I'm sure a full analysis will be performed after the recovery
efforts are completed. I'm also certain the operators of
both 25 Broadway and 32 Old Slip are working very dilgently
to get them running.
But I would like to point out, no one regularly runs their
generators for 48+ hours as part of a normal test. In addition,
most standby generators are fitted only for "limited" duration
runs. You should expect problems during any extended run of a
generator plant. I'm a bit surprised that 25 Broadway and
32 Old Slip are the only ones we've heard about.
Until I know a bit more about what happened, I can't say
whether any alternative design could have performed better.
I certainly know over on this side of the water
large electricity customers with generators
have a very valid reason to run long tests.
Basically the national grid gives you a *huge*
discount if you run on generators at peak
times which is usual 6pm to 5am. I certainly
now all our larger CO's run the gens like this.
The first time I saw this I thought the CO
was on fire due to the diesel fumes the voice
guys had a good laugh at me !.
Before someone asks we have a very steady national
supply over here so running the gens is purely
a commerical aim.I would have thought that even
stateside this would make sense no ?
I think "limited" here is a bit misleading. Most of these engines
are continuous duity rated, which means within the bounds of
maintenance items (oil changes, gasket changes, and other routine
maintenance) they can run non-stop. Most gensets are essentially
the same components that power diesel-electric locomotives that
routinely run for weeks at a time without shutdown.
Here in ice storm country every few years power is out for 3-4 days
in some areas after bad storms. Generators routinely run for 3-4
days and cause no concern over their condition, other than to move
up routine maintenance due to the additional run time.
I suspect dust is going to be the largest problem for all generators
in the area. It will reduce radiator effectiveness, wear on exteral
parts (fans and the like), clog air and oil cleaners. Again, these
devices are made for some fairly harsh enviornments so 48 hours is
no concern, I would think expecting 2 weeks of reliable power if
they are attended to even in these conditions is reasonable.
That said, generators should always be at least N+1, as they are
large, complex mechanical devices.
From what I've heard from 32 Old Slip, the reason for thier
generators to fail was that the intake filters were clogged from
the concrete dust in the air.
Hmmmm.... although this situation is far from one's typical
power outage, maybe one should not rely on the radiator.
Ass-u-ming that one has a steady supply of water:
s/radiator-cooled water/external water supply/
It works the same. The only purpose of the radiator is to
facilitate cooling _without_ an external water supply, to reuse
the existing water.
Yes, a contastly-flowing external water supply is wasteful. So
we make it "emergency only". Note that the numbers represent
thermostat temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit[1], and the arrows
signify flow direction (check valves and water pump omitted for
simplicity):
How many folks actually perform a load transfer to the generator during
testing to check out the transfer switch ?
Back in my military hospital days, we did both regular load tests,
using a LARGE resistive loads we flowed water through to cool (4" feed
pipe) as well did actual swapovers (on weekends).
Never seen it done that way since, when we bought our current generator
system the company that installed it thought I was crazy for even asking
about a test load.
We do do a full swapover every few months... --Mike--
> From what I've heard from 32 Old Slip, the reason for thier
> generators to fail was that the intake filters were clogged from
> the concrete dust in the air.
Hmmmm.... although this situation is far from one's typical
power outage, maybe one should not rely on the radiator.
Ass-u-ming that one has a steady supply of water:
No, not the radiator was clogged; the air intake filter was.
-- Alex Rubenstein, AR97, K2AHR, alex@nac.net, latency, Al Reuben --
-- Net Access Corporation, 800-NET-ME-36, http://www.nac.net --