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Black Smoke From The Funnel What To Do
Black Smoke From The Funnel What To Do
written by: Chief Engineer Mohit Sanguri • edited by: Swagatam • updated: 8/9/2011
Black Smoke from the funnel is a sign of poor maintenance and malfunction of the machinery. It
is a serious issue as it violates Marpol 73/78 Annex VI and can lead to inspections and detention
of the ship. In a ship with multiple machines the identification of the faulty unit is a difficult task.
Marpol Annex VI has set standards for air pollution and the sulphur content of the exhaust gases.
Back smoke indicates that the combustion is incorrect. It suggests a bad fuel efficiency and an
increase in the fuel consumption.
The dark color of the smoke is caused by suspended fine carbon particles due to incomplete
combustion taking place. However the offending machine has to be identified before any
corrective action can be made. In marine diesel engines the poor combustion is basically due to
two main reasons; the first one is insufficient air supply and the second one is incorrect fuel
injection.
The air-related problems in marine diesel engines may be due to the following reasons:
The fuel-related problems that could cause black smoke are as follows:
The black smoke could come from the main engine, the three auxiliary engines, the oil fired
boiler, the exhaust boiler, or the incinerator. A quick trip to the top of the funnel may indicate the
source. Once the exhaust pipe has been identified, it should be traced down to the engine room In
case it is the incinerator or the boiler, the fault can be discovered soon, but in engines with
multiple units it must be established that whether the fault is of an individual unit of is it
common to all.
In case the smoke is traced to a multi-unit diesel engine, the procedure of finding the smoking
unit is as follows:
1. The engine must be checked for overloading and the exhaust temperatures of the
individual units must be checked. The difference in temperature of the individual unit and
the average temperature must not exceed 50 degrees C.
2. The engine must be checked for scavenge fire and the under-piston temperature must be
checked of all the units.
3. The fuel racks of all the fuel pumps must be checked and must be within limits.
4. The air filter of the turbocharger blower must be checked for choking.
5. The turbocharger speed must be checked and the temperature drop across the
turbocharger must be checked.
6. The fuel temperature must be checked and it must be within the range 120 to 140 degrees
C for heavy fuel oil.
7. In the case the problem is only due to a particular cylinder, the units must be cut off one
by one and for about two three minutes any change in exhaust must be observed.
Colors of Smoke
The color of the smoke tells about the condition of the machines. The ideal color of the smoke
should be transparent to slight grey.
References