Generator Explosion and Arc Flash
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- čas přidán 7. 12. 2022
- Had a bit of a setback here. Is it fixable? Watch here to find out and see what went wrong. • Complete Generator Exp...
I'm always looking for old classic semi trucks to save and restore. I'm also always looking for trucks or parts Detroit Diesel related. If you have one that needs to be saved or you know of one you can drop me an email at the following address: Ol2Stroker@gmail.com
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#explosion #generator #arcflash - Auta a dopravní prostředky
Failure Analysis video is here: czcams.com/video/tr3LEdQoGlk/video.html
It's a good running engine and probably still a good working generator. I saw in another video it was single phase? If that were the case, you could pad mount the thing and power your house with it if the power goes out. Have someone put a fused disconnect on the utility side, then an automatic transfer switch and finally your house's main after that. Kind of hope it can be saved and live a long life as your standby generator.
Lol yeah do that
did you find the fried mouse yet?
@@Christopher29m naw i think he'd been evicted a long while ago
OK, I've subscribed for that follow-up.
Good catch on the engine there - especially with the camera in one hand. That would of been a Code Brown for me...
I had the camera on my head thank god. Otherwise I probably would've dropped it.
Secondary explosion uncontained
@@adamdnewman 😂😂😂
Oops 💩💩💩
@@FromLandVegemiteSamich major oops.
Arc flash is no joke, hope you are OK. I mess with large generators in my backyard and it's always a real concern having that happen.
Totally fine brother thank you.
@@Ol2Stroker Glad you’re good.
@@iamgriff me too!
@SaltLife 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@SaltLife Why ya so angry bud? It’s too early in the day to think you may be drunk. So again I say, why are you so angry?
Shake hands with danger
Glad your ok, I used to be a generator mechanic and that’s a scary thing not many people experience let alone live thru.
Shook hands with it today! Lol
You don’t need to worry abooot safety! That’s Peg’s moto.
@@brianburns7211 he's not wrong!
I can just hear the guitar now….😂
Well if I ever find myself in this situation I’m going to go with about 100 feet of rope attached to that switch lol.
Having worked in a facility with high voltage transformers and switchgear we were always geared up to expect the worse when doing any switching, high amperage arc flash is no joke, good to see your okay.
Thanks David!
Hockey gear won't save you if you playing with voltage, the gear just keeps your body part contained and covers the boss like he did something to protect you
so was the arc due to faulty machine or user error?
@@randomrazr I'm not totally sure tbh.
@@jimjab3631 Hot suits are heat resistant for a reason lol. Might not save you from an arc blast but it'll keep you from getting charred
“That’s not gone well.” I would have to agree lol! I’m glad you alive and safe my friend!
Thanks man, me too!
@@Ol2Stroker cool thing is you got 500k* views out of it!
@@robmangeri777 I'm just thankful i had the camera on my head that day. Noone would believe that story without video!
@@Ol2Stroker pretty wild!
Glad you’re ok! When I worked for a commercial electrician in high school we used to switch on large breakers with a broom handle or tie a rope to them for this reason haha. Now I work for the power company and have a choice between a 12’ insulated extension or a 30’ insulated extension stick
I'm gonna have ptsd next time i hit a light switch 😂😂😂
Or remotely close via plc.
I also work on generators for a living and have had that happen to me as well. It wasn't that bad, but I will never turn one of those phase selector switches again while the unit is running. I would rather take my chances manually reading the phase voltage with a meter. I'm glad you're ok, quick thinking!
All that switch did was swap from manual to automatic voltage regulation. Well... That's all it was supposed to do. 🤣🤣🤣
Yep, switching voltage selector while a unit is running will instantly kill any generator. It's a mistake someone only makes once (and honestly if they do make that mistake, whoever trained them has failed... badly)
@@Modna89 why though? Zero training other than what i just learned.
@Ol2Stroker lol I'll take your word for it I've never seen a unit like that. I don't know why that would be an option if an avr is on it. But thats before my time, don't see stuff like in the field these days. It's a shame cause the old stuff will run forever with care. Engineers like to over complicate everything these days. Did you figure out what shorted? Btw can't wait to see that race truck 100%!
