The above photo demonstrates an electrical lock out . This
procedure
is also referred to as an "Electrical Disconnect".
The basics of what a
P.E.T./Stationary Engineer
does is to monitor and adjust flows, velocities, levels, temperatures,
and pressures. Repair and make recommendations for repair of equipment,
as well as supervise other personnel. You are responsible for the safe,
efficient and legal operation of industrial or commercial equipment.

As a P.E.T./Stationary Engineer you
may perform
many tasks in a plant including supervising trades people, contractors
and other P.E.T./Stationary Engineers who are on shift with you. You
could
be responsible for a very small operation or a very large one with many
trades and disciplines under your direction. You could be part of a
sales
team selling industrial or commercial instrumentation, electrical,
mechanical,
or chemical products. You could be part of or in charge of a Federal,
state,
civic, provincial or corporate inspection team traveling extensively
or,
locally situated.
This career provides a huge window of
opportunity
for knowledge and employment.
You learn:
wINSTRUMENTATION,
w ELECTRICAL,
w MILLWRIGHT
MECHANICS,
w REFRIGERATION,
w ELECTRONICS,
w CONSTRUCTION,
w MANAGEMENT
THEORY,
w WATER
TREATMENT,
w COMBUSTION
ENGINEERING,
w BOILER
OPERATION AND DESIGN,
w DIESEL
ENGINE OPERATION,
w JET
ENGINE OPERATION,
w STEAM
TURBINES AND RECIPROCATING STEAM ENGINES,
w THERMODYNAMICS,
w MECHANICAL
DRAFTING AND ENGINEERING DESIGN,
w WELDING,
w STEEL
AND METAL FOUNDERING,
w PULP
AND PAPER MANUFACTURING,
w PIPE
FITTING, STEAM FITTING, GAS FITTING
w LUBRICANTS
AND LUBRICATION TECHNOLOGY,
w METALLURGY,
w ENVIRONMENTAL
CONTROL, HEATING AND VENTILATION, AIR CONDITIONING,
w PHYSICS,
w CHEMISTRY,
INDUSTRIAL AND PUBLIC WATER TREATMENT & LAB PROCEDURES,
I'm sure there are some I haven't
thought of
here but, you get the picture. Anyone with an imagination can
soon
see the potential for finding a job with that kind of training and
diversity
of experience. Any one with this kind of training can out perform most
individuals who are one trick ponies in the job market. Being an
employee
is just one aspect of this. Just imagine if you wanted to develop a
business
from this.
Employers are always looking for well
trained
individuals. Multi-disciplined people are an employer's dream. Numerous
disciplines for the price of one. They get real excited about P.E.T.
and
Stationary Engineers.

This technology diploma, which is new
to the
U.S., provides people who have the desire to succeed with a multitude
of
skills to foot the bill for many industrial and commercial
opportunities.
Employers in Canada have been taking
advantage
of this for decades. Employers from the U.S. have done the same with
their
Stationary Engineers. Some have noted the advantages of P.E.T. and
Stationary
Engineers and have advertised specifically for Canadian trained
Engineers
for their operations in the U.S. and around the world. So there is a
distinct
advantage for U.S. citizens to get their diploma in as much as there is
for Canadians to do the same. Excellent money is to be made in either
case,
at home or abroad. Those who choose to acquire their diploma will be
part
of a elite and rare breed.

You learn everything pertinent to the
operation
of industrial and commercial equipment. Along with that, you will have
mysteries revealed to you like, the principle of how your television
works,
how your refrigerator works, how your car's engine works, what the
difference
is between a rocket engine and a jet turbine.
The world of technology is yours to
know and
to master.
A typical day in the life of a P.E.T.
or Stationary
Engineer in a boiler house operation may go something like this:
07:00 BLOW DOWN WATER COLUMNS ON EACH
BOILER
TO CHECK LOW WATER SHUT DOWNS AND ALARMS ARE WORKING.

07:15 DO WALK AROUND TO DO VISUAL
CHECKS OF
EQUIPMENT
07:45 DO WATER TESTS AND ADD
CHEMICALS FOR
WATER TREATMENT.
08:15 ATTEND MORNING MEETING WITH
OTHER PERSONNEL
TO DISCUSS ITEMS OF CONCERN, PREVIOUS DAYS WORK AND UP COMING TASKS
09:15 DO READING SHEET FOR EQUIPMENT
CHECKS.
NOTE ABNORMALITIES.
10:00 COFFEE BREAK
10:15 ATTEND TO MAINTENANCE ITEMS,
I/E: PIPE
FITTING CLEAN UP WORK AREA
11:45 DO VISUAL EQUIPMENT CHECKS,
BLOW DOWN
AIR RECEIVER AND FILTER ELEMENTS
12:00 LUNCH TIME
13:00 BACK WASH SAND FILTERS
13:30 DO READINGS AND EQUIPMENT CHECKS
14:00 PAINT SOME PIPING
14:45 COFFEE BREAK
15:00 REGENERATE A ZEOLITE SOFTENER
16:00 DO SOME CORRESPONDENCE STUDYING
16:30 DO VISUAL EQUIPMENT CHECKS

