COLD SANDWICHES AND GENERATORS

By Larry Bush

Ref: generator sets, power generation equipment, emergency generator, emergency power, power equipment

Summary: "A story about keeping emergency power generator sets running against all odds."

As Foreman of the emergency generator unit for community services areas in the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, I was always on the lookout for additional generator sets. The unit needed a spare generator set around 1000 KW to use as a temporary replacement for out of service generator sets.

My co-worker, Abdullah and I had been directed to an unused generator set that had supplied emergency power to a Company owned and maintained worker accommodation camp for Company employees. The Company shut the camp down four years earlier.

The camp was currently being used by a Company sub-contractor and the generator was not in use. Pigeons had apparently used the generator and engine as a roost and nesting place for several years. The engine in particular was loaded with pigeon droppings.

The northern area emergency generator work crew was assigned the task of cleaning up the engine, changing oil and filters, installing new batteries, and then trying to test run the engine. The engine started and ran on the first try. It was a 900 KW generator set and would become our largest replacement generator set set.

A windstorm with cyclone-like winds knocked down a large number of power lines and supporting poles feeding power to a Company worker land accommodations camp. The gas/oil plant where the personnel worked had their own emergency generators.

When power was lost, the camp's emergency generator had started up and tried to assume the load. The generator set was an older model and had not been properly maintained.

All the control wires caught fire and turned into slag. The generator set was 1000 KW, but out of service. The plant workers were dining on cold sandwiches and warm water three times a day.

The only generator set available was the 900 KW set we had just test ran four days before. The engine was still covered with pigeon droppings.

No matter. Plant personnel used a crane to pick up the generator set after we had disconnected it and load it onto one of their trucks for transport to the land camp site.

I had calculated the full load of the cooking facility with its large ovens and freezers at just over 900 KW with everything going at full usage. We disconnected the old generator and temporarily connected the spare.

The generator was started and put on line immediately. Abdullah closed the main switch and lo, there was light. The full load was put on the generator one switch at a time.

The ammeter kept going up and up till all the switches were on and we were running at full blast, just over 2000 amps at 240 volts AC. The camp manager was happy and the cooks went to work preparing the noon meal for the plant workers.

I assigned two men, one electrician and one mechanic, to watch the generator set for each 12-hour shift. They would stay at the camp and eat at the camp. Diesel fuel had to be trucked in every day until our Manager finally got one of the trucks to be assigned to the camp, temporarily.

That generator set ran at full bore for ten days. Then, power was finally restored. We left the generator set connected to the automatic transfer switch while we repaired the old generator set controls and engine.

The old generator set had been housed in a short shipping container. The container was too small for the engine and not properly set up.

I worked with our new Area Engineer to design a simple storage building for the generator set. The building could be constructed during the generator set repair time and would be ready for the repaired set.

After the repaired set was installed and connected, the spare was brought to our shop in Dhahran. The overhaul crew began repairs by cleaning the pigeon droppings from the engine.

The repair crew leader wanted to show me something on the engine the next day. A hole about the size of a dollar bill was found when the pigeon droppings were cleaned off the engine air intake manifold. A diesel engine driving a generator supplying 900 KW of power consumes an enormous amount of air for combustion.

How the engine ran at full speed for ten days without pulling that stuff into the engine and causing a blow-up is amazing. The intake manifold on the engine was aluminum.

The pigeon droppings contained a chemical that attacked the aluminum and then was compounded by the infrequent rain. It was pure luck for everyone concerned that the engine held together.

The intake manifold was the only major part needing replacement on the engine. The rest of the inspection and overhaul consisted of minor parts, filters and gaskets.

We now had a 900 KW spare, a 250 KW spare, a 150 KW spare, a 90 KW spare and a 50 KW spare. We could supply a temporary spare generator set for nearly all our foreseeable needs.

Larry Bush

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About the Author: Larry Bush has been an electrician for 47 years, and in maintenance management for 22 years. Download his new e-Book "Maintenance Policy and Procedures Manual" !!