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ME782
System Oil Water Contamination
Technical Committee
Type of ship
Date of completion 2004
Navigation route
Damaged machinery
Category Main Engine
Name LO Sump tank air vent pipe line
Type
Maker
Date of trouble 2014

1. The summary of the trouble

During the crankcase inspection conducted while the captioned vessel was in a foreign port, drops of water
and a pool of emulsified oil were found at the bottom of the crankcase.Photo 1Photo 2
An analysis of the lube oil by a cassette tester showed that the water content was 0.8vol% and the kinetic
viscosity was 108cSt. Since the water content was too high, it was decided that all the lubricating oil should
be cleaned by the purifier.
First all the LO sump tank oil was cleaned as it was transferred to the LO settling tank. The lube oil was
heated at 85-90 until the following day. The by-pass purifying was started on the following morning and
the water content dropped to 0.3vol%, although the kinetic viscosity remained at 108cSt.
The by-pass purifying lasted 24 hours, after which the lube oil was transferred from the LO settling tank to
the sump tank as it was cleaned by the purifier. During this process, the main LO pump was operated so
that the lubricating oil remaining in the LO line could be exchanged.
After this, the lube oil in the LO sump tank was cleaned by the purifier again as it was transferred to the LO
settling tank.
This procedure did not change the water content (0.3vol%) or the kinetic viscosity (108cSt). The by-pass
purifying by the purifier was started, which established the normal operation.
Both before and after the departure from the foreign port, system oil was added as necessary, and the water
content was reduced to 0.04vol%. After returning to Japan, the lube oil was analyzed by the manufacturer
and the bearings and moving parts were inspected by the main engine manufacturer. The results were all
satisfactory.

2. Trouble causes
Lube oil water contamination can occur for various reasons. Since the lube oil purifiers and their heaters,
lube oil coolers, lube oil sump tank heaters were all in good working order, the air vent pipes of various
tanks were examined.
Water pool was found on the tank top under the drain pipe for the LO sump tank aft air vent pipe, but the
forward drain pipe had no water. Thus, the drain pipes (inverted U-tube) for the crankcase gas vent pipe
and the LO sump tank air vent pipes were examined. The results were as follows (Photo 3):
(1) Crankcase gas vent pipe line
The drain pipe was completely clogged at the U-tube part. When the pipe was removed,
about 8 liters of oily water came out.

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The Marine Engineer Nov. 2014
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(2) LO Sump tank air vent pipe line

The forward drain pipe was completely clogged at the U-tube part and the flange. When
the flange was removed, about 1 liter of water came out. (Photo 4)
The aft drain pipe was partially clogged at the U-tube section, but there still was water flow.
Since a large amount of drain was coming out of the generator engine drain pipe, it was suspected
that the mist box was a common source of water contamination.
Further inspections revealed that the agitation steam for the waste oil tank was leaking from a valve. The
agitation steam pipe is located 100mm above the waste oil tank bottom and normally the waste oil
incineration stops when the tank level is 350mm. However, when the water contamination occurred, the
incineration continued until the tank level was about 200mm for waste oil tank cleaning, and this may have
led to more mist entering the mist box.
The agitation steam is designed to come out of a nozzle located inside the tank to mix and heat the waste oil.
The mist from the steam is carried to the mist box through the waste oil tank air vent pipe.
The present incident resulted from a large amount of mist from the leaking agitation steam in the waste oil
tank filling the mist box. The mist then flowed backwards through the air and gas vent pipes located in the
mist box. In the mist box, the LO sump tank air vent pipe is located next to the one from the waste oil tank,
and this may well have increased the amount of drain flowing backwards into the sump tank.
The mist flowing backwards is designed to be discharged through the drain pipes from the drain pools but
since the drain pipes were clogged, the water that overflew from the drain pools went into the sump tank.

3. Countermeasures
First of all, the leaking agitation steam valve was replaced, and it was also decided that the drain pipes
should be cleaned periodically. Furthermore, the air vent valve from the waste oil tank was separated inside
the mist box from the other air and gas vent pipes so that they will not be exposed to the mist from the
waste oil tank. (Figure 1 shows the pipe arrangement inside the mist box.)

Photo 1: Water Drops at the Bottom of the Photo 2: Emulsified Lubricating Oil
Crankcase

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Photo 3: Main Engine Sump Tank Forward Photo 4: Clogged Drain Pipe Flange
Drain Pipe

Fig.1: Pipe Arrangement in the Mist Box

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The Marine Engineer Nov. 2014