Gaston generator.

November — Week 2

Monday

Our capable lady engineer and I packed the spare parts belonging to 60 KVA and 100 KVA gensets for Partners in Prevention Hospital and Eton Hotel respectively.

At Partners in Prevention Hospital, Lady Ann, received us graciously and carried out the routine signing and stamping of our official service report. At Eton Hotel however, nothing could have prepared us for an incoming heated-lecture on the two invoices we had carried from the office.

The generator belonging to Eton Hotel had earlier on experienced problems with their injector pumps. Our company outsourced skills and experience, to help revive the otherwise senile genset. Injector pumps are delicate. Messing up with any facet of this component could possibly balloon the repair costs.

I will not mention the price quoted on the injector repair cost pro-forma invoice. The operations manager understandably ranted about the price. He went on decimating the breakdown of every cost as an exaggeration of the actual work done. Occasionally, Eng. JM would interject, struggling to convince the manager, without any success.

Finally, he let us service their generator vowing only to receive the service invoice, usually agreed in a service contract. After doing the job, we changed tact. We forwarded the service report and invoices to the general manager. Did he rant? No he didn’t.

He dashed his eyes into the pro-forma invoice and smirked. Without saying much, he promised to forward it to the hotel’s board for more discussion about the price. As a ground soldier, you have to be extremely patient. The top cream do not necessarily rant about the price tag, especially if the work is professionally done and the value for the money is evident!

Tuesday — Wednesday

Along Garissa Road, Eng. MW and I were tasked to install a new 30KVA generator for Kanyonyoo weighbridge, via the contracted firm Ebenezer Commercial Works Ltd. This particular customer is a repeat client, having supplied gensets for other sites including Thika Road weighbridge, Isinya Weighbridge and Dongo Kundu weighbridge.

The engineers working for Ebenezer have a reputation of following standards to the latter. During positioning, steel metre rules were used to ensure that the generator left equal spacing in all directions. Moreover, we employed a spirit level to ensure that the ATS did not slant. “All sockets are level. The engineers will make you repeat the damn work if the standards are not adhered to.” One of the workers lamented.

For the two nights we spent in Masii, Kenya Power was off. We ate, drank and slept in the black chilly nights. Our electronic gadgets had to be used sparingly. Lucky for me though, MW being a seasoned electrician “magic-ed” the electric grid to charge our phones when the opportunity presented itself.

By Thursday night, the installation was complete. The site foreman, together with the guards were excited to hear the generator roar. Our goal however, was to ensure that the water pump electric sequence matched with the generator’s termination.

I walked to the pump’s power room to determine whether the generator powered it. The voltmeter’s hand swung to 240V. The ammeter’s hand remained at zero. “I guess the pump is working”. I told MW. “What about the ammeter?” He implored.

Without a current reading, one can not sufficiently conclude that an equipment is working. MW changed the generator’s sequence. Clamping his electric meter at the red cable swirling to its termination port, a reading of 6A was measured. 6A and 7A were also recorded for the blue and yellow phases. “Now the pump’s sequence matches that of the generator.” He concluded as we packed our tools, ready to head back into dark Masii to spend the night.

Thursday

Early in that morning, 8am to be precise we had arrived on site for the commissioning of the generator. An hour later, we started our 2 hour journey back to our offices. Little did we know that reality had better plans.

Hardly past Kithimani, Eng. WW, a senior sales engineer, called in, informing us of a disturbing generator case at Nyangwa Boys High School, located in Kiritiri, Embu County. The generator shocked(electrocuted) anyone who touched it. Being an examination period, we timed our entry when the candidates were waiting to sit for their next paper.

The deputy principal received us and ushered us into the generator room. We started probing for answers. He touched a bolt, joined on the generator’s body and got a taste of the devastating shock. Interestingly, MW and I had not yet been electrocuted. (Apparently, our safety boots played a role in shielding us, compared to the rubber shoes the deputy principal rocked at his feet.)

The electric meter changed our whole approach. When the black and red probes were attached to any two single points, the voltage reading displayed was 0V, insinuating that no shock was generated. However, when only a single probe was attached to any point, the reading ranged between 15V and 75V! We now had to figure out, why the return was not properly disposing the excess voltage.

We disassembled the neutral and earthing bonds in the generator, as sparks flew around as thy came into contact. At the ATS and meter box, all the bonding seemed to be correctly connected. We concluded that somewhere within the numerous meter boxes in the school, the neutral bonding had broken, leading to a return back to the generator.

As MW wrote a report on the findings, I was sweating profusely trying to reconnect the earthing cable, the neutral and their link. Sparks were flying around. Working with a metallic ratchet did not ease the otherwise innocuous task. After fitting one end of the cable lug into the bolt, i inserted it into its thread hole. My fingers clamped as the shock hit my body. At that moment, i almost sought after MW, to let him finish the job.

The guard standing beside me, saw my hesitation and fear drawn all over my sweaty face. Cleverly, he picked a disposed plastic pen and helped push the bolt to position. Soon enough I was done with that heart wrenching experience.

We left the school premise to pick a consignment at Kiamutugu Boys High School, Kirinyaga County. At 6pm, we were fast getting into the heavy raining Nairobi region via Thika Road. Another phone call came in, this time from Mzee. “MW, the sisters at Subiaco are in darkness.Their generator has failed.”

Immediately we planned a suitable route to Karen to avoid traffic around the CBD. Eventually, we settled to use the Eastern Bypass to get to Mombasa Road, and exit at Ole Sereni to Karen. We expected to get traffic hiccups at Utawala, which moved at a snail’s pace.

The raindrops were still unforgiving when we entered the dark pitched Subiaco Retreat Center. Wilson opened the gate and for the first time, my eyes were set to a 30KVA Olympian Lister Petter generator, that was entirely phased out of the market. Unlike modern generators, its canopy and display design were different. The genset’s doors opened vertically, more like a Lamborghini’s door. With both doors opened, one could visualize a bird flying, with the entirety of the wings spanned outwards and to the top. Even more fascinating was that its rated speed is 3000 rpm, double the speed of a modern generator.

The fuel return pipes were clearly worn out and leaking fuel. Since we did not have spare return pipes, we cut a section from a long pipe still within the generator. Fire was used to expand the pipe’s end into its fittings. Tie wraps secured the pipes to reduce their movement while the generator vibrated. The generator was back to life and the retreat Centre was now well lit with the bulbs dotting the environs.

The sound produced by the generator was confusing. Under normal load, the sound, though contionous was breaking. At an overload however, the sound smoothened out. Additionally, i was fascinated that the small generator was not shutting off due to overload. In my short experience, a generator overload, however small, shuts down the genset. In this particular case, the generator still roared at a current of 64A, way past its rating of 41.7A. The incorporated generator’s ammeter was not even calibrat go to red to measure such amounts of current. Its hand just flung to the extreme end of the circular apparatus and rested there! Crazy, innit?