Page 4 - June 2022 Track N Times

FEATURE STORY

Generators Continued

erator that was small enough to be integrated onto our current generator fuel tank (bigger 45-60kW rental gener-
ators were permanently mounted to fuel tank trailers, and we cannot put a trailer on the support car). The rental
generator was on scene within 4 hours of calling to reserve, and work began to remove the old generator and in-
tegrate the rental. The technician group had someone on site immediately, and the crew worked safely and effi-
ciently to swap, integrate, and test the rental generator so we could get back to work as quickly as possible. We
were faced with an engine failure, a hail mary plan to swap a farmer’s engine, a second engine failure, to a never
been done rental generator integration, and were down for a total of 5 days. This was a total team effort, only
made possible by never giving in to defeat.

Since these events have taken place, we have built up our
inventory of spare generators, so hopefully we do not need
to source a replacement engine or a rental generator again.
BC33 just had a recent generator failure, and the machine
was able to get a spare generator sent to them within a
day. Given the importance of generators to our daily oper-
ation, it is imperative for assistant managers, superinten-
dents, and crew chiefs to be teaching all crew members the
importance of generator maintenance. That includes regu-
lar blow downs of radiators and filters, changing oil at the
set intervals, keeping air filters fresh and intake system free
of dust intrusion, fuel filter replacement, radiators inspect-
ed, coolant checked and tested for proper SCA levels, wa-
ter drained from fuel/water separator, proper warm up
before hard loads, proper cool down after hard loads,
checking controller connections, keeping dust intrusion to
a minimum, and proper bearing greasing. The generator
should not be turned on in the morning and shut off at the
end of the night without some actual attention to the
above-mentioned systems. It starts with the superintendent
setting the example on the importance of the generator to
allow us to do our job.

I know a lot of people have stories of having to go outside
the box to find a solution, but we want to avoid having to
buy used irrigation pump engines to get us back to work in
the future. Reach out to me if anyone has questions or tips
on their maintenance techniques they have learned over
the years.

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