🔍 Key Concepts

• Fuel oil system design on steam ships, including storage tanks, heaters, and coils • What happens when steam-side leaks into or out of a fuel oil system • Where fuel oil and steam/water would mix or show up first if a heating coil inside a storage tank fails

💭 Think About

• If a heating coil inside a fuel oil storage tank leaks, which substance is more likely to escape into which (steam into fuel, or fuel into steam)? • Which one of the listed locations would provide the earliest and clearest indication that the two systems (fuel and steam) are no longer fully separated? • Think about which signs (temperature change, burner performance, visible contamination, tank contents) could be caused by many things, versus which sign points directly to coil leakage.

✅ Before You Answer

• Identify which choice shows direct mixing of fuel and steam/water rather than an indirect symptom like temperature or burner behavior. • Ask: In normal operation, should there be any fuel oil present in that location? If the answer is no, its presence there would be a strong leak indicator. • Consider which symptom could be delayed or intermittent, and which would show up quickly and unmistakably if the heating coil leaks.