become sloppy, greedy and then get bought out by foreign companies.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: clanky on August 03, 2010, 10:19:51
have you ever seen a ship that has been over powered/under powered?

I have been on a few which were underpowered, but I don't think I have ever known one to be overpowered.

I was on a little containership called the Baltic Tern once which had a service speed of 13 knots unless she was steaming into the wind in which case we were lucky to get 7 knots out of her.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: McGherkin on August 03, 2010, 14:25:45
I suspect that this vessel (http://www.amcmurray.us/8outboards.jpg) is overpowered.
Title: Re: engine rooms
Post by: Willmutt on August 03, 2010, 15:03:33
I suspect that this vessel (http://www.amcmurray.us/8outboards.jpg) is overpowered.

Not overpowered to be a drugdealer boat! :lol: