Installing a generator on a vessel is a project with a fixed window and no option to overrun. What decides whether the programme holds afterwards is the work around it: the area task list, the distribution design, the written procedures, the training of a crew that will have partly changed within a year, and the escalation plan for the voyage when it matters. This is the sequence we use.
About claims on this page
EcoloxTech generators produce a hypochlorous acid solution on site. They are regulated by the EPA as devices, are not registered disinfectants, and we make no efficacy claims for them or for the solution they produce. The only EcoloxTech product with disinfection claims is HOCl-AS200 (EPA Reg. No. 101112-1), used according to its label. Research cited here describes published studies of hypochlorous acid and electrolysed water under their own test conditions; it is not a claim for any product.
The rules changed in 2025
The CDC Vessel Sanitation Program’s 2025 Environmental Public Health Standards replaced the 2018 Operations Manual. A great deal of supplier material still quotes the 2018 manual, including set points and sampling frequencies that have since moved. Work from the current Standards, and check any figure you were given against them before it goes into a procedure.
1. Survey, alongside the docking plan
- Space, power, water, drainage: the binding constraints. Usually alongside existing technical plant, and always agreed with the technical department before anything else.
- Bunkered water: hardness, iron and chlorine demand vary by port, so feed treatment is sized for the worst supply on the itinerary, not the best.
- Demand: complement, number of galleys and buffets, public area inventory, cabin count — and crucially the enhanced-protocol demand, not the routine figure.
- Distribution: the route to galleys, buffets, housekeeping lockers and crew areas, through fire zones and across decks. This is the hard part aboard.
- Itinerary: longest stretch without a resupply port, and the docking plan that sets the install window.
- Existing protocols: what the medical centre, the water-management plan and any flag-state requirement already specify.
2. Area task inventory
List every sanitation task by area — galley, buffet, public, toilets, cabins, crew accommodation, medical, laundry, technical — with surface, current product and concentration, method, contact time, frequency and owner. Then classify each: move to generated solution, keep on a registered or specified product, or fix with cleaning or scheduling rather than chemistry. Record separately anything that belongs to the water-management plan, so the boundary between housekeeping and plant is written down rather than assumed.
3. Install and commission
- Feed-water treatment, generator, tank, pumps, distribution, draw points and labelling, within the yard period.
- Commission: set output per area, measure free available chlorine and pH at the generator and at the furthest draw point, and record both as the baseline.
- Prove the worst case: run the enhanced-protocol demand and confirm the system keeps up. If it does not, resolve it before the ship sails, not during an event.
- Record commissioning readings, set points and sign-off, and file them where the next superintendent will find them.
4. Write the procedures
One short procedure per area task, in the working language of the crew who use it. Each answers seven questions:
| Question | What goes in the procedure |
|---|---|
| What and where? | Surface or equipment, area, deck |
| When? | Frequency — per service, per round, at turnaround, daily, weekly |
| Cleaned how? | Detergent, mechanical step, rinse |
| Which solution? | Generated solution at the set point, or the registered product and its label directions |
| Applied how? | Spray, wipe, mop, foam, or fog where a written fogging procedure exists |
| How long? | Contact time, and whether a drain, rinse or air-dry follows |
| Verified how? | Strength and pH check, visual, ATP where used, and where it is recorded |
5. Write the escalation plan before you need it
This is the part that distinguishes a vessel programme from a shoreside one. The plan should state, for each alert level, what changes: which areas move to what frequency, which crew are redeployed, what the buffet does, how isolation cabins are handled, how consumption is expected to rise and what the reporting obligations are at 2% and 3%.
Rehearse it. A protocol that has only ever been read is a protocol that will be improvised when it matters, and improvisation is what inspections and investigations find.
6. Train a crew that will change
- What the solution is, and why it is never mixed with other chemicals.
- How to draw solution, test strength and pH, and what to do when a reading is out of range.
- The sequence: clean first, apply at strength, keep wet for the contact time, drain or dry.
- The escalation levels and what each person’s task does to the case curve.
- The vomiting-incident procedure and the isolation cabin protocol.
- Storage, labelling and equipment segregation by area.
- Handling brine or acid inputs, for whoever refills the system.
- Where the SDSs are; first aid; who to call when the generator faults, and what not to open.
Record training by name and date, and repeat it at every crew change rather than annually. That cadence is the single biggest difference between a vessel programme that holds and one that decays.
7. Verification
Keep monitoring and verification separate in the paperwork. Monitoring is the strength and pH record at the draw point, against a target range set in advance. Verification is ATP or swabbing where used, record review and internal audit. Water-system monitoring sits with the technical department under the water-management plan and the current Standards, and should be cross-referenced rather than duplicated.
8. The first three voyages
| Milestone | What to check |
|---|---|
| Voyage 1 | Strength at every draw point against set point; crew confidence; anything that does not fit the procedure; where people are still fetching solution |
| Voyage 2 | Consumption against forecast; distribution gaps; training gaps revealed by the first crew change; material or finish concerns |
| Voyage 3 | Verification trends; escalation rehearsal; procedure updates; salt, water and power against forecast |
| First inspection after install | Documents current against the 2025 Standards; logs complete; crew able to describe the programme without a script |
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Usual cause | First action |
|---|---|---|
| Strength lower at the far draw point | Long vertical runs, storage time, warm spaces, or line contamination | Shorten storage, insulate or relocate the tank, clean the line, re-test at both points |
| Output drifts over weeks | Bunkered water hardness scaling the cell | Check softener and filters; service per the manual; review which ports the water came from |
| Consumption far above forecast | Enhanced protocol, or a task using far more than planned | Check against the escalation level; walk the area before changing the set point |
| Crew still using old products | Procedure not translated, or the draw point is inconvenient | Fix the distribution first; retrain second |
| Odour complaints in a public space | Over-concentration, poor ventilation, or another product in use on the same surfaces | Verify the set point; check what else is being applied there |
| Corrosion or finish damage | Prolonged contact on a sensitive fitting | Check compatibility; add a wipe or rinse step for those surfaces |
| Logs incomplete after a crew change | Training cadence, not motivation | Retrain at crew change; simplify the log; move the test kit to the work |
Solution decay is worth understanding rather than working around: it responds to light, heat and time, and ships have plenty of the first two. Published work on how these solutions hold their strength is indexed as stability of electrolysed oxidising water.
The document set
- Area task inventory and its classification, including the water-management boundary.
- Procedure per area task, with set points and contact times.
- Commissioning record and set-point change control.
- Strength and pH logs; AGE surveillance log; incident and isolation records.
- Escalation plan and rehearsal records.
- Training records by name and date, including crew changes.
- Maintenance records for generator, softener and filters.
- SDSs for solution and inputs; HOCl-AS200 label where used; generator manual.
Printable templates for several of these are in the free HOCl Compliance Pack.
Frequently asked questions
When can we install?
Normally in a yard period or scheduled works, because distribution runs through fire zones and across decks. The docking plan sets the timeline.
Can we pilot on one ship first?
Yes, and most operators should. Survey a representative hull per class, run it for a season, then roll out by docking cycle.
Who owns the programme aboard?
Usually the hotel or housekeeping department for surfaces, with the technical department owning the generator as plant and the water systems separately. Write the boundary down.
What about crew turnover?
Train at every crew change, not annually. Keep procedures short and in the working language. This is the main maintenance task of a vessel programme.
Can you write the procedures for us?
The audit produces a written recommendation including draft procedures for the areas it covers; your team owns and approves the final documents.