Draeger Marine Gas Detection
Spare Parts Supplier
Portable Pac & X-am - fixed Polytron & Regard - X-dock stations & Draeger-Tubes
The Draeger equipment behind most gas detection enquiries
Draeger (Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA) is a German manufacturer of gas detection and safety equipment with a dedicated Marine & Offshore business. On board, Draeger equipment is almost never a single instrument. A vessel typically carries portable single-gas Pac units for pre-entry checks, X-am multi-gas instruments for enclosed-space and tank work, Polytron transmitters mounted permanently in the engine room, pump room or purifier space, and a Regard panel collecting those transmitters into one alarm picture. Each layer ages differently, and each puts a different kind of line on a spare-parts request.
Pac series - the instrument in a pocket
Pac 6000, Pac 6500, Pac 8000 and Pac 8500 make up Draeger's current single-gas range, and older Pac 3500, Pac 5500 and Pac 7000 units are still found on board; between them they cover everything from a check before a space is entered to a personal monitor worn through a watch. The model matters more than it looks: Draeger sells the Pac 6000 as a disposable instrument with a fixed service life, while the Pac 6500, Pac 8000 and Pac 8500 are listed as non-disposable with unlimited lifetime.
X-am series - enclosed-space and tank entry
X-am 2500, X-am 2800, X-am 5000, X-am 5600, X-am 7000 and X-am 8000 read several gases at once, which is what an entry permit normally asks for. Sensor fit varies between instruments of the same model, so the gases actually configured have to come with the request rather than be assumed from the model name.
Sampling a space from outside it
The X-am 8000 has a built-in pump, and the X-am 5000 and X-am 5600 take an optional external pump; that is what allows a tank or cargo hold atmosphere to be drawn out through a hose and read before anyone goes in. That capability brings its own consumables: pump units, sampling hoses, probes and adapters, none of which are recoverable from the instrument model name alone.
Polytron transmitters in the machinery spaces
Polytron 3000, Polytron 5100 EC and Polytron 6100 EC WL cover electrochemical duty for toxic gases and oxygen; Polytron 5200 CAT covers flammables on the catalytic principle; Polytron 8100 EC and Polytron 8700 IR sit at the upper end. The suffix is not decoration — it names the measuring principle, and therefore the sensor that can be fitted.
Polytron 7000 and the signal it sends
The Polytron 7000 is a universal transmitter supporting 4-20 mA, HART, PROFIBUS and FF outputs. On a replacement enquiry the output type matters as much as the sensor, because the transmitter has to talk to a panel that was wired years earlier and will not be rewired for a spare.
PIR 7000, Regard panels and Draeger-Tubes
PIR 7000 point infrared sensor heads serve fixed detection points for flammable gases, and the same PIR 7000 is the sensor inside the Polytron 8700 IR; Regard 3900 and Regard 7000 control panels are what the Polytron transmitters feed into. Alongside all of the electronics sits the colorimetric Draeger-Tubes system with the accuro hand pump — short-term tubes that Draeger says cover more than 500 different gases, with no power required.
Where a gas detection installation quietly drifts out of specification
Most Draeger enquiries are consumable enquiries rather than instrument enquiries, and that is a property of the sensors rather than a sign of neglect. Electrochemical cells for toxic gases and oxygen carry a wet or gelled electrolyte and age whether or not the instrument is switched on, so a detector left in a locker between port calls is losing sensor life the whole time. Catalytic elements for combustibles lose sensitivity gradually and can be poisoned outright by silicones or sulphur compounds. Infrared elements do not poison in the same way, but their optics respond to dirt and condensation. None of those changes announce themselves on the display, which is why bump testing exists and why the consumables around it are ordered on a rhythm set by the safety-management system rather than by breakdowns.
The second thing that drifts is what the gas has to pass through to reach the cell. Dust and water intake filters block long before anything electronic fails, and a blocked filter on a diffusion instrument reads as a slow response rather than as a fault. On pump-capable instruments the same applies along the whole sampling path: a tired pump unit, a hose that has taken a set, or a probe with a wetted filter will all lengthen the time to a stable reading on a tank atmosphere check, and lengthen it silently.
