# Electrical Power Generators



## Macphail (Oct 27, 2008)

What are the best or the disaster..

The “Allen Straight Eights “ where very good in the sixtys.
“Rushtons” , good, “Stork Werkspoor”, a big problem.
I sailed with the Allens, good UK engine from Bedford, on the BF ships, high on maintenance, head change every 500 hrs. Rushtons with Bank Line. Very good engine.
The “Stork”, piston seizeure, throwing the connecting rods and bearings.

John


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## Satanic Mechanic (Feb 23, 2009)

Oh this one is easy

Best - T/As and shafties
Worst - Diesels - especially anything with the words Pielstick or Paxman attached to them


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## Macphail (Oct 27, 2008)

*Blackout due to low steam pressure*



Satanic Mechanic said:


> Oh this one is easy
> 
> Best - T/As and shafties
> Worst - Diesels - especially anything with the words Pielstick or Paxman attached to them


"Jedforest" , Stand By, T/A failure, Blackout, Boiler failure, no steam, a good D/A will always prevail.


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## JoK (Nov 12, 2006)

I sailed with the Storks new con rod designs, had no problems.
Love the Wartsilas.
MaKs, if they kept the weights on the crankshafts they'd be fine. Alcos, you can't kill them unless you work at it.


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## Satanic Mechanic (Feb 23, 2009)

Macphail said:


> "Jedforest" , Stand By, T/A failure, Blackout, Boiler failure, no steam, a good D/A will always prevail.


Ach - it had to stop eventually - it had probably been running since delivery 

The new Hyundai diesels - HIMSENS - are just about bloody indestructible, I had a 3/E who tried really hard and failed!!!

Wartsillas are of course great engines but they lose marks from me on two counts 1. doing alarms and trips on them can be a real pain - just a little bit of thought at design would have made life so much easier and 2. they have a well known design fault when putting bottom ends back on whereby a slightly wrong crank position can end up in light seeking con rods!!!


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## raybnz (Sep 10, 2005)

Anything apart from a British Polar. Scavenge Fires oil leaks smoky exhausts continually being told by the C/E to change fuel injectors.


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## BlythSpirit (Dec 17, 2006)

Perhaps this thread should be renamed Diesel Engines - the electrical power generators (alternators) were on the other end.(Jester)


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## Satanic Mechanic (Feb 23, 2009)

BlythSpirit said:


> Perhaps this thread should be renamed Diesel Engines - the electrical power generators (alternators) were on the other end.(Jester)


You are of course perfectly correct, I've never had a conversation about my favourite salient pole alternator though, maybe we should start.

Lets start with loss of residual - always a giggle when there are no terminal markings


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Satanic Mechanic said:


> Lets start with loss of residual - always a giggle when there are no terminal markings


Ah Yes! The transistor radio battery method of excitation. [=P]


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## Satanic Mechanic (Feb 23, 2009)

Marconi Sahib said:


> Ah Yes! The transistor radio battery method of excitation. [=P]


Dats da Bunny.

There is a story that you can get the residual back by hitting by hitting the end of the shaft really hard with a copper mallet/ dolly. Never had occasion to try this or ever found out the truth about it - sounds dodgy but like many of these sort of things it ticks enough boxes to be plausible.

Any takers ?


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## double acting (Sep 14, 2008)

I remember an electrician who the second had caught hitting the end of the shaft. He asked him what he was ******* doing and was told "Re-arranging the molecules" The second told him to stop or he would rearrange his ******* molecules.


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## K urgess (Aug 14, 2006)

Satanic Mechanic said:


> Dats da Bunny.
> 
> There is a story that you can get the residual back by hitting by hitting the end of the shaft really hard with a copper mallet/ dolly. Never had occasion to try this or ever found out the truth about it - sounds dodgy but like many of these sort of things it ticks enough boxes to be plausible.
> 
> Any takers ?


