Equipment World Digital Magazine
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maintenance | by Tom Jackson TIER 4 RULES A For gensets and compressors s Tier 4 Interim and Final construction equipment continues to roll into the mar- ketplace over the next two years, con- tractors and fl eet managers will be pay- ing increased costs for the engines and learning new maintenance protocols. Unlike mobile equipment, the environmental protection agency puts generators in two categories: those that are standby emergency power generators and those that deliver power in non-emergency situa- tions as a normal part of their routine. "Emergency in the EPA's mind means when the power is out," says Roddy Yates, genset product manager at Baldor. "Anytime you use that genset in conjunction with normal grid power that is by defi ni- tion not emergency power." If a genset is considered emergency it can use a Tier 3 engine provided it doesn't run more than 100 hours per year for maintenance and test- ing, says Heather Landers, power gen product planner at John Deere Power Systems. For non-emergency generators and all compressors the Tier 4 Interim emissions requirements are the same as mobile equipment – for engines 174 horsepower and above they began on January 1, 2011; for engines 75 to 175 horsepower, they started on January 1 this year. The EPA allows for a lower Tier engine to be used only if a generator is used for standby emergency power. Maintenance still important Just because your emergency stand- by generator does not have to meet Tier 4 emissions standards does not mean you can let down your guard when it comes to maintenance. Many of the Tier 3 engines are now electronically controlled and use increased levels of exhaust gas recirculation and more complex tur- bocharging than the Tier 2 engines they replaced – and that spells more heat and more pressure. "In the old days you could design a cooling system and oversize it and not worry about it," Yates says. "Now you have to size it so it doesn't run above a certain temper- ature, but also doesn't run below a certain temperature; above a certain pressure but not below a certain pressure. Otherwise it doesn't come out right." And as always, fuel quality has to be watched. Diesel fuel is only good for six months, a year at best. "Some of these big gensets will have 600- or 700-gallon fuel tanks and you have to have some way to rotate the fuel out of those tanks," Yates says. "In the past you could just power up and cogenerate to use up the fuel. But today you can't do that; you violate the emergency standby rules." Faced with that dilemma, Yates EquipmentWorld.com | April 2012 39