Concerned on HoTS

[Rellyrooly]

Currently sailing on Harmony and we were trying to get to the back of the ship by the mini golf and were stopped by security guards. When we looked up we could see Ash or embers coming out of the smokestacks and can smell it as well. There are a couple of security guards and what looks like a uniformed officer of some sort that has come out to look at it and have been making phone calls. They won’t let us go past a certain area and we see ashes falling on the course and heard they were falling on people in the aqua theater. I’ve never seen anything like this before and I am a little concerned. Does anyone know what this could be? I am going to try to attach a photo although it is hard for you to see the burning ashes

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[ECU_Cruising_Pirates]

That's scary. Stay safe and keep us updated.

[racerxspeedy]

We saw a similar "smoke stack show" on Oasis leaving FLL, but there was no security out and about. Heavy Black smoke and ash, but It only lasted about 5 minutes. How long has Harmony been spewing ash tonight?

[Rellyrooly]

It has been going for quite a while now. It doesn’t seem normal. People are out looking at it and some people came up from water show after it ended to look because it was landing there. The rest of the ship doesn’t seem to have a clue it’s happening. Just don’t know how worried we should be.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Ourusualbeach]

We were in the Aquatheatre on Oasis in March and we had ash come down on us. Guest services was handing out lots of complimentary cleaning vouchers that night.

[3hearts4me]

We were on Oasis in March last year and got an ash shower. It was messy and landed all over the aqua theatre. No embers though, that would have been a little unnerving.

 

ETA: I zoomed in on your pic, definitely not anything like that.

[setsail]

We have not had a good ash thread in quite awhile.

[Rellyrooly]

We have not had an ash thread in quite awhile.

 

 

 

So if there have been ash threads, how about you tell me about it? This is more than ash; it’s actually red, burning material. The crew that came out to look looks a bit concerned about it and like I said, there was a uniformed officer of some sort that also came to look and said he was coming to check it out because security called him. He immediately got on the phone and I haven’t been back to check it out.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[setsail]

So if there have been ash threads, how about you tell me about it? This is more than ash; it’s actually red, burning material. The crew that came out to look looks a bit concerned about it and like I said, there was a uniformed officer of some sort that also came to look and said he was coming to check it out because security called him. He immediately got on the phone and I haven’t been back to check it out.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Ash was your word

[Rellyrooly]

Some more pics...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Rellyrooly]

Ash was your word

 

 

 

I said ash or embers. What’s your problem? If you can help me understand, please do. Not looking for a discussion about semantics. Thanks.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Rellyrooly]

Well, it’s now 12:25 am and haven’t heard another word about this and everything seems to be ok. Not sure we’ll ever find out what was going on but as long as we are ok, i’m good with that! We sail on!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[ONECRUISER]

Happens from time to time, seen few in a times over the years. If we are lucky maybe "Chief" will pop in and explain it

[rkkunk]

You know that is funny (in an ironic kind of way). We were just on Harmony 2 weeks ago and we went out by the sports area. It had been raining that night and I remember remarking to my DH and DS on how much soot that was all over the deck. We have been on Allure 3 times and I never remember ever seeing much soot at all. Strange.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[racerxspeedy]

My "uneducated guess" based on our Oasis experience is that these ships burn dried waste.

[cruisbob]

This is HOTS !!! The ship is discharges "HOTS" ! Or they would have to change name !! ????

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[chengkp75]

Typically late at night, the ship will "blow tubes" to clean the heat transfer surfaces of the boiler using steam shot into the boiler. This will produce soot and sometimes glowing embers as the thin soot flakes heat up and re-ignite.

 

They also clean the turbocharger blades on the diesel engines similarly, though using ground walnut shells as the abrasive medium to remove soot from the blades. These will also produce soot flakes and glowing embers.

 

The ship tries to do this at a time and in a manner that blows the soot and embers as quickly over the side of the ship as possible, frequently changing course for a short period to put the wind on one side. If there is a following wind, so that the "relative" wind is slight or non-existent, the soot and embers could continue to fall on the ship, and security would be called to ensure that nothing catches fire from them.

 

As noted, it is a frequent occurrence, almost nightly, but the amount of embers varies each time, and many times there is no one out and about when it's done, so no one sees it.

