Accounting for water entering the boiler feed system

Our ship's mechanics often forget that onshore water is not actually supplied to ships for free, that its cost, especially in foreign ports, is quite high and is a significant item in the amount of operating costs of the ship, that every ton of used feedwater is used to replace tons of lost condensate and requires additional additives of expensive antinakipins to bring its quality is up to a level that meets modern requirements.



One of the main nodes, which is the weakest point in the feed water flow accounting system, is its supply to the feed system. Replenishment of feedwater losses on all ships during the voyage is usually carried out using an additive tap installed on the main refrigerator. Due to the vacuum, the feed water from the tanks is sucked into the main refrigerator through this faucet. However, the amount of water supplied to the system is taken into account in a very peculiar way, not by measurements in feedwater tanks, using a graduated rail or a water measuring glass on a warm box, but by the time during which the mixer tap is open. In the logbooks of most ships, one can often find a stereotypical inscription: "the loader worked for 10-16 minutes." It is unknown how much water was added to the system during this time.



Some mechanics believe that 0.5 tons of water enters the system from the feed tanks within 10 minutes of opening the faucet. But this, of course, is incorrect, since it does not take into account either the changing vacuum value in the main refrigerator, or the completely unknown hydraulic resistances in the add-on valve in one or another of its positions, etc. Thus, it can be concluded that there is no accounting of feed water on ships, and that the entries in the logbook do not reflect the actual water consumption. This situation is unacceptable, as there is absolutely no control over the available supply of feed water on ships, which in some cases can lead to a complete loss of it and the associated great troubles.



It is characteristic that on some ships the concepts of "nutrient" and "washing" water are even confused. On such vessels, the crew could not obtain accurate data on either the flow rate or the availability of feed water, since, according to the mechanics, they often pump feed water into and out of washing tanks on the move, which completely eliminates the possibility of any accounting. transescort.org