http://statter911.com/2010/04/18/the...n-regulations/

Imagine you are in the Army and involved in a tank battle. All of a sudden an “idiot light” comes on telling you to regenerate your tank’s diesel motor. The commanding officer radios the enemy and requests a “regeneration time out”. This sounds ridiculous and is ridiculous! Thus, the U.S. military was exempted from the 2007 and 2010 EPA diesel emissions regulations. Now imagine you are a Fire Rescue or EMS agency responding to a vehicle crash with serious injuries on the Interstate. You start the fire engine and the “idiot light” comes on. You think there will be enough time to complete the call, but before you even arrive, the motor shuts down and will only re-start in one minute increments. You are on the inside lane of an five lane busy highway and crossing to the right shoulder will not be easy in 60 seconds. This was just one of our wonderful experiences with diesel regeneration. If “time outs” on the battlefield were considered ridiculous for the military…why is it acceptable to have these “regeneration time outs” on emergency fire and EMS incidents???

We have 5 new (2009) Horton Medic Units, built on a Freightliner chassis with Mercedes diesel motors. We have 1 new (2009) Sutphen ladder truck with a CAT diesel motor. All 6 of these meet the EPA 2007 diesel motor standards and require “regeneration”.

This wasn’t so bad for the first 6 months. However, as the diesel particulate filters (DPF) became saturated, we discovered the world of “regeneration”. There is no gauge. An “idiot light” comes on and instructs you to “regenerate”. If you fail to do so within a specified time period, the motor shuts off and will only restart at one minute intervals. Now we can expect to have these 6 units “out of service” every few days for 30 to 45 minutes at a time. That is if the system works. One of these units has failed to regenerate two weeks in a row, after trying for nearly three hours. The software we purchased for an extra $2,000 also would not diagnose the problem. In both cases the unit was towed to the dealership for repair, and as of April 5 it remains “out of service”.

We have established a new computer aided dispatch (CAD) Code for “regeneration activity”, so we can track it better and so the battalion chiefs know why the units are out of service.

For a short term solution, I have suggested replacing the diesel particulate filters with new ones and sending the originals out to be refurbished. The local CAT representative tells us they are not available for purchase!!!

I just can’t wait for my whole fleet to have these wonderful systems!!!

The IAFC should take this issue seriously and petition the EPA to exempt fire and EMS apparatus, in the same fashion that military vehicles were exempted.

This insanity needs to stop before lives are lost!

 

An attempt to boost organ donor "donations"/

 

So maybe this is where all the "Green" jobs will come into play and get thousands of people working again.

By the way just how many people will it take to push a fire truck to the fire?

 

We have had similar problems with the regeneration on our truck at work. All of the problems would be solved if the software was able to allow us to regenerate on command. We and emergency response units could regenerate when the time is free. Do one truck at a time then you get to choose when the truck is down for maintenance, instead of having to do it when we are busy. We have to regenerate normally once a day. If we could regenerate on demand, then we could do it in the morning before we start the work for the day and be done with it. I know emergency response can occur at any time, but I would think a 0400 would be a rather dead time. A check can be done on the computer to find out when is the slowest time and do the regenerations then.

 

I think if Rudolf Diesel were around, he'd be shot like Lincoln... not by normal people, but the people from our very own EPA.

 

I drive a 2008 UD box truck at work with a 4 cylinder diesel motor and it automatically regenerates. An orange light comes on the dash and then a green one when its regenerating.
Its never been an issue and Ive never had to stop the truck while it was happening.

 

We have quite a few pieces of apparatus (medic units and ladder trucks, no engines yet) that have the new diesel motors in them requiring regeneration. I work for a busy department in a city with a lot of stop and go driving.

To my knowledge NONE of them have ever required generation in the couple years we have had them. Additionally when trained on these vehicles nowhere in the literature were we told they would shut down or be inoperable due to regeneration being required.

If the idiot light comes on and we are not on an emergency we are to mark out of service with the Battalion Chief and drive on the interstate until the light goes out. We were told it would be less than 15 minutes.

Again, to my knowledge no fire apparatus have ever had to do this, one Chevy pick up truck in the maintenance division had to but was completed in less than 5 minutes of interstate driving.

Having said that, please let me keep my 60 series!

 

Got an emergency call out yesterday morning to a fire system that was set off.

I have pictures on my work phone, I'll try to post them as foam was EVERYWHERE.

The cause is that the sensor under the loading rack detected one of the rigs regenerating. I suppose a flame in the exhaust to burn out the filter tripped it.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dKLKm5i2ic

 

^^^Sorry, I forgot to say that this was at a fuel terminal where they load the 18-wheeler tankers with fuel.

They had a complete foaming system that coats the entire rack in only a few seconds. Each lane has a sensor to detect flames.

Some drivers reported smelling "something" burning but no one actually saw it.

 

The issue here is not with the mechanics of the regeneration cycles but of the users having no clue how to operate new equipment. I would suggest having the CAT dealer walk all of your drivers thru a regeneration manual shut down event. The Mercedes uses the same shut down event. If the CAT is a 2007 and has had no head replacement, there's yer problem. CAT is now on it's 6th head replacement design attempting to kill the carbon build up in the C13 engines which I assume you have. As most emergency equipment sits and idles a lot, this is the cause of your getting loads of these events. If the drivers after sitting at a scene will drive the trucks at hiway speeds for 20 minutes, the problem will go away entirely. Or they can shut them off at the scene. But the exhaust temps are the key to making these things go away. You have to build heat in the exhaust or it will trap loads of particulate and you'll have these problems. Driving them is best way or you can high idle the engines at a scene but it will waste fuel or the drivers can use a lower gear and rev the engine on the way back to the station. But it takes about 20 minutes drive time for it to clear.
Yeah, there's more to driving a new diesel than being able to keep it out of the ditches.

 

Labnerd, I have to disagree with you. When we took possession of the truck we were trained that when the regen light comes on don't do anything it will go out in a few minutes. If for some reason the truck does not automatically start a regen, there is a blue rocker switch that will start flashing. Push the button and the regen will start. When we started having problems with it we were told Mack screwed up and set the max RPMs too low at 800. You can't drive 20 mph and be below 800 rpms. The fix became shutting everything down and setting the parking brake then pressing the blue button. That failed. It turned out we had to take the truck to the Mack dealer about weekly to get the thing to regen. Now the fix is when the blue switch stats flashing set the parking bake press the switch and let it regen. The only time the truck can regen is if the parking brake is set.