Generator Load banking Failed!!!

[@Tatersalad812]

6:37 almost hurt..... 10:00 no checking with a meter is gonna hurt some day sir! Just found your channel and I love the content! Please slow down! There is nothing so important in life you can't take the time to do it safely! we need you around in this world and for the content!! Not trying to be that guy but i've seen some stuff my man!

[@RossRadford]

Yes, please always double-check with a meter. I've had breakers fail closed before. I keep one on the dashboard of my truck to show the new guys. And I tell them "if you ask me if something is live or not, then you haven't checked yourself, therefore why the f* are you asking me?"

[@Tatersalad812]

@RossRadford Yep, ive seen fused switches rigged, breakers welded, contactors stuck. Its just not worth saving 5 seconds to meter or the 2 min for the genset to cool off and be taken offline. Saving a few seconds to make them your last few seconds alive. Ive worked 277 live many times, looking back I was dumb. Arc flash gear is annoying untill a 400a gear blows up in your face. Then when the pee trickles into your boot you realize your alive and unharmed.

[@brswggr]

Complacency and familiarity are the two biggest killers of "efficient" electricians.

[@linuxguy1199]

Hey man, don't forget familiarity breeds contempt, you got awfully close to that breaker and hooking things up without checking if they we're energized first, all it takes is one bad circuit - somewhere - and you'll be in a world of hurt.

[@ThorneRising]

My only feedback is please try to remember when you are showing something to the camera to move slowly. It’s exceptionally difficult to see what you are trying to point out when the camera moves quickly. When I fist started learning this in my videos it was quite an adjustment to move comically slow so the camera could pick up what I was trying to show. Also, narrating what you are doing a little more would be helpful for those viewers not familiar with your industry. Otherwise good video. Thank you for sharing!

[@BryanTorok]

All good points.

[@D1aNdOnLyNiCkx3]

We all see you know what your doing and love watching it, please be more cautious dont wana sound like a broken record as plenty ppl have point out multiple times be safe bud! Love the vids

[@FreezeAU]

I'm not an electrician, but at 6:37 when you closed the main breaker, it looks like your left hand got really close to the exposed live terminals on the top of the breaker?

[@fevsea]

Those are heatsinks, which are usually grounded and not really dangerous to touch. Just don't go touching them for no reason.

[@DeviloftheHelll]

worked at a few industrial sites by now. i never understood why there is no secondary feed or backup feed boxed installed with interlocked switches when the site goes to annual maintance to power cold rooms and such with external generators. and if there is a need to test a site installen genset, why there is no maintance terminals with an interlocked breaker?

[@grandinosour]

My electrician neighbor has said those Polaris connectors are intended to be installed only once in a permanent installation. Also, I worked at Simplex long ago, and they would not even fathom of building a switch gear or load bank setup without a test block to connect load testing equipment.

[@webluke]

I have herd that the commissioning of gas turbines is kind of fun to see, the load bank for a 9MW "black start turbine" filled a tractor trailer. But when I worked on simulating these I don't get to always see the real thing.

[@apcadventures]

@@webluke yeah commissioning these generators are fun! When using the load-banks to simulate full load you can see the turbos glow cherry red, the biggest generator I’ve done a start up with was a 1 meg Generac diesel on a rooftop of manhattan

[@FrozenHaxor]

Three rebars in a trash can full of water best load bank around lol. Only for a few seconds though.

[@coreybabcock2023]

You kinda was tailgating that ford van in the outro

[@htroberts]

why are you using all those tiny-ass loads instead of one that’s appropriately sized for the generator? and why are you disconnecting the load feed versus having a set of lugs for load testing? how do you prove that wasn’t reconnected incorrectly?

[@mrdiesel6303]

Between the loaded coiled cables on the ground, not a single ground attached to the load banks, you almost touching the hot side of the breaker when you turned it on with unit running, constantly stepping on the energized cable’s, standing in front of a live uncovered breaker to take readings, Not very impressive work.

[@linuxguy1199]

Those load banks don't have a ground to attach (three phase), for this test there's no GFCI in line anywhere so a ground won't save/help him in any way.

[@RossRadford]

@@linuxguy1199 An equipment grounding conductor is imperative regardless of GFCI. The purpose of the ground is to create a low-impedance path to earth so in the event of a short, enough current can flow quickly enough to cause the breaker to trip. Suppose there was a short from one phase to the case with no path to ground, and then you touch the case and become the path to ground yourself.

[@linuxguy1199]

@@RossRadford You're right, and yes for the majority of things you'd want a ground for that reason. However this is a quick test, and doesn't really warrant it since it's a dry day and this is a one time installation by a professional (plus it doesn't look like those load banks even have a connection for ground). It would be safer, but there are far bigger problems in this video.

[@RossRadford]

@@linuxguy1199 😬 I...I...I just can't even...

[@mrdiesel6303]

@@linuxguy1199you seem to have no actual idea what your talking about….. I do this job for a living and this is very unprofessional work.

[@kc0eks]

Being paid to test expensive items and being clear of any liability for it breaking is just about the perfect gig

[@nspro931]

At 7:50 you had 13 inches gas pressure but you said it failed? What happened?

[@apcadventures]

@@nspro931 the regulator was too small and the pressure would drop as low as 5” and then come back up to 13”

[@inothome]

Load banking is fun! But did I hear you say you hated Polaris connectors? You crazy? LOL They are the shit, in a great way! If they are all effed up buy some new ones but there is no better way to make up connections like that than a Polaris connector. And best practice, not sure if Polaris actually says it, but they are usually wired splitting the line and load. Like in your case bring in the source in the center port and have half the load on one side and the other half on the other side. That way you don't have the full amperage going across one spot. We'll even stagger them, line , load, line, load etc... Does it really matter, no idea but that's how everyone I know wires in Polaris connectors on high amp wiring. Back to load banking, I had to witness a load banking of a small genset here in Vietnam for a project I was part of a few weeks ago (video link below). I was expecting the small load banks like you had there. Nope, 55 gallon drum with copper electrodes, water and some salt. Crazy how little salt it took to bring the current up. With just tap water it would only pull 17A at 400V three phase (230/400V system here). Not even a handful of salt and the current jumped up surprisingly high for the little bit of salt he threw in there. I was told that set up was good for 60kW of load. It worked surprisingly well and was pretty controllable too. Stay safe. I have other gen videos too, from a 3.5MW EMD 710 V20 to a Cat 3516 1.4MW in Antarctica and a few others I have worked on too. Water tank load banking video I made: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXq9k4iZnrGsjNk

[@Duracellmumus]

If u have some spare time spend it to make a connection box for connecting and fuseing the loads. It may keep saveing your butt. I olso subscibe your chanel.

[@apcadventures]

@@Duracellmumus I know my shops got some new bus bars on order and we are working with the parts guy to get a better way of managing cables and connections!

[@johumm455]

#stopburningstuff

[@abid583ind]

You should wear the camera on your chest and point it towards the things you see your eye level, your constant head movement and the back forth between the load and gen doesn't really feel like watching and gives some motion sickness to the viewer, also make better use of another camera on a tripod to validate what is on another of the jig you are trying to demonstrate or show.... You will improve.....