[nelblu]

You know that is funny (in an ironic kind of way). We were just on Harmony 2 weeks ago and we went out by the sports area. It had been raining that night and I remember remarking to my DH and DS on how much soot that was all over the deck. We have been on Allure 3 times and I never remember ever seeing much soot at all. Strange.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Soot was very prevalent on ships when we cruised in the early 70's.

[chengkp75]

Soot was very prevalent on ships when we cruised in the early 70's.

 

In the early 70's, most cruise ships were steam ships, so the "blowing tubes" would be much more prevalent (the boilers were bigger since they provide power to the entire ship, not just ancillary services like the boilers today) and much more "intense".

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks Chief.

As always, great information.

[Rellyrooly]

Typically late at night, the ship will "blow tubes" to clean the heat transfer surfaces of the boiler using steam shot into the boiler. This will produce soot and sometimes glowing embers as the thin soot flakes heat up and re-ignite.

 

 

 

They also clean the turbocharger blades on the diesel engines similarly, though using ground walnut shells as the abrasive medium to remove soot from the blades. These will also produce soot flakes and glowing embers.

 

 

 

The ship tries to do this at a time and in a manner that blows the soot and embers as quickly over the side of the ship as possible, frequently changing course for a short period to put the wind on one side. If there is a following wind, so that the "relative" wind is slight or non-existent, the soot and embers could continue to fall on the ship, and security would be called to ensure that nothing catches fire from them.

 

 

 

As noted, it is a frequent occurrence, almost nightly, but the amount of embers varies each time, and many times there is no one out and about when it's done, so no one sees it.

 

 

 

Thank you for the informative response! This makes a lot of sense. I guess the thing that had all of us puzzled was the fact that the security and officer seemed to be puzzled about why it was happening. They did seem like they were on alert. Even the response from the uniformed officer had me puzzled because he seemed puzzled. One of the passengers started looking it up on his phone and what he found was something that said most newer ships shouldn’t have any burning embers or suck being omitted from their stacks due to the fact that they burn diesel and don’t even met that anymore. That must’ve been false information that he found on the Internet. Either way, we are still here and happily sailing along. Thanks again!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[chengkp75]

Thank you for the informative response! This makes a lot of sense. I guess the thing that had all of us puzzled was the fact that the security and officer seemed to be puzzled about why it was happening. They did seem like they were on alert. Even the response from the uniformed officer had me puzzled because he seemed puzzled. One of the passengers started looking it up on his phone and what he found was something that said most newer ships shouldn’t have any burning embers or suck being omitted from their stacks due to the fact that they burn diesel and don’t even met that anymore. That must’ve been false information that he found on the Internet. Either way, we are still here and happily sailing along. Thanks again!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Even burning diesel fuel, you need to clean tubes and turbos occasionally, though less frequently than when burning residual fuel. The ships only need to burn diesel when within 200 miles of the North American coast (and places like Samoa, PR, US Virgin Islands), and can change back to residual fuel when outside this limit. Also, many ships have retrofitted exhaust scrubbers (like the catalytic converter on your car) and can burn residual fuel even inside the US ECA (inside 200 miles) if using the scrubber instead of using diesel fuel. When using the scrubber, most of the particulates from the cleaning process will be removed as well as normal combustion particulates. However, again, when outside the ECA, the ship can bypass the scrubber as the emissions regulations change on the open ocean, and then the burning embers/soot problem can return. HOTS has scrubbers, maybe they were bypassed and the security crew didn't know it could be done.

[Oceansaway17]

Soot was very prevalent on ships when we cruised in the early 70's.

 

 

 

YES they were. I was on the Oceanic in late 70's and I had to go the the doctors on ship and have soot removed from my one eye. Burned like Heck.

 

Carnival ships also seem to have a lot of dark stuff from their funnels.

[chengkp75]

YES they were. I was on the Oceanic in late 70's and I had to go the the doctors on ship and have soot removed from my one eye. Burned like Heck.

 

Carnival ships also seem to have a lot of dark stuff from their funnels.

 

Any time a diesel engine starts, like when leaving port and they are loading up more generators to get up to speed, even burning clean diesel fuel, there will be incomplete combustion and black smoke for less than a minute. Many times depending on the "background" (the lighting in the sky and the color of the sky/cloud cover) good efficient exhaust can look dark. I think some of the problem Carnival has is with putting the exhaust through a 90* bend and out the sides of the "whale tail", rather than letting it go straight up.