At sea, a failed engine or sterntube bearing is not a maintenance inconvenience — it is a vessel out of service, a charter lost, and a tow bill arriving. FluidInspectIR® monitors oil condition continuously, pinpointing problems like water ingress and acid build-up before they cause irreversible damage.
A marine vessel's diesel engine showed unexplained water concentration spikes in the lubricating oil. Periodic lab sampling could not pinpoint when or why the ingress was occurring — leaving the vessel at risk of costly cooler failure and unplanned downtime.
When a vessel is mid-voyage, there is no opportunity to send an oil sample to a shore-side laboratory. By the time a result returns, the damage has already progressed. Inline, real-time monitoring is the only way to catch problems as they develop.
Cooler leaks and seal failures allow water into lube oil within hours. Standard lab sampling cannot catch an event between scheduled intervals.
Sending oil samples to a laboratory is impractical mid-voyage. Vessels rely on fixed-interval oil changes that are either too early or too late.
An unplanned engine shutdown at sea means emergency towing, lost charter revenue, and repairs that can run into six figures — all avoidable with early warning.
Classification societies and OEM warranties increasingly require documented oil condition records. Paper-based sampling logs are subjective and incomplete.
FluidInspectIR® measures water content continuously. A cooler leak or seal failure is detected within one measurement cycle — long before water causes bearing damage. On one vessel, this pinpointed water spikes to specific harbour mooring events.
Rising TAN indicates combustion acid build-up in marine diesel oils. Inline TAN monitoring tracks acid load in real time, enabling condition-based oil changes rather than conservative fixed-interval replacements.
Shore-side operations teams see oil health across the entire fleet from a single cloud dashboard — without waiting for a vessel to return to port. Trends, alerts, and condition history all in one place.
FluidInspectIR® sensors are IP67 rated for continuous operation in marine engine rooms — withstanding vibration, humidity, and temperature extremes without recalibration or consumables.
48–72 hours advance warning from trend monitoring converts catastrophic breakdowns into planned port interventions — saving £50,000–£500,000 per event in avoided tow, repair, and lost charter costs.
Every measurement is time-stamped and stored in DataInspectIR®. Classification society inspections and OEM warranty claims are supported by objective, continuous oil condition evidence — not paper logs.
FluidInspectIR® typically delivers three or more of these simultaneously for marine assets — with payback periods measured in months, not years.
Replace conservative fixed-schedule oil changes with data-driven decisions. Extend engine oil intervals by 50%+ when oil condition allows — reducing oil spend, filter costs, and disposal.
Early slope alerts convert catastrophic breakdowns into planned port interventions. Each avoided event saves £50,000–£500,000+ in tow, repair, and lost charter revenue.
Tight oil condition control reduces internal wear rates. Engine life extension of 20–30% reduces the frequency and cost of major overhauls and capital replacement cycles.
Each avoided oil change on a marine diesel means 15–50 kg CO₂e less (oil production + disposal). Supports IMO environmental reporting and operator ESG commitments.
Manual oil sampling in a marine engine room involves hot oil, confined spaces, and moving machinery. Inline monitoring removes technician exposure to these H&S risks entirely.
Timestamped cloud data supports OEM warranty claims, classification society inspections, and flag-state compliance — replacing subjective paper-based oil logs.
Detect cooler leaks and seal failures within minutes — before water reaches damaging concentrations in marine diesel oil.
Rising TAN indicates combustion acid build-up — the primary degradation driver in marine diesel engine oils.
TBN depletion signals loss of acid neutralisation reserve — the key indicator for marine diesel oil change timing.
Viscosity shift indicates fuel dilution, thermal breakdown, or oil mixing — critical in marine main engines and gearboxes.
Combustion blowby soot in marine diesels — leading indicator of piston ring wear and combustion inefficiency.
Oxidation monitoring for gearbox and hydraulic oils where long drain intervals are desired.
4, 6 and 14 µm particle counts detect wear debris and contamination in sterntube and hydraulic systems.
Detects fuel dilution from injector leaks or incomplete combustion — a major cause of viscosity drop and premature oil degradation.
A marine vessel's diesel engine showed unexplained water concentration spikes. Periodic lab sampling could not pinpoint the source. FluidInspectIR® inline monitoring identified water spikes correlating with harbour mooring events — pointing directly to a failing cooler. The cooler was replaced in a planned manner during the next scheduled port call, avoiding catastrophic engine damage and unplanned downtime.