Ship Marine Engineering

Knowledge

Ballast & Bilge System

Lec. 5
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 Lecture 5

Ballast & Bilge System

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Main Bilge &
Ballast System

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 Bilge and Ballast Systems
▪ The bilge and ballast system each have particular functions to perform . but
are in many ways interconnected

Ballast-System purposes are :

▪ keep the trim during the voyage .

▪ keep the ship without angle of list .
▪ ballast the ship in light condition for a safe voyage sometimes in heavy weather
and also to adjust the GM.

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 Ballast Arrangement
▪ Ballast pump capacity is governed by the volume of water has to be discharge
at a given time.
▪ The Ballast System is arranged to ensure that water can be drawn from any
tank or the sea and discharged to any other tank or the sea as required to trim
the vessel and keep it without angle of list.
▪ The types of valves used are of screw down valves or butterfly valves for its
simplest in control.

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 Ballast Operation
Ballasting:
▪ Ballast pump suck sea water from sea chest through a strainer and
pump it to desired ballast tanks to correct the List and to Fore peak
and Aft peak to adjust the trim.

De-ballasting :
▪ Ballast pump sucks sea water from ballast tanks and pump it out to
overboard.

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 Bilge System
The purpose of bilge system:
▪ Collecting engine room bilge water in bilge holding tank and pump it out
through oily water separator.
▪ Pumping out cargo hold, tunnel and machinery spaces bilges.
▪ pumping out engine room bilge water in case of emergency flooding.
▪ Emergency bilge suction: Uses large capacity centrifugal pump like GS pump
to get direct bilge suction and pump it overboard.

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Bilge System

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 Bilge Arrangements
▪ The bilge main has suctions from the Port and Starboard sides of the engine
room, from the tunnel well and from the different cargo holds.
▪ The pumps which serve this system are main bilge pump , emergency bilge
pump , fire fighting pump , general purpose pump, ballast pump and
circulating pump.
▪ The valves used in the suction side and the overboard valve are of type screw
down non return valve to prevent the flow of water to the reverse direction.
▪ All bilge suctions must be fitted with suitable strainers and a vertical drop pipe
would lead down to the bilge well.

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Bilge Ballast Pipe
Diagram

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 Pumping Bilge Rules > 90m Long

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 Thanks

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