@@Lss1six962 thanks Chase. I'm not sure it's curtains for the ol gal just yet. Stay tuned we're gonna do an entire post mortem and failure analysis.
The adrenaline kicks in immediately when something like this happens, you maintained the presence of mind to make the situation safe before moving yourself to safety. Good job.
I had a dc arc in an isolator which caused a fire, I used a full CO2 extinguisher on it but it kept re-igniting. The dc power was coming from a commercial scale PV array so I got my insulated cutters and cut through all the PV cables supplying the isolator. Then I got another CO2 extinguisher and it went out first time. It took me all afternoon to calm down.
That's badass man. Not everyone keeps a clear head in those kinds of situations.
Hot cutters are handy, especially when they have long handles.
This situation was handled so well. Props for doing what you could to shut it down and stay safe
Damn dude I’m really sorry that happened, glad you are ok though!
Edit: incredible save on shutting the engine down tho holy shit balls of steel!
Thanks brother. My primary focus is always saving the equipment not so much self preservation lol. 🤟🤟
I'd have been off down the yard as far as I could get within 5 seconds of that happening 🤣🤣
Can't believe how calm this guy is 👏
@@Ol2Stroker a true professional lol. Glad you're okay manb
@@EddiXP thanks!!
Damn do I feel your pain.
It’s always something, after countless hours of hard work! Glad you are safe!
Now comes the hours of brainstorming a solution!
Lol this thing loves to fight.
@@Ol2Stroker at least it didnt throw you 200 feet
@@darrenw2803 yea getting bit by that woulda sucked
be lucky to survive something like that though
@@darrenw2803 truth
Love the series, can't wait to see the post mortem and maybe a repair? Would be great to have a good still image of the control panel and a description of the controls.
Oh Flippin hel*. Glad you were not hurt. Hope all can be repaired. I will stay tuned for the outcome...
Good sense of responsibility that you shut it down immediately without running away. Salute.
I am glad you shared this ,I keep seeing big gen sets at the local farm auction ,and one of these days I will win one .
Hell yea 🤟🤟
Glad the grounds all worked!
That might have been very shocking!
Lol truth
Ummm did anyone else notice as well, the 5 gallon gas can that got showered in arc babies? You're fortunate dude!
It was diesel.
Man I feel you. Very calm "that's not gone well". I've been diagnosing, tracing and testing 3 phase in my shop while installing a Bridgeport and big lathe. I've been very care full to not have that boom. The meth-magicians that were in my building before me apparently dead shorted the 3 phase , I would have love to see the reaction to that one, I'm sure it made the bad buzz and threw sparks. I can see the marks where they got something in there on the thumb size cable lugs, killed the black leg and proceeded to jumper black and blue to restore power to the whole panel rather than doing a little sluth work and replacing a 200 amp fuse in the main switch panel. Psyched to have 3 phase back too. I was going to run a phase converter for them.
Oh wow. Friggin meth heads.
My dad, the electrocution king, got out of the pool to show a buddy a new piece of equipment. As my dad stood in a puddle of pool water, he completed the circuit on his 3 phase. Luckily the buddy was able to shut off all the power to the garage and call 911. My dad was released from the ER a couple hours later. Not surprisingly, this was not the first, nor the last, electrocution he experienced. 🤦
I worked with some 100Kw CAT gensets before and that has always been a fear of mine, especially when doing a load bank test on them after a repair.
Man... that was horrifying to watch, glad you are alright
It was pretty wild in person when you're not expecting it at all! Thanks man!
Wayne my brother glad all your eyebrows are still intact! Sometimes, when we work on old junk, it turns out it really is junk....but that judgement is yet to be called.
Then sometimes when we work on junk, even if its not junk, we make it junk 😂😂
Watching this led me to immediately read about arc flash. That’s some serious shit and I am glad no one was hurt.
Me too!
