Maintenance of GHP engine
What should a proper inspection of the GHP generator engine look like?
To properly perform an engine inspection on a GHP generator, the company must have specific competencies, including extensive service experience, appropriate tools, appropriate theoretical and practical knowledge, and a qualified team of service technicians.
In practice, it often looks like this. The general contractor is responsible for the entire investment and often, guided by profit and cost minimization, selects the cheapest installation and service teams possible. Only when a failure occurs does it turn out that the installation was poorly designed or poorly made or improperly serviced or, worse, without any authorization.
Often, the investor learns about the problem during the order for a periodic engine inspection in the GHP unit or after calling our company for a failure that the servicing company is unable to handle. Unfortunately, sometimes it is too late.
That is why choosing the right company at the very beginning is so important.
Scope of the GHP unit engine oil inspection
The Panasonic GHP generator engine inspection is performed once every 5 years or once every 10,000 hours of generator operation.
The GHP generator engine inspection consists of a number of service activities:
- Engine oil change - depending on the unit, up to 50L of engine oil
- Replacing the compressor drive belt and properly tensioning it using a dedicated tool
- Replacing spark plugs
- Replacing the air filter
- Changing the oil filter
- Cleaning the exhaust gas neutralizer and replacing the exhaust gas neutralizer inserts
- Adjusting the engine valves
- Inspection of electrical and control connections
Checking the level, quality and efficiency of the coolant
- Engine system exhaust gas analysis
- Verification and analysis of error history
- Starting the test procedure in heating and cooling mode
- Connecting the computer to the generator to verify all parameters and determine its correct operation
The right tools are crucial.
Without the right tools, it is impossible to precisely and safely perform a GHP unit engine inspection.
Unfortunately, specialist tools are expensive and many service companies that do not deal with GHP systems on a daily basis prefer not to incur such costs, which unfortunately significantly affects the quality of the service provided.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to set the compressor belt tension, adjust the engine valves, tighten selected elements with the appropriate force or determine the quality of exhaust gases on the "so-called FEEL" and many companies that undertake this type of service do just that. The consequences of such actions can be very expensive and pose a threat to safety.
Additionally, each time you should check the tightness of both the natural gas and refrigeration installations in the GHP unit and the condition of the engine coolant, which is impossible without specialist tools.
Competencies of a service company
A company that undertakes engine servicing in a GHP unit, in addition to having the appropriate diagnostic and adjustment tools, should demonstrate a number of competencies:
- Experience in servicing the GHP generator engine of a given series,
- Experience in servicing GHP systems
- Experience in diagnosing and repairing GHP systems
- Experience in repairing GHP systems
- General knowledge of refrigeration, engine operation and gas installations
What qualifications and certificates should a service company have?
Remember that by allowing a company to service GHP systems, we are giving access to expensive and technologically advanced devices powered by natural gas.
The lack of competence of the company servicing our system may prove disastrous in terms of both financial consequences, because it may lead to serious damage and material losses, and in terms of comfort, because it may turn out that the system will not work for long and the company will not be able to diagnose the cause of the failure.
Additionally, due to the high engine speed and the installation powered by natural gas or technical propane, any neglect of safety rules and lack of appropriate knowledge may end in a serious accident for both service employees and people representing the investor.
Therefore, verification of authorizations and references seems to be crucial in the verification process of the service company.
- Employee F-gas qualifications
- F-gas company authorizations
- Authorization for servicing GHP systems from the device manufacturer
- References from performed engine inspections of GHP generators
- References from performed diagnoses and repairs of GHP systems
- Energy authorizations for 3 energy groups: heat, gas and energy in the scope of supervision, operation and measurement
How does ART-KLIMA fare in this context?
Our company has all the competences of a service company described above, and in addition, our experience and the recognition of our customers go far beyond this standard:
- Our company has permanent service contracts covering over 100 GHP systems throughout Poland
- We have already performed over 100 engine oil inspections of GHP generators of various series and from various manufacturers, SANYO and Panasonic.
- We have extensive experience in the diagnosis and repair of GHP systems, including engine and other component repairs.
- We have almost 20 years of experience in servicing GHP systems, as we installed the first gas heat pumps in Poland back in 2005.
- We have most spare parts in our warehouse, so we are able to respond quickly to any failure and carry out repairs quickly and effectively.
- Our competences, quality of services provided and extensive knowledge and experience have been appreciated by the device manufacturer.
We are the only company in Poland that has become Panasonic's factory service for VRF, GHP and VRF-GHP hybrid systems.