Doesn't the offending piece of machinery have to be aligned north to south for this to work?
Happened with rivetted ships as well, I believe. (EEK)


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## BlythSpirit (Dec 17, 2006)

I have a post in this tangled website somewhere being shown how to batter an excitor motor by an ancient shoreside electrician on a shell tanker in canada - it worked!


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## Billieboy (May 18, 2009)

Sailed with HP and Mixed Pressure T/As from Allen, prferred the HP sets for reliability, MP for ecconomy,(the t/a ran on second stage bled steam).


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## Steve Woodward (Sep 4, 2006)

Waukesha diesels - Mobil had a couple on the old Shabonnee - seemed to be mentioned a few times along with words like the plague incurable etc.


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## Macphail (Oct 27, 2008)

BlythSpirit said:


> Perhaps this thread should be renamed Diesel Engines - the electrical power generators (alternators) were on the other end.(Jester)


Generators.. DC Engines.
Alternators.. AC Engines.

(Thumb)


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## macca57 (Sep 21, 2005)

Macphail said:


> What are the best or the disaster..
> 
> The “Allen Straight Eights “ where very good in the sixtys.
> “Rushtons” , good, “Stork Werkspoor”, a big problem.
> ...


The worst altenators were teh combination of Rolls Royce Engines and AEI Altenators. The alternators were supported by two roller bearings 4 foot six inches apart, on the shaft end opposite drive end was fitted an overhung exciter, weighing in at 190 lbs no further bearings were fitted to the exciter.
The exiter rotor fitted on to the tapered shaft of the altenator rotor shaft. 
Regular checks were required to ensure that the exciter rotor did not come into contact with the stator.

Our C/E calculated that the bearings and span was adequte for the main rotor but the asditional 190lbs was straining the system.
Heard of banging with a hammer, easist method is use 24v DC jump leads on to the exiter fields, and problem solve, done it.


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## Satanic Mechanic (Feb 23, 2009)

BlythSpirit said:


> I have a post in this tangled website somewhere being shown how to batter an excitor motor by an ancient shoreside electrician on a shell tanker in canada - it worked!


Oh go on - give us the details again.(Thumb) 

Its one of those ones I have always wondered about. Must be said that as Macca pointed out a battery sounds much easier


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## MARINEJOCKY (Nov 25, 2007)

Straight six Yanmar, 21,000 hours and rings, liners and bearings like new.

Wartsila 22 series, cracks in every con rod and in way of each main bearing, 27 engines in nine ships and all the same. All had to be taken out, the blocks machined in New Orleans with me supervising and staying in the Bourbon Orleans Hotel in the french quarter for 7 months, terrible engines but great job.


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## BlythSpirit (Dec 17, 2006)

Satanic Mechanic

Found it here:
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?p=95539#post95539


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## steamer659 (Mar 18, 2009)

Alike most of my collegues, I have been "shipmates" with a very diversified line of Ship's Service Gensets, both steam as well as motor. The best Diesel Gensets were Caterpillar 3606 series sets, very trouble free- but had to have good fuel. The worst were Yanmar High Speed units (2300 rpm) on the EconShips (Sea -Land Atlantic class) 6000 hours between overhauls- used to get cracked conrods out of the OEM parts boxes (circa 1989) I was the ABS Surveyor observing all of this mess... All of the above units were in the 1500-2500 Kw range...

The best steam turbine generator sets were a toss-up; The Observation Island had three 3600 RPM, direct drive turbo-generator sets which were gave
years of trouble free operation (they were ex-submarine units)- 2000 Kw each, but also the 2000 Kw GE Sets on the States Line Maine Class were sweet too- 13500 RPM single reduction geared turbine generator sets- 

The worst steam sets I sailed with were the Westinghouse 600 Kw units on the Mormac 1624 Freighters (this was aboard the USNS Southern Cross- ex Mormac Trade) the trip and throttle valves stuck open often and the governor drive piston also hung up- often causing near dangerous conditions upon start up.....


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