Paper: Planned Preventive Maintenance The Key To Lower Operating Costs For Engines And Compressors

Know-how about things mechanical is a part of our national character. The knack of making complicated machinery work is an American tradition. Good old "Yankee Ingenuity" applied to machines has produced countless achievements from the steamboat of yesteryear to Apollo 17 of today. Equally outstanding but not so well known examples of this native ability of ours are the stationary gas engines and reciprocating compressors found in the oil and gas industry. These machines, in various forms, have been around for well over 50 years and it is not at all uncommon to find 30-year-old installations still operating at full capacity, day in and day out. They range from small units of a few horsepower to giants of several thousand horsepower. These machines have served the oil and gas industry exceptionally well for a long time under extreme service conditions. Their durability and efficient performance certainly are a tribute to their designers and builders, and to the people who have operated and maintained them through the years. The purpose of this paper is to take a critical look at the "current state of the art" concerning the operation and maintenance of these machines and to comment in general on the subject of preventive maintenance in an effort to put some of the many aspects in proper perspective. The topic is far too broad and complex to cover in specific terms and each individual installation has many unique features that require special consideration. Therefore, this review will only attempt to point out certain guidelines and critical requirements that in the writer's opinion a sound preventive maintenance program should have. Then each location can be examined to determine if present methods have any deficiencies that should be changed.