How'd it go today?

The fire brigade in the next town up from us had a callout to a runaway diesel train engine at the yard last month! Nothing would stop it but the engineer finally stuffed jackets and garbage bags in the air intake...it stopped.
Everyone was very happy, things were getting very, very hot!

Yep, simply choke it to death.
That is the easiest way to deal with that.
Plastic bag over the intake.
That works great with noisy kids, too.
 
I haven't ever seen a runaway diesel, just learned about them on youtube. I don't know much about diesels, but I think it's kind of stupid not to have a valve on the intake like a gas engine. But I have assumed you could have too lean a diesel mixture to run at an idle, but apparently a flammable mixture only has to do with how easily a spark ignites fuel. It would seem simple hot air and compression can light much leaner mixtures? The least they could do is add it as a safety feature.
 
I haven't ever seen a runaway diesel, just learned about them on youtube. I don't know much about diesels, but I think it's kind of stupid not to have a valve on the intake like a gas engine. But I have assumed you could have too lean a diesel mixture to run at an idle, but apparently a flammable mixture only has to do with how easily a spark ignites fuel. It would seem simple hot air and compression can light much leaner mixtures? The least they could do is add it as a safety feature.

A runaway diesel is burning it's engine oil not fuel. If you can't suffocate it it will run until it runs out of oil or blows up which ever comes first.
 
Chill and easy day with a homeowner clean-up. A handful of tree to canopy raise for the house power line. Fell a couple littles, double-trunk alder to pop a handful of re-growth tops from storm damage and fell spars. Jumped up on my springboard to top a rotten locust at around 10' to clear the obstacles in the lay. Kinda slowed down to not get in and out, without the feeling that he was overcharged. Some people are funny that way. Think you should charge less because you work efficiently. Power line was rehung before I left. Another satisfied customer. $100 tip.

Pick-up truck only, 5 minutes down the road. Home for a late lunch, then a couple errands before grabbing the kid from friends.
 
My little girl started school. Ok ok ok. Summer school to brush up on math for 3 weeks. It ends this week. School starts after labour day.
 
Today school started for the 4th grader...

This guy on an earlier crew rolled a diesel bobcat forward upside down... the raining oil fueled the motor redlining and pinging evil style... Eddie kicked out the back window and bailed.
 
I lost yet another apprentice.
Thgis time it was not because he was overwhelmed by the rigors of hardwood logging.

He damaged his shoulder really badly doing martial arts 2 moths ago and hasn't been able to work since.

We still have to pay him but get 80% back from insurance.

Today he called and said that the doctors had said it might take up to 1 year, after the operation before he could use his arm well enough to work, and there was no guarantee he'd ever be able to log again.
So he felt it was a fair thing to us, if he pulled the plug now.

That was really too bad for him, because he loved the work and too bad for us, because he was just getting good enough to make some money for us.


Now we'll have to find another one, which ain't easy.
 
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