Decommissioning Laboratory Equipment for the Holidays

Here are the top tips for decommissioning TecQuipment’s engineering teaching apparatus for a long holiday period lasting a month or more. This covers fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, structures and control engineering apparatus.

1) Drain water from everything

a. Reservoirs
• Any apparatus with a tank of water should be drained.
• Where there is a drain valve use this and a hosepipe to drain out the water to a nearby drain.
• If there is an onboard pump you may also wish to use this to pump the majority of the water out, but be careful not to let the pump run dry.
• Take this chance to rinse through and drain with fresh water to remove any stains, debris and sludge.

b. Flumes, flow channels and general fluid mechanics experiments
• Empty and flush out with clean water where possible.

c. Heat Exchangers (TD360A,B,C,D)
• The nature of the valves on the heat exchangers mean without intervention water will remain inside them. It is important to drain this water.
• To do this use the nib of a pen or pencil on the inside of the connector to apply a little pressure to the spring-loaded valve in order to drain it of water.
• There will be some moisture left and they will fog up a little with condensation, but this is normal.

d. Manometers
• All manometers, because they use water should be flushed out.

**DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO USE COMPRESSED AIR TO DRAIN WATER. This can have a catastrophic effect on pressure valves, glass wear, manifolds etc.

2) Thermal Power Plant with Steam Engine Trainer (TD1050)

• It is imperative to drain the boiler of water and introduce oil into the engine cylinder. Remove the bleed screws and pour or syringe in oil.
• It is a MUST to line the cylinders and top of the pistons with oil. Keep adding in the oil until it overflows and turn the flywheel to ensure the internal elements mentioned above are covered.

3) Small Engine Test Set (TD200)

• It is important to get any residual fuel out of the fuel lines, particularly gasoline/petrol. Over time, fuel deteriorates which can leave a residue in the carburettor.
• There is a drain screw on the carburettor float valve where residue will form if not drained.
• It is worth noting the water driven dynamometer drains the water naturally, requiring no intervention.

4) Relax Load Cells

• It is good practice to remove any load from load cells prior to storage.

We hope you found this top level guide to decommission apparatus useful. Please refer to your product manual/user guide or contact the TecQuipment Customer Care Team ([email protected]) if you should need any further advice or assistance.

Happy holidays!