ULSD impact on backup generators

[jayman]

Originally Posted by Shawn Clark

The one part of the U.S. that has not experienced this recession or even the last is the health care industry.

In Canada and other countries with social medicine systems, it simply is NOT in the budget to perform such an extensive upgrade. It really isn't an upgrade, but mandated due to changing technology, in this case the fuel properties

There is nothing wrong with a 30-50 year old prime mover, assuming it has been properly maintained. Indeed, a lot of the older prime movers, such as Nordberg and Vivian, were over-engineered and over-built to a level that modern folks would find astounding

The Nordberg V-20's and the Radial 10's were used as prime power in applications that demanded absolute reliability. They were finally scrapped - in some cases 60 years after installation - not because they were broken or worn out, but because they could no longer meet emissions

They didn't really understand the impact of emissions back then. The Prime Movers +50 years old, were designed to run 24x7 for years, even decades, with only routine maintenance.

Originally Posted by NASCAR Mike

At work we are installing a 435kW prime rated diesel generator for a 20,000 SF courthouse. It is costing almost $500k.

That seems a bit low. Mind if I ask who the vendor is? What about mechanical and electrical room work?

Originally Posted by NASCAR Mike

A hospital will typically have two generators, one for everything and a second (redunandant) backup generator for emergency lighting and elevators.

Yes, a tiered approach is very common. Depending on the size of the campus, at least two gensets, possibly 10 or more. To ensure maximum availability, the gensets can be interconnected/reconnected, in case a single generator suffers a catastrophic failure

Originally Posted by NASCAR Mike

The cost for a hospital generator (prime rated) and a secondary (standby rated) will easily break $2 million dollars.

Counting site prep, mechanical room, electrical room, interconnect/reconnect; yes, easily exceed that figure

Originally Posted by NASCAR Mike

The sulfur in diesel helps with lubricity. ULSD causes increased wear in the fuel system, especially the injectors.

Older inline/plunger pumps and injectors are very badly affected by this issue. The newer inline and rotary pumps appear to much better tolerate ULSD. Typically anything made before 1993 will be affected

Originally Posted by NASCAR Mike

You can add diesel treatment to help.

Some of the additives, such as those from PRI, are very good and I highly recommend them. For stationary applications, such as emergency gensets, the biggest problem is diesel getting old and having biological growth

By "exercising" the genset - preferably 20 mins once a week - you may prevent sludge and biologic growth in the prime mover and day tanks, but the primary tanks and piping may still have problems. I've seen inline strainers for primary tanks, where the fuel was probably 10 years old, that were plugged solid with a gooey muck

The additives can help, if they are proven additives. The Military also specifies a very short list of approved additives that work. The problem is when a well meaning client just pours any old snake oil into the primary tanks, and/or day tanks. They can cause a lot more trouble than they solve

Originally Posted by NASCAR Mike

I am sure a typical hospital would rather add diesel treatment than replace a generator.

No doubt!

[ShellyT]

Seeing as how this is an off road use, couldn't they use no. 2 heating oil for fuel, or is that too much sulphur?

[jayman]

Heating fuel and diesel fuel have somewhat different properties. Although an older diesel engine with an inline/plunger style injection pump will run on it, there are better choices

For example, the US Military has a general recommendation of using jet fuel, JP-8, for everything, including diesel powered equipment. This is a good idea logistically, but JP-8 can be quite hard on modern common rail fuel injection

[Politburo]

I completely agree that it's unfair for these facilities. But there are larger issues at stake here and that is why ULSD is the future with no going back.

How Air Pollution Can Damage the Heart - TIME

http://www.energy.wsu.edu/documents/...ltefilters.pdf

"DOE found that DPFs cease to reduce PM emissions with fuels containing 150 ppm sulfur and become a source of PM emissions with 350 ppm sulfur fuels. Overall, baseline PM emissions increased as the fuel sulfur level increases. At 3 ppm sulfur both devices reduced PM emissions by 95 percent, and at 30 ppm sulfur the PM reduction efficiencies of both devices dropped to the around 72 percent."

[jayman]

Yes, those with the older equipment have some painful choices to make