kahmann Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 This is only the 2nd work related thread I've made, but I couldn't pass on these pics I just ran across on my portable hard drive. I am the director of operations for a 4MW natural gas fired recip engine power plant. One of the 4 engines got filled to the brim with water, while it was thankfully NOT running, due to a massive leak in an auxiliary water loop. I can explain in detail how/why the water loop runs through a giant tube bundle at the end of each engine's exhaust pipe, but I'll pass on that, unless anyone really wants to know. Anyway, the water filled about 100' of 18" stainless steel exhaust pipe, the engine's exhaust silencer wall (8' tall muffler), and finally through the turbo charger and into the block itself. We cut the flow of water, drained all of this water out, dumped the oil, then flushed the engine with oil 15 times. We used a total of about 2000 gallons of oil to flush all of the water out of the engine. I rebuilt the turbo charger, as it was damaged pretty badly by the water and additives. Remarkably, all of this happened in July of 2007. This engine has had zero issues as a result of this potential catastrophe. The first time I fired this engine up after all of this, I heard a lifter stick for about 5 seconds. That was it. I hope the pics are of interest to anyone here. Ken These were taken as I was cranking the engine over, after pulling the plugs and killing the gas. I did this to force the water that was trapped in the top end of the engine out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kahmann Posted June 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 Here's how the turbo looked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kahmann Posted June 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 Here's the turbo, post rebuild, while I was installing it. This is an ABB turbo charger that weighs about 250 lbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilmor Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 That's very interesting - I really like that turbo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobra2go Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 i think you should drop that sucker into your Shelby and take it to the track! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoFL05GT Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 This reminds me of a time back in the 70's when I was a VW line mechanic. A VW Bug was towed into the shop after it quit running a short distance from the owners house. As it turned out, the owners little son had played gas station attendant while the car was parked at home. He had apparently opened the hood in the back, removed the oil filler cap, filled the engine with water from a garden hose and replaced the cap, then of course shut the hood. He never told dad that his VW had been serviced, lol. When I dropped the oil strainer, the oil looked like some ugly milkshake. Unfortunately, the engine had to be overhauled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hawkins Posted June 2, 2009 Report Share Posted June 2, 2009 I like that Green.............. :happy feet: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kahmann Posted June 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 i think you should drop that sucker into your Shelby and take it to the track! LOL trust me, I've racked my brain for a long time on how to use the pile of old ABB turbo parts we have laying around.. I like that Green.............. :happy feet: Me too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SGT/SC#0471 Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Very Cool!!! Marine engines suffer the same fate often when the exhaust riser fails and sets loose the seawater into the cylinders.... Nice to see a pic of the engines we were talking about at dinner..thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kahmann Posted June 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Very Cool!!! Marine engines suffer the same fate often when the exhaust riser fails and sets loose the seawater into the cylinders.... Nice to see a pic of the engines we were talking about at dinner..thanks! Ya man, I'm glad we had something in common to chat about (well, besides the striped beasts in the parking lot). I'll be in Seattle in a month or so, in case you wanna grab a brew or show off a marine engine or 2! Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SGT/SC#0471 Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Ya man, I'm glad we had something in common to chat about (well, besides the striped beasts in the parking lot).I'll be in Seattle in a month or so, in case you wanna grab a brew or show off a marine engine or 2! Ken Hey Ken sounds great, we can go for a cruise around the bay as long as I am in town...I wil PM you my number... So why do you guys have a tube bundle in the exhaust? I would assume it is for the water heating function of the plant? Is the bundle made of stainless? Many older marine engines had cast iron risers now they are stainles on the new ones...you got me thinking of the lifecycle of the stainless ones...the cast ones needed replacing every 8 years or so. I love wrenching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kahmann Posted June 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Hey Ken sounds great, we can go for a cruise around the bay as long as I am in town...I wil PM you my number... So why do you guys have a tube bundle in the exhaust? I would assume it is for the water heating function of the plant? Is the bundle made of stainless? Many older marine engines had cast iron risers now they are stainles on the new ones...you got me thinking of the lifecycle of the stainless ones...the cast ones needed replacing every 8 years or so. I love wrenching. Yeah you're right, we capture the waste heat from the exhaust gas and the engine's jacket water into a closed plant hot water supply loop. That hot water is then dumped into 3, 400 ton absorption chillers, which supply ice cold water to all A/C units. Those chillers don't have any moving parts. Near boiling hot water and lithium bromide collide to produce the free cold water, then the last sliver of heat from that process is exhausted through 3 huge cooling towers. It's really bizarre. The rest of the waste heat is transferred into another hot water supply for the end user's hot water system and building heating. So basically, by using these engines to generate the customer's electricity, we're able to provide them with 'free' heating and cooling as a byproduct (minus the relatively low maintenance costs for the chillers, exhaust tube bundles, and plate/frame heat exchangers). These bundles are cast, but I'm sure stainless would have been a much better route. Each bundle already costs about $30k to replace, however, so we end up tearing them out and repairing them instead! Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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