Troubleshooting A MTU 500 kW Generator | Austin, Texas Service Project

Field Service Call: Trouble Shooting A 500 kW MTU Shutting Down After 10 Seconds

Industrial generators have many moving parts. They are made up of engines, generator ends, control panels, circuit breakers, often enclosures and lots of electrical wiring. Our techs love a good headscratcher, but of course to them, it’s all in a day’s work!

“We arrived on site and attempted to start a 500 kW MTU unit and discovered that the generator wouldn’t stay running longer than 10 seconds,” said Chris from Austin Generator Source.

“After troubleshooting, we found that the unit’s sensing lead on the AVR was disconnected and causing the unit to shut down due to being under frequency,” continued Chris. “We resecured the wire and unit started.”

From there our Austin technicians performed service and maintenance, changing out the oil, oil filter, fuel filters, air filter, greasing the fan drive bearing, and they cleaned the unit.

“As part of this service call, we then hooked up the load bank and performed a load bank test,” added Chris. “During the initial load steps, it was discovered that the unit’s exhaust flex pipe was leaking and upon further investigation, it was discovered that the unit’s retaining nuts for the bolts were completely missing.
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“We placed some retaining nuts on the ends of the bolts as a temporary measure and proceeded with the load test,” continued Chris. “During the load test the room began to heat up excessively and upon further investigation, we found that the room's louvers we’re opening as they should. Typically, there are two (2) styles; mechanical opening and the other a cross-draft opening, basically opening by the air intake of the generator pulling air.

“We were able to finish the load test without issue after opening the door to the generator room to allow the excess heat to escape,” said Chris. “However, at no time did the unit temperature rise to a warning level for pre-shutdown. What makes this worrisome is that this unit was just commissioned and turned over to the customer less than 8 months ago during the new build.

“We informed the customer of all the issues we found and addressed them so that they could go back to the general contractor and get these items fixed under warranty,” wrapped up Chris. “We cleaned the unit and picked up the cables, and before leaving the site placed the unit back in auto and ensured the breaker was closed.”

Do you need your industrial standby generator serviced in the greater Austin area? Click here or call (512) 631-9998 for more information or to schedule a site visit/appointment. We also sell and rent units out of our Austin yard.

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