2010 New Year’s Update

Posted on by jdowling

Happy New Year and Best Wishes to All for 2010 from everyone at Parts & Power.  I wanted to give a little update on what it happening here in Tortola

A OLD NEW FACE
Sanchez Christopher has rejoined our Service Team.  He joined us right out of high school as an apprentice in 1991 and worked his way up to be one the finest young marine engineers anywhere.  We were disappointed when he chose to leave 4 years ago, but are delighted to have him back with us again.
Many of you may remember Sanchez.  He has a bright, positive attitude and always finds a way to get the job done, no matter what the obstacles.  For those of you who attended Service Schools with him, you will remember him as the class cut up. 
Welcome back Sanchez.

2009 SEASON OUTLOOK
If the numbers of boats out are any indication of the upcoming Season, it should be a good one.  We are seeing a lot of boats out in Sir Francis Drake Channel and along the North Shore of Tortola.  There are significantly more Super Yachts than last year.
We are also seeing a lot of new faces, of the cruising transient boaters, in the Store these days.
The BVI Charter Yacht Society, and the Crewed Yacht Association, have been Marketing very aggressively this year.  The value that a vacation on a Crewed Yacht offers is truly amazing.  When you consider that all the lodging, food, drink, local travel, water sports and entertainment are included in the price of a charter, it is a hard deal to beat.  With people being careful about spending this year, we hope to see an increase in business there.

PASSING OF A YOUNG FRIEND
Victor Smith, our 23 year old apprentice, was tragically killed in November.  He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  He had been with us for a year and showed great promise.  He had a positive, upbeat attitude and was a hard worker.  I once asked him what he liked to do most.  He told me, “It doesn’t matter as long as I stay busy”.  He had grown to be a big part of the Parts & Power family and he will is truly missed.

KELLY SOARES
Kelly Soares, our Service Administrator, has the thankless job of trying to keep our Service Dept under control—no easy task.  Kelly is the daughter of Dean Soares, of Anegada.  Her uncle is Mark Soares and her grandfather is Vernon.  The Soares are a rather famous old Anegada family.  They own Neptune’s Treasure Restaurant and Hotel on Anegada.  They own the commercial fishing vessel “Argus III”.  The vessel is fitted out with all Northern Lights products.  They have a pair of L6108A Luggers and an old M854B Northern Lights generator which is still running strong after nearly 20 years and 20,000 hours.  If you are ever on Anegada, make a point of visiting the Neptune’s Treasure Restaurant and reading about the fascinating history of the Soares family.
We’re lucky to have Kelly.  For, even though she is only 5 feet tall, she manages to keep all those guys in line.

SERVICE DEPT
Our Service Dept has shrunk a bit as result of the economy, but we are lean and mean as they say.  Dan Durbin remains at the helm of the Service Dept.  His depth of knowledge and experience is hard to match.  He still gets out in the field to supervise and do the occasional job. Sebastian John remains as our Chief Engineer.  He has taken over more responsibility with management and is everyone in the Service Department’s “go to guy”.  Wilbert Vyphius is our generator specialist and all around Service Engineer.  Royston McAllister joined us a year ago as a Service Engineer following the departure of Royston Ault, who returned home following the untimely death of his wife in Guyana.  Kelly and Sanchez round out our Service Dept.  They remain ready to assist with any of your Northern Lights problems.

We look forward to seeing you in 2010. 

Please stop by and say hello when you are on Tortola.

Service Tip #4: Standby Generator Annual Maintenance

Posted on by jdowling

Many land based Standby Generators do not get enough hours accumulated in a year to qualify for an oil change. Therefore, it is very important to do an Annual Maintenance on those generators. We usually use the advent of the Hurricane Season as our time to do this.

What does Annual Maintenance consist of?

First and foremost is to change the oil and filter, if this hasn’t been done since last year. This is the life blood of your engine. Changing the oil (on time) alone on a Northern Lights generator can extend the life of your engine to 15,000-20,000 hours or more. Failure to do so can shorten engine life to less than 2,000 hours. Considering the investment you made in this piece of equipment, this is very cheap insurance.

