Marine Insulation Contractors

SOLAS requires any surface above 220°C that could be reached by fuel or oil escaping from a failed pipe or joint to be insulated. On a diesel engine that means exhaust manifolds, turbocharger casings, uptakes and hot flanges in the spray zone. We design every system to keep those surfaces below 220°C and check surface temperatures after installation.

The outer covering has to keep oil out, so fixed insulation is finished in Aluzinc or stainless steel cladding and removable sections in a coated glass-cloth facing, with no exposed fibrous insulation. Where lagging has to come off for maintenance, we make it as removable, made-to-measure sections. Engineers can reach joints, sensors and bolts, then refit the insulation complete.

As marine exhaust insulation contractors, we insulate main and auxiliary engine exhausts from the manifold, through the turbocharger, to the uptake, along with silencers, boiler uptakes and SCR housings.

Most vessels need two kinds of diesel exhaust insulation. Long straight runs and uptakes take fixed insulation with metal cladding. Manifolds, turbochargers, expansion bellows and flanged joints, which engineers open regularly, take removable diesel exhaust lagging: jackets that strap or lace on and come off without damage.

Ashore we use the same layered approach. On the CHP engine exhaust at Wessex Water’s Avonmouth Sewage Treatment Works we fitted 25mm ceramic fibre against the exhaust, 80mm wired mineral wool mat over it and 0.7mm Aluzinc cladding outside. That brought the surface down to a safe temperature, kept the exhaust gas hot for the heat exchangers and reduced noise in the CHP room. Marine diesel exhausts call for the same layered build-up, using materials approved for marine use.

We manufacture diesel exhaust lagging as well as fitting it. Each jacket is made in our Rotherham facility to measurements taken on board, so lagging is ready before the vessel docks, and the drawings stay on file for the next docking. That suits marine exhaust lagging renewals where existing jackets are oil-soaked, damaged or missing, and new lagging after an engine or turbocharger change.

Marine engine insulation covers more than the exhaust. Steam and thermal oil lines, heated fuel lines, boilers and tanks are insulated in mineral wool under Aluzinc for heat retention and personnel protection. Chilled water and other cold lines take closed-cell elastomeric insulation with a continuous vapour barrier, so condensation never reaches the pipe.

Valves, strainers and flanges are where fixed insulation fails first. It gets cut away during maintenance and is rarely replaced. We fit removable valve insulation jackets made in our own factory, sized to each valve, with an oil-resistant outer facing for machinery spaces.

Because we also design and install trace heating, we can trace heated fuel lines and other lines held at temperature, then insulate them in the same visit.

Marine sound insulation cuts the noise that travels from the engine room into accommodation, the bridge and working spaces. We install marine sound deadening on engine room bulkheads and deckheads, and acoustic lagging on exhausts and pipework, where the noise starts.

Acoustic linings in machinery spaces face the same fire and oil requirements as thermal insulation, so we specify marine sound proof insulation approved for the space it goes into rather than a building product.

On existing vessels, marine noise insulation and marine sound dampening start with the noise sources. Treating the source works: on the Avonmouth CHP exhaust, the layered insulation that brought the surface temperature down also reduced noise in the CHP room. We identify where treatment will have most effect, including work towards the limits in the IMO Code on Noise Levels on Board Ships.

We install insulation to A-60, A-30 and B-15 fire divisions on bulkheads and decks, using systems approved for the division and for the steel or aluminium structure they protect.

Insulation in SOLAS applications must be approved for marine use. On EU-flagged vessels that means MED wheel-marked products; on UK-flagged vessels, the Red Ensign mark under the Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Regulations. We specify approved materials for the vessel’s flag and class, and hand over material certificates with the installation records.