Testing diesel generator and automatic transfer switch, real power fail test at Elementary school

[@djohnsto2]

Cool! I used to work in IT and babysat our datacenter during generator testing. One time the generator maintenance company transferred to gen, everything was fine, then he saw something he didn't like, and hit the gen EPO (emergency engine power-off) before transferring back to grid power. This caused some kind of logic state error in the computer control which prevented switching to grid, and also prevented the generator from starting up. It sat like that for like 30 minutes and our UPS batteries discharged beyond the damage zone. Then finally they got it back to grid somehow by fudging the controls manually. Needless to say there were some adjustments made to the system so that wouldn't happen again.

[@nics-systems-electric]

It can happen that's for sure it usually seems to be the transfer switch that screws up and doesn't want to work

[@superstar64]

I'm no electrician, but I absolutely love the sound of a diesel engine. Wasn't expecting to see John Deere printed on that though, I figured it would be a Cummins or something.

[@GaryBeltz]

The one in his high school is also powered by a John Deere they must have the contract for generator companies in his area.

[@frazzledude]

@@GaryBeltz John Deere engines were widely used in Kohler generator sets. Caterpillar, of course, uses Caterpillar engines in their gensets, while Onan is owned by Cummins, so they have Cummins engines.

[@LordSandwichII]

I'd never trust a John Deere generator! Imagine you have to replace a part in a crisis, and then it doesn't work because you need to call a service technician to come over and code the part to the ECU.

[@superstar64]

@@LordSandwichII Cummins swap lol

[@mrtony12893]

Bro I love your vids I’m fascinated by back up power systems and how it all works thanks for the content .. can’t find many videos like urs

[@nics-systems-electric]

Thank you I appreciate that!

[@REWYRED]

Love this.... I work in a hospital and We are requird to test ours weekly, and ya same thing with the use of diesel as the generator "Must be able to run independently of outside sources of wster or fuel".. Doesnt mean you can't jost have to be able to... CAT makes an engine that is able to throttle back on the diesel and introduce natural gas to allow you to conserve diesel and extend run time. Any failure of natural gas or abnormal operating condition the engine reverts back to 100% diesel.

[@Gav376]

I love the testing videos🤌🏾

[@mikeross880]

Love the sound of this it’s just like a truck starting up; only a lot quieter and more efficient.

[@IanGSully]

I kinda like the windows on the classroom doors. Kinda unique how they did rhombus shaped windows!

[@nics-systems-electric]

It was actually a last minute decision as they wanted to go with the round windows like they did the sister elementary school the one I went to built a few years earlier but it was cheaper to get square windows but they didn't like that it didn't look as cool so they turned them on their point lol

[@Granth_Man]

Love the crank sound (also I made a charger for dead car batteries)

[@craigs3183]

Most of the gensets in my area (in upstate NY) are Caterpillars or Cummins Diesels for the commercial buildings like hospitals and nursing homes. Not many schools have backup power here.

[@thestihladdict1743]

Love these videos. Now idk how many hours it's got but it looks like it's starting to wetstack cause of all the smoke continuously under load, she might need a 4hr load bank test at 100% capacity to get hot enough to burn off all the carbon in the exaust system. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@nics-systems-electric]

We are actually doing the load bank testing this week into next so it'll get 2 hours at 100% or at least close to

[@thestihladdict1743]

@nics-systems-electric ahh that's perfect 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

[@midnite630]

The amount of exhaust smoke I see make me think you have wet stacking going on. Might what to look into a load bank test.

[@nics-systems-electric]

Load bank is actually being done on these this week or next week two hours at 100% or almost 100% load

[@frazzledude]

A "poor man's" load bank is just a barrel full of salt water and a couple pieces of sheet steel to act as electrodes. The amperage is controlled by raising or lowering the sheet steel into the salt water in the barrel.

[@TheJustin574]

It smokee a bit for a turbo machine, but starts efficiently

[@nics-systems-electric]

Yeah it should've been cleaned up a couple months after this video during its annual 100% percent two hour load test.

[@marksmith-ew7ir]

Quick start up as long if it happens during school teachers should be told to calm some kids down when lights go out.

[@GaryBeltz]

Funny you say that in my last summer before graduation in college I was doing the required internship with one of the professors and I was in the cafeteria eating lunch when for some reason the power plant that fed the entire campus went out and even though the cafeteria was full of windows on one side you could hear the future students going OMG!, screaming, etc

[@uniteddrones7626]

You should do a Q&A with ur partner you work with he seems like a cool dude

[@nics-systems-electric]

That would be a fun video

[@uniteddrones7626]

@@nics-systems-electric I believe much so!

[@KillerJoeFIN]

By looks of the generator exhaust its propably wet stacking. Needs to load tested with full load to burn carbon out of piston rings etc.

[@nics-systems-electric]

Yes for sure this was about as bad as it gets for us as this was recorded around one month maybe less before our annual two hour 100% power load bank test

[@user-jt5vm3mi1w]

lol @ a school needing a generator

[@mightyoaks9331]

In Canada the public schools are generally designated to act as emergency disaster recovery locations for the local surrounding community.

