What I do at work

[bilgerat]

Here is a video of a 20 cylinder EMD (Electro Motive Division) diesel engine. The one in the video is a generator, I work on ones in tugboats from time to time. Each cylinder is 645 cubic inches. Multiply that by 20 cylinders, that's 12,900 c.i.d. They are 2 cycle engines. Top RPM is 900. The tug engines are 3600 horsepower each, there are two engines in a 135' tug. The high pitch whistle you hear in the video is the turbocharger. It takes two air starters to turn it over.

These engines are also widely used in freight locomotives, but usually in 12 or 16 cylinder versions.

[B-Dozer]

CAN'T BELIEVE THEY AREN'T WEARING  oops sorry didn't mean to yell. Can't believe they aren't wearing hearing protection

[bilgerat]

Yeah they are. If you look closely, they have foam earplugs in.

[B-Dozer]

Yes I see it now, think they might need something better, d**n, that must be loud being so close.

[grimlin]

Here's what i do...pretty closely the same machines.

[slonezp]

Here's what I work on.

Large equiptment like this down to 1/4hp compressors you'd find in your refrigerator.

[bilgerat]

Here's what I work on.

Large equiptment like this down to 1/4hp compressors you'd find in your refrigerator.

How do you do a system cleanout after a major failure like that ? That's gotta be time consuming...

[Dan:]

Yes I see it now, think they might need something better, d**n, that must be loud being so close.

Foam earplugs typically have a higher Noise Reduction Rating than lots of ear muff style hearing protection.

[SDoolittle]

This is what I do.

[ww2farmer]

Not me, but I run the same exact machines

[bilgerat]

Yes I see it now, think they might need something better, d**n, that must be loud being so close.

Foam earplugs typically have a higher Noise Reduction Rating than lots of ear muff style hearing protection.

You roll the foam ones up tightly between thumb and forefinger and insert them in your ears. As the foam relaxes it conforms to the shape of your ear canal.

[Tom H.]

Paint that bad boy Caterpillar yellow, and that would be similar to the generators I wire at work.

POWER IS EVERYTHING 

[slonezp]

Here's what I work on.

Large equiptment like this down to 1/4hp compressors you'd find in your refrigerator.

How do you do a system cleanout after a major failure like that ? That's gotta be time consuming...

Depending on the failure it could take days or weeks to do a system cleanout. A system that large will have multiple filters installed on the liquid and suction refrigerant lines. Initially we would replace the compressor (return the damaged one for rebuild)and filters and do an acid test on the oil. Then probably change out the filters on a daily basis and possibly replace the oil. Solenoid valves and metering devices may also need replacing if debris gets to them. Most importantly is try to diagnose why the compressor failed. In the video the guy said the ice rink personel kept resetting the oil safety when the unit would go down. The safety trips for a reason. What happened after the safety was reset is oil and/or liquid refrigerant "slugged" back to the compressor. A compressor can only compress gas not liquid hence the failure.

[bilgerat]

Paint that bad boy Caterpillar yellow, and that would be similar to the generators I wire at work.

POWER IS EVERYTHING

Illinois, huh ? You must work for Scaterpillar... just teasing you. I work at a Detroit Diesel distributor.

[Dan:]

Yes I see it now, think they might need something better, d**n, that must be loud being so close.

Foam earplugs typically have a higher Noise Reduction Rating than lots of ear muff style hearing protection.

You roll the foam ones up tightly between thumb and forefinger and insert them in your ears. As the foam relaxes it conforms to the shape of your ear canal.

yep, surprisingly the ones I've seen normally have a NRR of 30 while typical (at least for shooting) ear muff hearing protectors have NRR in the high 20s. Given that decibels are a logarithmic measurement instead of linear, that can be a substantial difference.

[Tom H.]

Paint that bad boy Caterpillar yellow, and that would be similar to the generators I wire at work.

POWER IS EVERYTHING

Illinois, huh ? You must work for Scaterpillar... just teasing you. I work at a Detroit Diesel distributor.

Actually I work for Altorfer. Which is a Cat dealership.

[firefightn15]

Bill, where's the pics of those bad boy monstrosities you posted a year or two ago.  Work on them or not, they were eye popping.

[bilgerat]

http://www.vincelewis.net/bigengine.html

One of the companies involved in this is Wartsila. A few years ago I was in Ft. Lauderdale for training and they had a facility in the same industrial park. We talked ourselves into a tour. This engine was not there, but we were actually walking around inside one of their other engines. If you've ever been on a large cruise ship, it likely had Wartsilas powering it.

[slonezp]

bilgerat, What is used as a starter to turn over an engine that large? If the starter doesn't work can you tap on it with a wrench? ;D

[GLADES]

bilgerat, What is used as a starter to turn over an engine that large? If the starter doesn't work can you tap on it with a wrench? ;D

Probably just wrap a rope around the flywheel and give it a pull

[fish-fighting-illini]

  I would think that they would be looking at vibration sensors and temp readings.

No offense but the flashlight routine looks like amateur night on a very expensive piece of equipment.