Fire Pumps and Fixed Systems in the Engine Room

SOLAS Chapter II-2, Regulation 10 (Fire fighting): requirements on the number and capacity of fire pumps, required pressure at hydrants, and characteristics of the emergency fire pump, which must be located outside the main machinery space with an independent power supply.

Regulation 10 is extinction; Regulation II-2/4 is prevention, and the two must be read together because in almost every machinery space fire the fuel is oil. Paragraph 4.2.2.3.4 requires, on every storage, settling or daily service tank having a capacity of 500 l and above situated above the double bottom, “a cock or valve directly on the tank capable of being closed from a safe position outside the space concerned in the event of a fire occurring in the space in which such tanks are situated”: these are the quick-closing valves, and testing them belongs to the same routine as testing the emergency fire pump, because they serve the same scenario — a space abandoned and no longer accessible. Paragraph 4.2.2.6.1 adds that surfaces above 220 °C exposed to a fuel leak must be insulated: oil-soaked lagging over an exhaust manifold is the most frequent ignition source. See the Bunkering Operations entry for the full picture of Regulation II-2/4.

The figures in Regulation 10.2, which this page did not carry. 10.2.2.2 sets how many independently driven pumps are required: three on passenger ships of 4,000 GT and upwards, two below that; two independently driven on cargo ships of 1,000 GT and upwards, and below 1,000 GT two power-driven pumps of which at least one independently driven. 10.2.1.6 sets the minimum pressure to be maintained at all hydrants with two pumps delivering simultaneously: 0.40 N/mm² on passenger ships of 4,000 GT and upwards, 0.30 below; 0.27 on cargo ships of 6,000 GT and upwards, 0.25 below. Note that SOLAS states these in N/mm², not bar: 0.40 N/mm² is 4 bar.

10.2.1.3 requires the fire main diameter to be sufficient for the maximum discharge of two pumps operating simultaneously, with the derogation for cargo ships where 140 m³/h suffices; 10.2.2.4 provides that the total capacity of fire pumps on cargo ships need not exceed 180 m³/h. The emergency fire pump is sized in the FSS Code, Chapter 12, paragraph 2.2.1.1: not less than 40% of the total capacity of the main fire pumps, and in any case not less than 25 m³/h for cargo ships of 2,000 GT and upwards and passenger ships below 1,000 GT, 15 m³/h for cargo ships below 2,000 GT.

The testing intervals are not in SOLAS, and that generates the commonest error. Regulation II-2/14 says only that systems be kept in good working order and that maintenance, testing and inspections be carried out “based on the guidelines developed by the Organization”, with the maintenance plan kept on board for inspection. The intervals are in MSC.1/Circ.1432, as amended by MSC.1/Circ.1516. For pumps: a monthly operational test of all pumps, confirming they continue to supply adequate pressure, plus a monthly check of the emergency pump's fuel supply and heating; an annual flow test of all pumps, with the emergency pump tested with isolation valves closed, relief valves properly set and strainers cleaned. The circular does have a weekly section, §4, and it is worth saying what is in it, because that is where the confusion starts: fire detection panels, fixed gas system panels and valve positions, fire door panels, public address and general alarm systems, breathing apparatus and EEBD gauges, low-location lighting, and the panels and pump unit of the water mist/sprinkler system (§4.7.2). Fire pumps are not among the weekly items: they sit at §5.1 (monthly) and §7.1 (annual). The only weekly “pump” is the sprinkler one, which is a different system. Anyone running a weekly test of the emergency fire pump is doing so under a Company procedure, a class rule or a flag requirement, not under this circular: it is worth knowing which of the two you are demonstrating to an inspector.