Recently, on the boat I work on, we’ve had to put up these little signs above practically every light switch that reads, “As per SEEMP, turn off lights when not in use.”
One of the seamen was saying it was a very stupid thing that came down from the Coast Guard (I think) and it was stupid because an electrical generator, while running, uses the same amount of fuel no matter how many lights are on or off at any given time on the ship.
I was wondering the same thing myself, but wasn’t sure. So what say you? I don’t know enough about how electrical generators work to know for sure. So, does turning off the lights help us save fuel on our generators or not?
does your car use the same amount of fuel running the engine at 3000 rpm in neutral as it does running at 3000 rpm driving down the highway? no, it doesn’t. an engine’s fuel consumption depends on the power output, not the rotational speed.
There’s two parts to the genset.
The ICE (internal combustion engine) , and the generator, which makes the electricity from mechanical power.
So the electric generator has a regulator, it varies the load presented to the ICE with the current draw..
The ICE has a regulator that opens the throttle when the mechanical load goes up.. to keep its speed constant.
There’s probably a minimum amount of electrical power that the genset will produce from the minimum fuel consumption, and if you don’t use that minimum power, its lost.. but modern gensets may be much better at using least fuel than older generations (Are generations generated by generators ? excuse the pun…)
Vessels may have solar, batteries and generator and so only run the gen when the solar isn’t keeping up the battery charge ?
Anyway, light bulbs are expensive and all, so best to save fuel and money and bulbs by turning off lights when not needed.
Thanks for the insights everyone. Glad to know that this isn’t just some useless policy handed down to us by The Powers That Be with no good reason.
The funny thing is that when I first started working on the boat, I would always turn the light in the bathroom off when I was done (though hardly anyone else ever did), until someone put up a sign that said, “Leave the light on - the bill’s paid!”
So now it’s back to me turning them off and helping save the boat a little money
Technically the official term is Able-Bodied Seaman. On the boat we all call them ABs for short (pronounced Ay-Bee), but since you guys would presumably have no idea what an AB is, I called them a seaman here on the boards because that was his position. If it was one of the engineers, the captain, the observer, the surveyors, etc, I would have said that instead. But it was an Able-Bodied Seaman who said it, so… hence the use of my word.
But yes, out here on the actual boat, if you said called someone a seaman it would be rather hilarious.
NItpick!
The regulator regulates the voltage of the generator Not the load.
The govenor regulates the speed.
Under constant load everything would be stable. As the load increases, outside of the genset, the generator will require more power to turn. It will slow just a little then the govener will increase the fuel to the ICE. At the same time depending on how the generator is excited, series, shunt, etc, the voltage may drop a little the regulator will increase the current in the field to bring the voltage back up to where it belongs.
so with an increased load more fuel is consumed. Just ask your engineers. And if they say no I would suggest signing off thw boat.
The term is not used ironically in the U.S. Navy. (Insert cute comment here.)
The three lowest ranks in the U.S. Navy are Seaman Recruit (E-1), Seaman Apprentice (E-2), and Seaman (E-3). All are addressed as “Seaman [LastName].”
On the other hand, a group of enlisted Navy personnel (whether they are seamen, petty officers, or chief petty officers) would more likely be referred to by the general term of “sailors.”
