Wednesday 6 December 2017

The Heart of Steam & ICE Engineer

The Heart of Plant Engineer and Plant Operator


“As for keeping an eye on the plant, that phrase is nothing more than a saying. If you are a manager, reading this book because operators report to you, you should know this the experienced operator keeps an ear on the plant. 


The most accurate, precise, sensitive instrument in a boiler plant is the operator’s ear. The operator knows something is amiss long before any alarm goes off because he can hear any subtle change in the sound of the plant. 


He can be up in the fidley, and notice that a pump on the plant’s lower level just shut down. Hearing isn’t the only sense that’s more acute in an operator, he “feels” the plant as well. Sounds, actually all sound is vibrations, that aren’t in the normal range of hearing are sensed either by the ear, the cheek, or through the feet. 


Certainly an operator shouldn’t be in- side a boiler turbining tubes, while he’s operating the plant but there are many maintenance activities he can perform while on duty. 


Managers with a sense of the skill of their operators will use them on overtime and off-shift to perform most of the regular maintenance.”


Ken Heselton in his book “Boiler Operator’s Handbook”

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