Saw a malfunctioning Lincoln power wave do this in school, glad to see you lived to talk about it.
Me too!
Bro! Scary stuff. Way to keep it together man. Much respect.
Thanks brother!
Damn, glad you are ok. I'm an electrician and generator tech. That's always a big fear... but glad you're ok. Can't say much for the genset though... an autopsy of it would be a great video though...
We're for sure doing a postmortem on it.
this dude goes for the e shutdown after the explosion ... to save that motor ! mad props (i woulda been outta there) .... at the end of the day i hear no injuries so thaTs the best part!
💪💪
Man, thank GOD your ok brotha! Arch flashes are no joke! Stay safe out there working on junk man!
Shiitttt, Glad you're OK buddy!! Pretty damn impressive to instinctively go into shut everything down and pull the cables mode rather than running away!!!
Thanks man!!
Man that sucks! Glad your ok though. Hopefully there isn’t too much damage
Thanks!
Take note of the far right gauges goes off the dial completely as it goes boom
Voltage spiked. Meter stops at 300. Not sure how high it actually got
Good hell Wayne! Glad you are still in one piece. Glad it was diesel and not gas . Great composure and shut it down even when SHTF.
Thanks brother 🤟
Man, are you ok? You were extremely calm during that deal. I know you will figure it out. This is real stuff. That's why I like your videos 👍
I'm completely unscathed, bummed about the gen though.
@@Ol2Stroker I'm assuming it's toast?
@@haydona1845 I'm assuming so also but haven't confirmed yet.
@Ol2Stroker Well let's hope all you have is a couple melted wires but I have a feeling that stator is probably done for. Fingers crossed
@@haydona1845 i will be very thoroughly impressed if it's not coagulated gravy.
That was quite a light show! One of the adjustment controls must have shorted placing a direct phase to phase short in the stator. Hopefully the smoke wasn’t totally from the gen head but it looked like it was. That’s definitely a bummer 😢. Hopefully you can find a suitable replacement and carry on with the project. So glad the arc wasn’t severe enough to injure you! Gensets can be replaced but we sure can’t replace you
You're almost 100% correct. From what I can decipher the switch i hit was for auto voltage control which malfunctioned as evidenced by the huge voltage spike on the gauge (pegged over 300) and the first flashes on left side of the cabinet coming from the voltage regulator. Not sure what max voltage was but it was enough to melt the 2 hot sense wires coming off the gen legs which in turn shorted the stator phase to phase.
@Ol2Stroker I wonder if that motor guy on tik toc has ever rewound a generator sator?
@@uberdang830 i didn't even know there was a motor guy on tiktok
@@Ol2Stroker yeh. I don't know if he has a CZcams account. Buy he rewinds custom and high output motors. I've even seen him rewind a rotary phase converter.
@@uberdang830 cool
Although violent the thumb nail has a warm Christmas glow to it kinda nice stay safe and never mind them breaks keep that hammer down
I thought the same thing as I selected it. It's almost magical.
Been working on industrial generators for a little over ten years now. Experienced technicians will never move the voltage/current display multi position switch, especially on older units. This is why. Unfortunately you had to learn the hard way! Glad to see you are ok and you handled the shut down extremely well under the circumstances
Nice words
Why would that be sir? Please like this comment once you've gotten the time to reply.
exactly!!!!
Why would switching a display that is measuring voltage cause a problem? Looks like this generator is old and hasn't been serviced in years. There is a reason why a company sends these old units to auction because they can't service them anymore.
The key to that statement is "experienced technicians" 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Good job keeping calm in the face of panic! Dude I will assume that you are OK, since you posted the video!
I'm totally fine brother thank you 🤟🤟
@@Ol2Stroker You also had the presence of mind to stop that 2 cylinder from going into runaway, Most people would have "nope'd" the heck out of there!
@@jasonholloway2476 it wouldn't have run away, was justed headed back to 1800
@@Ol2Stroker Gotcha, thank you for letting me know.
Glad your ok! Quick thinking as well, bet that was a ear ringer for sure!
