While taking a round in the engine room of your harbor tug, when is the best time to check the cylinder jacket water expansion tank level on a heat exchanger-cooled diesel generator with a pressurized cooling system where no sight glass or float indicator is provided?
• Pressurized cooling systems and why opening caps when hot can be dangerous • How coolant expands and contracts with temperature changes • The difference between running, just-shut-down, and cooled-down engine conditions
• Think about what happens to coolant volume and pressure as the engine goes from cold, to operating temperature, to shut down, to cooled back off. • Ask yourself at which point the system pressure is lowest and the coolant level is most stable and representative of the true quantity. • Consider safety: when would removing a pressure cap most likely avoid scalding and give a reliable reading of the tank level?
• Verify which condition gives minimum pressure and temperature in the cooling system. • Check which option allows the coolant to fully expand or contract so the level you see is accurate, not artificially high or low. • Make sure the chosen time to open the cap would not risk injury from hot, pressurized coolant.
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