[@commanderbishop]

hope for that natural disaster you have a 48-hour diesel storage tank. That factory tank it's sitting on is only designed for 8 hours under load max. Thats not much fuel for a natural disaster event.

[@nics-systems-electric]

The generators are never ran at max load constantly I'm guessing they planned to have the generators refilled and topped off when they are needed

[@Corwin09-ji8sx]

Another generator that sounds like a car engine starting when it powers up!

[@kieran.thejasperhouse]

Why do gensets make me geek out.

[@onestormchaser]

Oh no.... the tree huggers need power. Bet Tesla doesn't make a standby generator.....lmao

[@nics-systems-electric]

Diesel power is definitely not replaceable yet for some things

[@frazzledude]

Standby diesel generators get a bad rap from environmentalists. If they are well maintained, use clean burning high quality fuel, and are occasionally run at full load so they don't wet stack, they are actually quite clean burning because they run at constant speed and nearly constant load. Also, most of the time they are just sitting around waiting for the power to go out. So, they actually run very few hours each year. Overall, standby diesel generators produce very little pollution.

[@henrydoesstuff213]

2:05 start

[@Sir_Flib]

What is the total installed cost?

[@nics-systems-electric]

Not sure what it was in 2007 would be much more now

[@IanGSully]

Can you get tornados in your area as well? Just curious.

[@nics-systems-electric]

Not really there's been a couple tiny ones but nothing real

[@samuelrodriguez76]

Can you do a video on “no-load” testing?

[@nics-systems-electric]

It's not something we do as it's not a good idea can cause wet stacking for diesels. The way it's done is by setting the generator to run without transferring load

[@samuelrodriguez76]

Intresting, do you have a video on that? Or some steps for that, currently doing preventative maintenance on emergency generators and sometimes it requires to run the generator for about 30 minutes

[@nics-systems-electric]

@@samuelrodriguez76 I don't have a video on it but you can usually go to the generator controller on the unit and hit run or sometimes the transfer switches have a option to run the generator without load transfer however it's definitely not recommended not good for diesel engines to run without load

[@samuelrodriguez76]

@@nics-systems-electric that’s very helpful!! Appreciate that! Guess I was going it right. Thanks for your input!

[@AdrianScalco]

YES

[@auswaz4323]

How big is the diesel tank and how long will it run for?

[@nics-systems-electric]

Not sure of the actual size but it would probably run for a couple days depending on the load

[@IanGSully]

Hey Nic, does this generator power the elevator in this school? I know the generator in your school does not power any of them in your school for some odd reason.

[@nics-systems-electric]

No I don't think so only the two new schools have elevators on generator as elevators are a massive electrical load with large inrush currents

[@GaryBeltz]

Is that Generator the same size as the one that powers your high school? It's a different company but but physically looks the same size.

[@nics-systems-electric]

They are both 60 KW but the one at my school is 347/600 V this one is 120/208 V and the one at my school puts out 57 A this one puts out 166 A

[@markarca6360]

The engine was a John 🦌 In other generators, it will be a 🐛🐱

[@TRLTheRandomLab]

11 seconds can definitely be an issue in schools of 2023, since *everything* is computer based, whether it's in the classrooms or in the computer labs. Having to restart the PC and load back into whatever they were doing can be a pain in the ass. And you generally can't afford to put a UPS on *every* computer in the school

[@nics-systems-electric]

11 seconds is actually quite good and is more than quick enough to satisfy requirements the generator is for emergencies not every day use for every day items computers are not on the generator at all they will be out for the duration of the power outage they are not powered off and emergency panel as they are not an emergency system buildings that do have computers servers and net work/communication systems on generator power usually use a large central UPS

[@RDC_Autosports]

not NFPA 110 type 10 fast enough lol

[@nics-systems-electric]

It's not a hospital or medical facility of any sort so it doesn't need to comply with that

[@spykillergames8402]

so all these schools must have to pay for a contract to fill these tanks for these diesel gens....seems pricy but then maybe thats just a cost of running a school in your part of canada

[@nics-systems-electric]

Schools don't pay for it just like they don't pay the power bill or water usage or gas usage it's just part of district operation budget around 200 million so some generators aren't that bad depending on the school it probably needs 1 to 3 fills a year

[@superstar64]

​@@nics-systems-electric That and diesel doesn't go bad like gasoline does, unless the fuel gets contaminated, so you never have to deal with bad fuel unless the fuel filter goes bad on the engine.

[@frazzledude]

@@superstar64 Diesel fuel can last a very long time if moisture does not get into to the storage tank. Many diesel tanks use water separators or silica get desiccators to remove moisture, and they add a biocide solution to the fuel to prevent bacteria growth.

[@keanubrando3228]

Look like cobwebs spider

[@keanubrando3228]

Like car engine lol 😂

[@ObamnaSoda513]

overall i have to be honest your channels videos have been becoming less and less interesting sorry if it sounds rude but i am starting not to enjoy your videos.