Not something I'll soon forget
I like your reflex to turn it off n not run away . U the man
Holy crap, When I saw the title and then saw the camera angle I knew this was gonna be scary but holy crap man. Glad you're ok
Thanks man!
On the contrary, things seem to be going quite well! You survived an arc flash apparently pretty well intact, you got the thing secured fast, and it didn't light up the vapors from the open gas can at your feet! 😂
it's crazy how dangerous that situation was, but all my brain can think about is the fact that the motor stumbles, then just goes "alright that happened" and keeps going. idk why but it's funny to me. glad to see you made it out without all your nerve's coatings melting off!
Well it unloaded once the wires burned through thats why the rpms came back. 271s are tough. 💪Thanks I'm also pretty pumped I'm not melted
Oh Shit!! and you were right there. I hope you are ok my friend . That sucks. You know your stuff and that happened. that is so crazy!! My thought is that the armature delaminated and started to tear apart the generator from the inside. You are so lucky something way worse did not happen and take your arm or you. God Bless Brother!!
Thanks man. Was actually an arc flash from melted sense wires when the voltage spiked. I will explain fully in an upcoming video when we will determine if this is the end of this series or not lol
That sucks 😕 glad you're not hurt!
Me too! Thanks!
Love how all the sparky things landing all around the fuel can...!
Good thing it wasn't gas 😂😂
Bringing the camera out before possibly getting arc flashed definitely got you a +1 defense, smart move
Good reaction to shut down all moving parts with a failure a lot of people freak out or don’t kno what to do u went straight into safety mode god bless I wish my coworkers were as smart lol
Wow! Do you know what happened yet? Glad your alright. I hope this isn't the end of the generator project.
I've got a hunch. I hope it isn't also, I've got a ton of love and time in it.
@@Ol2Stroker oh my god. this reply is so annoying.
@@Ol2Stroker "ive got a hunch" LMAOOOOOO
@@trevorsteton3644 lol. We're gonna do a failure analysis video
the way you reacted immediately after it happened, i wouldve just ran away and watch it burn... you are so brave, hope you made a recovery now
Thanks. I actually didn't get hurt at all.
I work on big generators for a living as an instrumentation tech. This is a quality video, some good troubleshooting on your part. I would however be surprised if the generator cares if you’re in AVR or Manual mode as it really just changes the current to the field. It would seem to me that you would just dip the total available current to the the generator or it’s possible to surge it if you were the other way. Let’s say the avr is putting out 10A and the the manual side is putting out 2a based on the rheostat positioning. That would dip your terminal voltage. But I can’t understand why that would make a difference or have it explode. Subbed and liked. Will follow this. Thanks for the content.
Thanks I really appreciate the sub and the like. I was just talking with someone else who said switching the regulator really shouldn't have done it unless it was faulty.
Yikes!! I had to google arc flash…glad you’re ok, be safe out there please. We need you Wayno
Don't worry brother I can't die, Jesus likes to watch me suffer too much 😂😂
hope youre ok bro, that sucks that happened with all the work youve done to it. My dad messes with big generators also, its one of those risk factors. Usually when he gets one thats been sitting up for a long time, he pulls it apart to check if any dirt daubers built any nest in the windings because if one lets loose, that can do something simular to that in the generator though. Looks like when you turned the contactor you got arc flash from the control panel, possible mice chewed the insulation off the wiring maybe?, Good luck on getting it straightened out.
BTW, we have a big genset with a 6-71 powering it iirc the generator is a 480kw, if I was closer you may of been interested in it too
So nearest i can tell is the switch i turned swapped it from manual voltage control to auto... Then the meter spikes and at the same time the first flashes come from the voltage regulator on the left side of the cabinet. The spiked voltage melted the sense wires off the main legs and those arc flashed phase to phase
Thanks for not click baiting this and making it a 20minute video. Hopefully the damage isn’t bad. Were you energizing the unit when it popped?
This ain't a clickbaity kinda channel. I hate that shit. I was changing from manual to automatic voltage regulator.
