Boiler survey

A boiler survey is the class inspection of a ship’s main and auxiliary boilers, with their superheaters, economizers, air heaters, and mountings, examined internally and externally and tested. Boilers and thermal-oil heaters are surveyed twice in every five-year period, with the interval between the two surveys not to exceed 36 months. The surveyor opens the boiler, checks for scale, wastage, cracking, and pitting on the tubes and shell, verifies safety valves and water-level gauges, and may call for a hydraulic test. A failed boiler survey holds back the certificate of class, since boiler failure is a primary cause of engine-room casualties.