Graviner Oil Mist Detector
Spare Parts Supplier
Graviner oil mist detectors watch the crankcase of large diesel engines for the mist that can build up before a crankcase explosion. The Mk5, Mk6 and Mk7 are separate systems, so every enquiry starts from the generation and from the part numbers on the detector head and control unit labels.
Graviner detector generations met on board
Graviner began as a British maker of fire protection for ships and aircraft, and its oil mist detectors are also labelled and listed under the name Kidde Graviner. The cards follow what an engineer sees on board: what sits on the crankcase, where the control unit is mounted, and how the heads are addressed.
Mk7
A detector head sits on each crank space and analyses the oil mist where it is, without external sample pipes, and an engine-mounted control unit polls the heads and finds their addresses by itself. Each head checks itself for internal faults, and alarms and faults are kept in a dated event log. One system can cover more than one engine, each with a control unit of its own. Detector heads, control unit parts and the display are the usual lines.
Mk6
Each Mk6 head watches a single crank space, works without sample pipes and is given its own address, which the control unit reads together with the oil mist value; the alarm levels are set at the control unit. The control unit is mounted away from the engine, in the engine control room or another suitable place, and is wired to the heads through a junction box.
Mk5
Mk5 detectors are still met in service and still appear in parts listings under the Graviner and Kidde Graviner names. An Mk5 is quoted only from its own labels and its own parts list; nothing is carried over from the Mk6 or Mk7 lines, and a later head is not offered in its place.
Remote Display Unit
The optional touch-screen display of the Mk7, mounted in the engine control room, where it shows the signal of each detector and the oil mist level of the engine in alarm. It is a line of its own on the enquiry, separate from the control unit on the engine.
Graviner · Kidde Graviner
Labels, manuals and parts listings read either Graviner or Kidde Graviner. The Graviner name is also known from aircraft fire protection; this page covers the marine oil mist detectors only.
TRITON OMD II and others
Crankcase oil mist detectors are built by other makers too, and their heads and control units share nothing with a Graviner system. A TRITON OMD II is read on the Heinzmann page, not here.
What turns a Graviner system into an enquiry
Most Graviner enquiries come from the control unit itself: a fault reported on one head, a reading nobody trusts, or a part of the control unit that has stopped working. What the control unit says narrows the order more than the age of the system does.
A fault on one crank space
When the control unit reports a fault on a single head, that head can be isolated while the others go on watching the engine, which is how most single-head orders begin. Photograph the fault text on the control unit and the label of the head that came off.
A reading that drifts or alarms without cause
A head that reads high on a quiet engine, or reports a fault while the engine runs normally, is checked and cleaned on board as the system manual describes before anything is ordered. If the head itself is found to be the cause, the order is written from its label and its crank space number.
A display, board or output that has failed
A blank display, a failed board, or a relay output that no longer passes the alarm or the slowdown signal to the engine moves the enquiry from the heads to the control unit. Its label, and the software version where the unit shows one, decide what can be quoted.
A genuine oil mist alarm
After a real alarm the engine comes first and the detector second. Once the cause has been found and the engine is cleared, any head or board that the ship's checks reject is ordered from its label, together with the numbers of the crank spaces it watched.
Graviner oil mist detector parts we can quote
The list runs from the crankcase outwards: heads on the engine, then the wiring, then the control unit and the display. Every line is tied to one generation.
- Detector heads, by generation and by the part number on the head label
- Mounting parts for detector heads, against the engine's drawings
- Detector head service items and seals from the generation's own parts list
- Mk6 junction boxes and the cables between heads, junction box and control unit
- Control units for Mk6 and Mk7 systems
- Control unit boards, displays and relay output parts, from the parts list of the generation
- Mk7 Remote Display Units
- Mk5 parts, from the Mk5 parts list only
What to send for a Graviner detector
A detector enquiry is answered from labels, not from a description of the engine. These items close the usual gaps before the first line is priced:
- A photograph of the control unit label, showing the Mk generation and the part number
- The label of each detector head on the order: part number and serial
- For an Mk6, the address of the head being replaced and the engine it belongs to
- How many heads sit on the engine, and how many engines the system watches
- The engine maker and type, and the crank space numbers concerned
- Whether an Mk7 Remote Display Unit is fitted
- The software version shown by the control unit, if it shows one
- The fault or alarm text on the display and the event log entries for the head concerned, photographed as they appear
- Whether sample pipes run from the crankcase to a central unit, or each crank space has its own head: Mk6 and Mk7 heads work without external sample pipes, so a piped installation is read differently
- Any survey item, class requirement or after-alarm check behind the request
Supply route review for Graviner oil mist detectors
An oil mist detector protects the engine, so the review is narrow on purpose: the generation and the labels decide the line, and nothing is proposed that the system on board was not built with.
Generation before part number
Mk5, Mk6 and Mk7 parts lists are kept apart in the reply. A request that does not show the generation is answered with a question first, not with a price.
Labels, not descriptions
Detector heads and control units are quoted against the part numbers on their own labels. A photograph of the whole unit helps, but the label is what fixes the line.
OEM-route only, no substitutes
Heads, control units and their parts are quoted on the OEM-route for the generation on the label. No alternative head, no other maker's detector and no part from another Mk generation is proposed in their place.
The system around the part
A new head has to work with the control unit already on the engine. For an Mk6 the address it will take is part of the line; for an Mk7, which finds its heads by itself, the control unit label is the reference.
Documents named in the reply
If the ship needs papers with the part, for a survey or for its own records, say which. The reply states what documentation each route can provide and claims nothing beyond it.
Graviner oil mist detectors — questions engineers ask
Our labels say Kidde Graviner, but the manual says Graviner. Is that the same maker?
Yes. Graviner oil mist detectors are labelled and listed both as Graviner and as Kidde Graviner, and the generation names Mk5, Mk6 and Mk7 stay the same under either name. Send the labels as they read; the generation and the part number matter more than the name.
Can an Mk7 detector head replace an Mk6 head?
No. The Mk6 is analogue addressable and the Mk7 is auto-addressed, each with its own control unit and its own parts list. A head is quoted only for the generation on its label, and no parts are quoted to mix generations on one system.
Can you offer an alternative to a Graviner detector head?
No. The detector is a safety device on the engine, so only the head for the generation and part number on the label is quoted, on the OEM-route. If that part cannot be found, the reply says so plainly rather than suggesting something else.
One of our engines has a Heinzmann TRITON detector. Is it read here?
No. A TRITON OMD II has its own central unit and sensors and is read on the Heinzmann page. Send each detector system as a separate enquiry, with its own labels.
Does the whole system have to come out of service to change one head?
Descriptions of both the Mk6 and the Mk7 say that a single head can be isolated or replaced while the others keep watching the engine, which is why single-head orders are common. Follow the system manual and the ship's own procedures for the change itself.
Is Vessel Core connected to Graviner?
No, and there is no agreement of any kind. Vessel Core holds no distribution, representation or partnership agreement with Graviner, and quoting a component against one of its designations implies no approval by the maker and no claim of interchangeability.
Start from the generation and the labels on the heads and control unit
A request that carries the Mk generation, the control unit label and the label of each head on the order can be read against the right parts list from the outset. If only part of that is to hand, send what you have.