Good thing that Jerry-can full of engine coolant right there on the floor was handy to keep things safe.
🤣🤣🤣
And I thought I was having a bad morning. Let's hope the part that acted as a fuse is easy to fix.
Holy Shit Batman!!! So glad you appear to be ok, whew!
Thanks!! I came out unscathed! Unless we're counting pride
0:07 perfect sound byte to put into a video game weapon
Lol
Opened gas can just added to the excitement. Glad it wasn't alot worse, looks like you weren't hurt. Scarry situation for sure.
Yea it's just diesel. Almost a fire extinguisher 🤣🤣
I used to do electrical work and I had to take a safety course and they showed us a video on how dangerous Arc Flash is and we got to see a dude get vaporized into literally dust. It’s quite shocking.
high voltage is no joke
They probably used Adobe Premiere Pro to add in the vaporizing effects and scare the living daylights outta you. That's what I would do if I worked in HR and had too much time on my hands. 🤫
While it sucks when equipment is damaged or destroyed it would be a Absolute Tragedy if you were *HURT!*
STAY SAFE and keep haven FUN!
Thanks man will do!
Prompt, educated response. Kudos, this video may teach others a lot.
Thanks!
I would run for dear life 😭 Awesome catch very cool 🔥
That was insane man. I used to work on natural gas generators up to 500kw. Always a slightly nerve wracking experience hitting that breaker. Glad you're alright.
If that gen pack is toast honestly if you can find a Stamford gen pack to put on the engine those are very very solid units.
That was no load was just turning from manual to automatic voltage regulation
@@Ol2Stroker oh wow. Automatic voltage regulators are a pretty common failure point to be perfectly honest. Could be that the settings were set way out of whack, something shorted, or it was just old and wore. Stamford has the best AVR units that I've personally used as well, the guidance on proper settings and how to adjust are pretty straight forward. That vintage stuff is scary
@@melvingibson4525 it was pretty wild. Looks like we're going to be forced to update it
@@Ol2Stroker never switch that or phase when running!, now you know why.
@@Refertech101 I can't get my brain around why changing to auto voltage regulation would cause that?
After all the work you put into it...I'm really sorry but glad you didn't get hurt or start a fire. It could have been a lot worse
Could always be worse! Thanks!
Damn the 808s are risin’ up 🎹 😳
Check again how calmly this driver forced the system to shut down.
very successful! you are wonderful
Thanks!!
That could've been a lot worse! Glad your ok bud
Fo sho!
My blood pressure spiked seeing that, had to learn all about arc flashes years ago. Hope you weren't hurt man.
Yessir I'm good thanks!
@@Ol2Stroker glad to hear it!
I learned about arc flashes when I was learning welding is school. Even then, when they were controlled and coming out of a welder I was nervousfor the first year
Must got you warm real quick 😂 jeez, that really would be scary, if I were in that situation, I’d honestly dip, nothing else, just run in the opposite direction and hope it doesn’t explode 😂 you truly handled that like a champ. **generator explodes in face** “well, that’s not going good” in the most monotone voice too.
"That's not normal." 🙂 Thanks for sharing and bummer about the disaster.
Thanks Chris
Not exactly the same, but reminds of the time they tested the new diesel generator for our ups system.
The moment the generator had "synced" to the grid we heard a giant bang and the ground shook.
Turns out the installers swapped two cables of the generator, letting it fight against the grid and causing so much torque the crankshaft snapped in half.
Holy shit!
What kind of death facility are you working in? That gen should’ve never been able to sync to that bus being terminated incorrectly. Having the phases of the generator terminated incorrectly wouldn’t cause the generator to spin in the opposite direction either. That is typically only with electric motors. Sounds like there were other issues down stream of gens or issue with the internal Gen components.
@@Bobby_Uterus Public service. And I have NO idea how they managed to wire it up in such a way, that the electronics thought everything is fine, while it clearly wasnt.
