Maritime Knowledge Base
Browse questions and answers across marine machinery, merchant navy careers, shipboard operations and maritime glossary terms.
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Marine Machinery
Troubleshooting guides for pumps, boilers, purifiers, compressors and auxiliary systems.
Merchant Navy Careers
Questions about joining the merchant navy, exams, cadetships, ranks and sea-time.
Maritime Glossary
Plain-English definitions of shipping, engine-room, navigation and regulatory terms.
Shipboard Operations
Practical Q&A for watchkeeping, safety, maintenance routines and onboard documentation.
Results for "Compressor"
Why won't my marine air compressor build pressure?
A first-principles check for a compressor that runs but won't build pressure — valves, unloader, leaks, rings and cooling.
Marine MachineryHow does a marine air compressor work and why is it needed?
A marine air compressor squeezes air in stages to high pressure and stores it in receivers, chiefly to provide the starting air that turns large diesel engines over.
Marine MachineryWhat causes a marine engine turbocharger to surge?
Turbocharger surging is a violent, audible instability of the airflow through the compressor — it signals a mismatch between the turbocharger and the engine's demand.
Marine MachineryHow does a marine engine turbocharger work?
A turbocharger uses the energy of the engine's exhaust gas to drive a compressor that forces more air into the cylinders, greatly increasing power and efficiency.
Shipboard OperationsWhat should be checked during engine-room watchkeeping rounds?
How to make an engine-room round count — comparing live readings against normal ranges and catching trends before they become failures.
Marine MachineryWhy won't the main engine start on air?
A main engine that turns on air but will not fire, or will not turn at all, points to a short list of common causes across the starting-air, fuel and control systems.
Marine MachineryHow does a marine diesel engine work?
A marine diesel engine converts the chemical energy of fuel into rotary motion through compression ignition — here is the working principle and the two-stroke and four-stroke cycles.
Marine MachineryHow does a ship's refrigeration plant work?
A marine refrigeration plant uses the vapour-compression cycle to move heat out of provision rooms or cargo spaces, keeping food and cargo cold at sea.
Marine MachineryWhat is a central cooling system on a ship and why is it used?
A central cooling system uses seawater to cool a closed freshwater circuit, which in turn cools the machinery — reducing seawater corrosion and fouling in the equipment.
Shipboard OperationsWhat is lock-out tag-out (LOTO) and why is it used aboard ship?
Lock-out tag-out is the practice of isolating a machine's energy sources and physically locking and tagging them off before maintenance, so it cannot be started or energised while someone is working on it.