The third is power and docking. Battery packs and chargers are ordinary wear items on lifetime instruments, and the docking stations that hold them are modular rather than monolithic. Draeger sells individual docking-station modules, and even spare display units, as separate part numbers. That is useful on board, because a failed module does not condemn a station - but it means an RFQ line has to say which module, not just which station, or the enquiry stalls at the first question a supplier asks.
The last is the instrument build itself, and it is the one that most often turns a parts request into a different conversation. On non-disposable instruments such as the Pac 6500, Pac 8000 and Pac 8500 a sensor cell is a genuine spare line. The Pac 6000 is sold as a disposable instrument with a fixed service life, and a request to renew its sensor usually becomes a replacement-instrument discussion instead. Confirming the model before the line is written saves a full quotation cycle.
Draeger gas detection components that appear on RFQ lines
The groups below follow the order in which a gas detector is actually serviced on board - sensor, gas path, power and docking, calibration gas, then the single-use consumables - so each RFQ line can carry the instrument model beside the description.
- Replacement electrochemical sensor cells for toxic gases and oxygen
- Catalytic sensor elements for combustibles
- Infrared sensor elements, and PIR 7000 point infrared sensor heads
- Calibration gas cylinders - span gas and zero air
- Calibration adapters and connecting fittings
- Dust and water intake filters
- Battery packs and chargers for lifetime instruments
- Charging and calibration docking-station modules, quoted as individual modules
- Spare display units where the maker lists them under their own part number
- Sampling pump units for pump-capable instruments
- Sampling hoses and probes
- Rubber boots and body covers
- O-rings and gaskets from the instrument and transmitter housings
- Draeger-Tubes as a single-use colorimetric consumable
- accuro hand pump for the tube system
- Complete replacement instruments where the sensor is not renewable
Turning an X-am or Polytron label into a quotable line
A Draeger model name is a family plus a build, not a complete specification. Two instruments carrying the same model name can hold different sensor fits, and two transmitters of the same series can differ by measuring principle - the EC, CAT and IR suffixes exist precisely to separate them. The full string as printed, together with the gas being measured, is what turns a description into a part.
- Complete model designation as printed on the instrument or transmitter
- Serial number line photographed square-on
- Target gas and measuring range shown on the display or on the sensor
- Sensor principle where known: electrochemical, catalytic or infrared
- Sensor type read from the cell where the instrument is open; Pac instruments and the X-am 1/2/5 and X-am 8000 generation use DrägerSensor XXS cells, which Draeger lists by gas under their own order numbers
- Calibration gas concentration and cylinder size already in use on board
- Output type on a Polytron 7000: 4-20 mA, HART, LON, PROFIBUS or FOUNDATION Fieldbus
- Control panel the transmitter reports to: Regard 3900 or Regard 7000
- Whether a survey, class or wheelmark requirement sits behind the request
- Vessel name, port and the quantity required per line
Tools for this equipment: the Ex marking reader for the explosion protection marking on the instrument label and the IP code reader for its enclosure rating. Where a reading has to be given in another unit, the gas concentration converter shows a ppm, % vol, mg/m3 or % LEL figure in all four at once.
A sensor is specified against a gas, not against a catalogue line.
Gas detection asks a different set of opening questions than mechanical spares do. The item on the shelf is often a consumable with a shelf life; the item in the instrument is chosen by the gas it has to read; and a certificate can sit behind the whole line. What follows is how those facts shape the questions asked before any Draeger item is quoted.
Gas named before model
The target gas and the measuring range are asked for at the same time as the instrument model, because a cell is specified against what it has to read. Two X-am instruments of the same model can hold different sensor fits, and only the configured gases separate them.
Measuring principle read from the suffix
Electrochemical, catalytic and infrared builds are different machines wearing similar housings. The EC, CAT and IR letters in a Polytron designation are treated as part of the identification rather than as a description, since they decide which sensor can be fitted at all.
