Our engineers had another busy month in December not only with general servicing but with all other kinds of special projects which included a load test for a generator at Rolls Royce Derby, major battery changes in Abingdon and London sites for UPS systems, and a witness test for an export company in West Drayton where a condition and load acceptance report was required for two 1000kVA Cummins packaged sets. The end client needed to be satisfied that the second hand packages were in good condition and that the load acceptance met the standard. Oil samples were expressed to the laboratory on a 24hr turn round in order to confirm that no internal engine metal contamination was present.
Regarding our long running work on the two MAN 100% bio-fuel sets, the sets appear to be running satisfactorily now that the fuel quality has been sorted. We have now fitted flow and temperature measuring devices in the fuel lines so that consumption against power output can be monitored as well as input fuel and spill return temperatures.
Regarding our UPS side we have been extremely busy replacing batteries on UPS backup systems recently. Batteries usually need replacing after 7-10years and some of the batteries removed recently have been running so hot they have split. Once one battery in the string falls over then the string cannot provide the power to the UPS in the event of a power failure. If it is a one string system then the UPS will fail immediately, not allowing enough time for the generator to take the load. It is always worth checking the battery condition periodically as they get older so that the failure risk is minimized.