While at it, change all of the filters: both primary and secondary fuel filters, air filter and coolant filter, if so equipped. Again, this is cheap and easy insurance. As discussed in previous tips, this is the time to change your engine coolant. You need to drain, flush with a good quality flush that is safe with aluminum components, then refill with a 33% or 50% pre-mix Ethylene Glycol coolant. Remember, if you have to add water, ONLY use Distilled Water. Check for water in your fuel tank. You do this by the use of water paste. Drain any water present of by pump or drain.

You might consider a tune up. On a Diesel Engine, a tune up consists of adjusting the valve clearance and testing the injectors. Most engine manufacturers recommend doing this every year. Not many engine owners actually comply with this recommendation however. This will eventually result in a rough running engine with smokey and smelly exhaust fumes. It can also result in a noisier engine. I recently did this to my own generator at home after 1600 hours and it made a world of difference.

Finally, test your Emergency Shut Down system. This consists of testing the Shut Down circuit at all of the switches (usually low oil pressure and high coolant temperature), and testing the switches themselves. The latter requires the switches to be removed and tested under pressure or high temperature. The time and expense to do this is often in excess of the cost of replacement switches. So, to save time, money and several trips, you might consider just having the person performing the work to bring replacement switches with him (or her) one time. For most standby generators, this is all the maintenance you will have to do for the next year, unless your generator runs for more than 250 hours, or you get bad fuel. Make sure you make the time, or the appointment, to get this work done.

Don’t wait until you have a Hurricane bearing down on you before you do. Everyone will have their hands full then and you may find that your often-forgotten generator will let you down when you need it most.

Service Tip #4: Standby Generator Annual Maintenance

Posted on by jdowling

Many land based Standby Generators do not get enough hours accumulated in a year to qualify for an oil change. Therefore, it is very important to do an Annual Maintenance on those generators. We usually use the advent of the Hurricane Season as our time to do this.

What does Annual Maintenance consist of?

First and foremost is to change the oil and filter, if this hasn’t been done since last year. This is the life blood of your engine. Changing the oil (on time) alone on a Northern Lights generator can extend the life of your engine to 15,000-20,000 hours or more. Failure to do so can shorten engine life to less than 2,000 hours. Considering the investment you made in this piece of equipment, this is very cheap insurance.

While at it, change all of the filters: both primary and secondary fuel filters, air filter and coolant filter, if so equipped. Again, this is cheap and easy insurance. As discussed in previous tips, this is the time to change your engine coolant. You need to drain, flush with a good quality flush that is safe with aluminum components, then refill with a 33% or 50% pre-mix Ethylene Glycol coolant. Remember, if you have to add water, ONLY use Distilled Water. Check for water in your fuel tank. You do this by the use of water paste. Drain any water present of by pump or drain.

You might consider a tune up. On a Diesel Engine, a tune up consists of adjusting the valve clearance and testing the injectors. Most engine manufacturers recommend doing this every year. Not many engine owners actually comply with this recommendation however. This will eventually result in a rough running engine with smokey and smelly exhaust fumes. It can also result in a noisier engine. I recently did this to my own generator at home after 1600 hours and it made a world of difference.

Finally, test your Emergency Shut Down system. This consists of testing the Shut Down circuit at all of the switches (usually low oil pressure and high coolant temperature), and testing the switches themselves. The latter requires the switches to be removed and tested under pressure or high temperature. The time and expense to do this is often in excess of the cost of replacement switches. So, to save time, money and several trips, you might consider just having the person performing the work to bring replacement switches with him (or her) one time. For most standby generators, this is all the maintenance you will have to do for the next year, unless your generator runs for more than 250 hours, or you get bad fuel. Make sure you make the time, or the appointment, to get this work done.

Don’t wait until you have a Hurricane bearing down on you before you do. Everyone will have their hands full then and you may find that your often-forgotten generator will let you down when you need it most.