Lifetime or fixed-life build confirmed first
Before a sensor line is written, the instrument is checked against its build. The Pac 6500, Pac 8000 and Pac 8500 are non-disposable and take a new sensor; the Pac 6000 is a disposable instrument with a fixed service life, and the honest answer there is usually a replacement instrument rather than a component.
Calibration gas quoted with the station
X-dock 5300, X-dock 6300 and X-dock 6600 are modular, auto-detect the sensor combination in the instrument and run bump tests from connected calibration gas. The gas mixture, its concentration and the cylinder size on board are therefore raised on the same enquiry as the station or its modules.
Certification scope stated exactly
Draeger's product pages list a shipping approval (MED) for the X-am 5000, X-am 5600 and X-am 8000 and for the single-gas Pac 6500, and none for the X-am 2800, Pac 6000, Pac 8000 or Pac 8500. Approval is therefore checked model by model, and a request driven by a survey item is answered against what that model actually carries.
Consumables listed as their own lines
Filters, hoses, probes, boots, battery packs, dock modules and detector tubes are quoted separately rather than folded into an instrument line. That lets the ship renew the gas path now and carry the rest as running spares, and it keeps a single-use item such as a Draeger-Tube visible as the consumable it is.
Draeger gas detection enquiries - recurring questions
Can Vessel Core quote Draeger gas detection parts without a part number?
Often yes. A photo of the instrument label, the model name printed on the fascia, the target gas and measuring range shown on the display or on the sensor, and the serial number are usually enough to begin structuring the request. Where the instrument is already open, the marking on the sensor cell itself narrows it further, because the cell is specified against the gas rather than against the instrument alone.
Which Draeger portable detectors carry marine wheelmark certification?
On Draeger's current product pages, the X-am 5000, X-am 5600 and X-am 8000 multi-gas instruments and the Pac 6500 single-gas instrument list a shipping approval (MED); the X-am 2800, Pac 6000, Pac 8000 and Pac 8500 do not. The X-am 2500 is marked end of sales, and its successor, the X-am 2800, lists no MED approval, so where a survey item or a class requirement sits behind the request it should be stated in the enquiry. It changes which instrument can be offered as a replacement, not only which sensor cell is needed.
Can the sensor be replaced on a Pac single-gas detector?
It depends on the model. Draeger sells the Pac 6000 as a disposable instrument with a fixed service life that can be extended by licence; neither its sensor nor its battery needs changing during that life, so a request to renew its sensor is normally answered as a replacement instrument rather than as a component. The Pac 6500, Pac 8000 and Pac 8500 are non-disposable, so a sensor cell for them is a normal spare line. For older Pac units, confirm the model from the label before the line is written.
What is needed to quote calibration gas or a bump-test station?
The gas or gas mixture and its concentration, the cylinder size already in use on board, and the instruments the station has to serve. X-dock 5300, X-dock 6300 and X-dock 6600 are modular, detect the sensor combination fitted in the instrument and run bump tests from the connected calibration gas, so the number and type of instruments on board decide the module configuration as much as the station model does.
Can Vessel Core review OEM-route and verified alternative routes for Draeger gas detection parts?
Yes, with one distinction that matters on this equipment. Filters, hoses, pump parts, docking-station consumables and calibration gas can be reviewed on an OEM-route basis or as a verified alternative where the approval context allows it. Sensors for a certified fixed transmitter are different: the instrument's approval is tied to the sensor it was type-tested with, so the OEM route is normally the one to confirm first and any alternative has to be checked against the approval before it is offered. The route reviewed is recorded per RFQ line.
Is Vessel Core connected to Draegerwerk AG?
No, and there is no agreement of any kind. Vessel Core holds no dealership, distribution, representation or partnership agreement with Draegerwerk AG, and quoting a component against one of its designations implies no approval by the maker and no claim of interchangeability.
Send the label and the gas.
List the instrument model, the target gas and measuring range, the serial number where it is still readable, the components required and the port. Sensor cells, calibration gas, filters, battery packs, dock modules and tube consumables are then quoted as separate lines, so the ship can decide what to renew now and what to carry as a running spare.
