Category Archives: Engine

You should not idle your heavy equipment because it burns diesel with the new engines of today

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Heavy equipments that run with diesel like generators, oil rigs, mining equipment, farming equipment and hydraulic system burn diesel by standing idle often. Exhaust that rise from diesel engines emit Nitrogen dioxide and Particulate matter in higher proportion as compared to gasoline counterparts. A survey report on environmental pollution shows that most of the air pollutants come from diesel engine. The US Environmental and Protection Agency has put forward new quality and emission standards to solve this problem, emission that took from existing heavy equipment will continue to pollute the air.

You should not idle your machines because due to the continuous burning of diesel lead to lowering the resale value, increases the wear of your engine, lessens the warranty coverage and amplifies non-productive hours. Excess idling of the machines can also results in forming the soot faster which in turn require more frequent service and change over.

What are the facts related with heavy equipment idling?

    • Equipment which is allowed to stand idle can cause more damages than the machine which is running.
    • Manufacturers that deal with diesel engine equipments generally recommend three minutes of idling before starting it.
    • “Gelling” of fuels is also a big problem that mostly takes place in cold days.
    • One hour of idling of full loaded 20kw generator 1.9 gallons of diesel fuel per hour.
    • It is advisable to let the engine run, as the process is not more cost effective. Unlikely, if the engine is made to start and stop frequently, then it consumes more electricity.
  • An engine cause more damage when it stand still or idle.

 

 What are the reasons to stop idling heavy equipment?

  • To lessen air pollution: – If you keep your engine shut down for atleast one hour, you will prevent approximately ten pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the air.
  • To cut off the emission of the particulate:- The particulate materials from the diesel engines are hazardous to health causing cancer, lungs diseases, asthma and other respiratory problems. You can stop this emission of the particulate matter by letting the engine run.
  • To save money and fuel:- You can save upto 1/5 to 6/10 gallon of fuel per hour by not allowing the engine to remain idle.

 

  • Letting the heavy equipment engine idle definitely will draw a lot of power from your battery.

New engines of today don’t require any more idling time to suit itself according to the operating temperature. Once the engine is kicked on, it can retain the heat for about 25 minutes after the engine is switched off anyway. A study by Transport of London has proved that idling overall increases the wear of the machine to 100 times even in case of new engines because it points to the fact that the engine is working for a longer time than required causing incomplete combustion and emanating noxious fumes.

 

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If Engine Is the Heart Then Operator Is The Brain Of The Heavy Equipment

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We all understand the importance than an engine has on heavy equipment. If the construction equipment is installed with a state of the art engine, that itself lengthens the life of the machine. Servicing the machine at regular intervals and keeping it well maintained are always required but what matters most is that engine of the machine should not be affected by any external bodies and utmost care needs to be taken to keep it running at all times. Moreover, if anything goes wrong with the engine, it takes a lot of time and money to get that repaired. A business which is at its full flow may not want a situation like this and every care would be taken to ensure that things goes smoothly without any hindrances from any corner.

Measures to be taken to ensure the health of the engine is good

Keep the engine lubricated:-  The engine is a formation of several other parts which when on work at a tremendous speed. This leads to friction and therefore there are particles that get collected in that portion. Not servicing the machine regularly will lead in spreading the particles in different parts of the engine causing it to block the usual free movement. On the other hand, if the equipment is not well lubricated, that will lead to more friction that will take a toll on the machine. Therefore, it is crucial to clean the several parts of the machine and also take special notice to check if the machine is lubricated at all times.

It is important that you have a good mechanic working for you and is available whenever you need him. Cleaning the engine is a complicated job and it is certainly not the thing which can be done from a newbie. It needs knowledge of a professional who has worked on such machines many times in the past.

That was all about the engine. Let us now discuss about the brain of the machine which is the operator. An operator is the one who has the steering of the machine. He is the one who first comes to know what machine needs. He gets to know if there is anything that has gone faulty and if it needs to be replaced.

Recruit competent operator:-  Operators with good years of experience are the ones you should be looking for. Undoubtedly, they would be expensive but would be worth every penny you pay them. An operator with skills can get the work done in lesser time than the one who has less experience.

If you run a big construction company, you should have a team of skilled operators and can recruit a set of newbie who can get trained under their seniors. This is probably is the way how you can shape a newcomer into an experienced and proficient operator. There are few who are born with inbuilt talent; rest all needs guidance of experts who can mould them to become better employees. In this way, you can replace the old operators with the new guns as and when they retire.