Keeping Your Cargo Safe: Refrigeration Plant Maintenance On Marine Vessels
The continuous use of refrigeration plants on a marine vessel carrying perishable food makes it one of the most important systems on the ship. The refrigeration plant supplies cooling to various parts of the ship, most importantly this includes maintaining the climate conditions of whatever cargo the ship is transporting. As a lifeline for all perishable food items, temperature-sensitive cargo, and personnel, the refrigeration plant is one of the most important systems on a ship.
When away from the port, marine vessels are isolated, self-servicing floating businesses, and have to have great any maintenance crews. The great isolation and distance from the port reinforce the need for proper maintenance and upkeep of critical systems on the ship when is in port, but also having on-board expertise when on a voyage.
The Nature of a Marine Refrigeration Plant
As mentioned before, the main purpose of the refrigeration plant is to avoid any spoilage or damage that could occur to the perishable cargo on the ship. Properly maintained climate levels on a ship prevent the growth of microorganisms, oxidation, fermentation, and drying out of cargo.
Refrigeration plants have multiple important components, all vital to maintaining performance. Some of these components are simple to replace en route, while others are more complicated and require port-based maintenance. Depending on your system configuration, maintaining components like evaporator coils or air handler coils can help keep systems operational, longer. Using proper technology to clean air handler coils, refrigeration coils, and condenser coils can help keep system head pressure within specifications and increase system efficiency.
Cleaning and Maintaining the Components of a Refrigeration Plant
Crew and customers both rely on the dependability and functionality of the ship’s refrigeration plant. Without a well-maintained refrigeration plant, the rest of the ship is unable to perform its main function of transporting its cargo.
Ships may rarely stay at a dock for a long enough period of time for engineers to fully service and maintain the health of the refrigeration plant. Ship engineers need to fully understand the movement schedule of a ship so that they can best plan the overall maintenance of the refrigeration plant. A common practice of ship engineers is to conduct all of their routine maintenance nearly every day at sea. Engineers save the in-depth maintenance overhauls and part replacement for the docking periods of a ship, where access to additional resources is available.
With such a small window to conduct refrigeration plant maintenance, it is vitally important that ship engineers make the time that they have to conduct maintenance count. Proper cleaning and maintenance equipment increase the effectiveness of maintenance efforts. The key equipment to have for refrigeration plant maintenance includes coil cleaning systems and chemicals, tube cleaning systems, chemical descalers, industrial pressure washers, and surface sanitation systems. This equipment should be paired with a comprehensive maintenance plane that is also in sync with the docking schedule for the ship.
Goodway’s experts are also on standby ready to answer any questions about marine refrigeration plant maintenance. The best refrigeration maintenance plans fully consider the port and at sea dates of the ship, and utilize this time to conduct the major cleaning, maintenance, and performance checks. Routine maintenance can be completed easily and quickly daily with numerous Goodway products that maintain the operational health of the refrigeration plant.
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