Day 20 of the Debmar Atlantic 2024 Project - Big tracks and little things that set you back.

Again, I am a day late... here are some pictures of work yesterday on Day 20.

Check this out:

A pair of massive tracks were delivered to site today.

You might know the regular cranes that you see driving down the road.

But this is part of a machine that gets brought on specialized trucks and assembled on site in massive parts.

Here is a close up for scale to see how big it is. That is a 4.5kg Fire Extinguisher strapped to the side. The individual links on the tracks look like they would weigh 30-40kgs each.

Its like a massive tank.

I took this selfie with the track behind me. It is on the truck behind me but I think that if it stood on the ground the top tracks would still be at my head height or taller.

On to the biggest goose-chase ever. We were delayed on progressing with our work because we were failing a pressure test.

We tested everywhere! 25 bar pressure is massive and you should be able to hear the leak or see it with soapy water applied where all the seals are.

Nothing.

Our boss comes to help and look. Nothing.

Eventually we managed to isolate the leak and pin-point it to the compressor so I called the compressor refitter in to site to come help us find the problem.

Eventually, we found the leak.

This... is a service valve. You open and close it to access the system. And that shaft seal was slightly loose.

So when you turn the valve stem in, the shoulder nut seats and you find no leak... but when you start back-seating the valve to open up parts of the system to each other, then you end up loosening that shoulder and then the pressure leaks out.

Therefore we are CREATING a non-constant leak.

That is why we took hours and hours to try and find it!

Thankfully this was the final leak. You are meant to oil the valve and then nip the shoulder on the shaft seal thread and the shoulder locks and seals. You would then need to use a tool to remove it.

Meanwhile we have this backdrop of the mountain behind the site... look at it... just showing off...

Onwards to tomorrow...

Cheers!
@zakludick

Hive South Africa