@@Ol2Stroker Oh and it gets better: after we got a replacement unit (which surprisingly worked fine), we found another issue half a year later, in another test run. The generator wouldnt start, because the 12V starter battery was empty. Turns out that the starter battery is NOT charged by the electronics during non-use and only when the generator actually runs. The control electronics suck that battery dry in just a month and we now have an off the shelf car battery charger permamently hooked up to it...
@@xXYannuschXx oh wow even this old junk has a battery tender built in
😳 WOW...that was close.
Quick thinking good recovery of the situation
Big Banda booom boss
Great save too with all those sparks flying
Thanks!
On the plus side, the flash was up top, not in the generator itself... so either a meter went paws up, or something in the field control died... Long story short, I think the generator itself is ok, just needs some new control wiring.
I'm really hoping that's the case. Gonna meg it out today
Holy hell DUDE glad you're okay bub gezzzzzzzzzzzzz
Thanks man!
@@Ol2Stroker wtf happened?
Good reaction on the shutdown.
Only a split second of panic and then you did what you needed to do.
Thanks!!
Hope you're in good health, wish you the best
100% bro thanks!
FUCKING SCARY. Quick thinking there, could've been worse for sure. Glad you're okay dude.
Thanks man!
Hope you had your safety squints activated
Totally!!
Electrician here. Normally you don't want explosions after pressing buttons 👍 but for real, glad you could walk away without serious injury
Built different. Mans got arc-flashed, assessed the situation and handled it swiftly all on video
Sketchy as frig man, glad you're okay.
Now get to putting all the sparks and smoke back into the gen head!! 🤘😆
We're gonna try like hell but I don't have high hopes
That's the problem with old generators , the coatings on the windings delaminates, or cracks then it shorts out internally, then then genset burns up, seen it several times
When your generator makes a sick bass drop and then the room lights up like a night club its probably time to get out of the generator room
Indeed lol!
Lucky guy. Acted quick and I love the irony "that's not going well" 🤣
Lol thanks!
"being a mother is the hardest job"
You could take this comment a couple of ways. All of them are funny. 🤣🤣
Not a single f-bomb dropped. Amazing how you kept your cool 😁
Totally unlike me to not swear!
Holy shit bud are you ok?
Totally unscathed minus my pride! Thanks!
Glad your OK !. Electricity is scary! You never see a shock coming.
Thanks man. It never really scared me before, now I'm always on edge.
On serious note. That is insane. I’m glad you got away with no injuries (presumably).
I did indeed thank you!
@@Ol2Stroker 🙏🏻 what actually happened? It is known?
Aw, holy shit dude! That container of fuel in there... Hopefully you didn't have too much $$$$ wrapped up in it.
Were you by chance connecting to the grid? If so, you have to be right at 60 Hertz per second, or when you flip that switch, the rest of the grid will regulate the generator to 60 Hertz so fast that it will break stuff in the generator itself. I'll bet you can find another generator head.
I am guessing a dead short between two of the 3 phases, or between all of them? I think the stator exploded... That was gnarly!
I was only testing to see if the auto voltage regulator worked. Its only a single phase unit and its not hooked to a building or anything. The voltage spike from the AVR melted the sense wires which arc flashed phase to phase. I think.
Glad the cameraman was there and knew ahead of time that this was gonna happen.
Watch the other video linked at the end. There is no cameraman, and I had no idea this was going to happen. I was filming a whole series on this genset. Still am, i just need to get back to it.
Shout out to the gas can that kept his cool throughout the ordeal.
Lol it's diesel in it that's why.
Smart to have the camera in hand. The camera man never dies 😊
Scary, but glad you're ok! That could have ended differently!
That's one of my biggest fears on an untested gen i use a stick to push the switch to close the circuit. Ark flash ain't no joke glad to see you walked away from it. And nice save on the shutdown.
Thanks!!
Just be careful you are grounded aswell. Electric shock is no joke.
What an amazing reaction time and deliberate actions. Balls the size of baseballs.
Thanks 🤟🤟
Props for being able to keep a level head after getting arc flash banged
Thanks man
Happy Birthday!
Quick thinking nice work.