17:00 CONTINUE STUDYING
18:00 DO VISUAL EQUIPMENT CHECKS
18:15 CONTINUE STUDIES
18:45 CLEAN UP AND PREPARE FOR SHIFT
RELIEF
AT 19:00
Typical duties for a P.E.T. or
Stationary Engineer
as a process operator may be very similar:
07:00 DO VISUAL CHECKS OF EQUIPMENT
09:00 DO READINGS AND VISUAL CHECKS
OF EQUIPMENT
10:00 COFFEE BREAK
DO LAB TEST OF PROCESS PRODUCTS.
DETERMINE
IF ADJUSTMENTS TO THE UNIT ARE NECESSARY AND IF SO CARRY THEM OUT TO
ENSURE
PRODUCT IS ON SPECIFICATION. CROSS REFERENCE LAB RESULTS WITH ON LINE
ANALYZERS
TO ENSURE RELIABILITY OF INSTRUMENTS.
11:00 DO VISUAL CHECKS OF EQUIPMENT.
MAY FIND
A CONTROL VALVE THAT ISN'T WORKING AS WELL AS IT COULD. MAKE CHANGES TO
THE TUNING PARAMETERS BRING ABOUT A MORE UNIFORM AND CONSISTENT CONTROL
CHARACTERISTIC..
12:00 LUNCH BREAK
13:00 DO READINGS AND VISUAL CHECKS
ON EQUIPMENT.
PUMP DOWN LIQUID LEVELS IN KNOCK OUT VESSELS TO PREVENT CARRY OVER OF
LIQUIDS.
PERFORM A MANUAL DUE POINT ON PROPANE SALES FLUIDS.
15:00 COFFEE BREAK.
15:15 DO VISUAL CHECKS OF EQUIPMENT.
TOP UP
LUBRICATING OIL LEVELS IN COMPRESSORS. START UP BOOSTER COMPRESSOR
STATION.
17:00 DO READINGS AND VISUAL CHECKS
OF EQUIPMENT
17:30 CLEAN SUCTION SCREEN ON GLYCOL
CIRCULATING
PUMP.
18:00 PREPARE FOR SHIFT CHANGE AND
CLEAN UP.
17:00 SHIFT CHANGE.
Let's keep in mind, this is a typical
day. Not all days are typical. You can have
equipment
issues that can keep you running all day long. At the end of a
day
like this you feel as though you have accomplished absolutely nothing
even
though you may be totally exhausted.

As one of my instructors put it to us
years
ago, "You are nothing but high priced baby sitters!". Well he is right
but, only to a point. There are times when some folks bring a hobby to
work with them because, there is not a lot to do or so it may
seem.
In some facilities that is tolerated and others not. It depends
on
the nature of the facilities function and the prevailing attitudes of
fellow
workers and management. I recommend just finding stuff to do around the
facility. There is always something to do. You need to keep
yourself
occupied and take some professional pride in how you maintain the work
area, if you can.
In as much as there are days where
you have
to actually look for something to keep yourself occupied there are
other
days you are run off your feet. This is what can make or break a
persons
interest in this career. If you can tolerate this kind of change in
pace
you will do well. It is a matter of discipline.

There are jobs where you are
technically challenged
on a daily basis to keep the place running or from blowing up. There
are
other jobs where you don't run the equipment and you have little time
for
thinking, the equipment runs "you" all day. Kind of a steady
mindless
pace with no room for free thought or autonomy. Again there are other
jobs
where once the equipment is up and running it just purrs along and all
you do is polish the brass (If you talk to the old timers that have
government
jobs, polishing the brass is a common term.) and still others where
there
is a combination of all.

One thing is for sure. If your
employer expects
you to operate like a robot and run all day to keep a place running day
after day, year after year, its time to find a new employer. That's the
type of environment where people will either get burned out physically
and emotionally or, worse case get injured or killed. In either case,
its
not worth it. Find a new employer.

Another interesting dimension of this
career
is, you can transfer your tickets and/or steam time over to become a
Marine
Power Engineer. You could also study for and write your marine and
power
engineer exams simultaneously. This opens up the world of oceanic
travel
as an officer in the Merchant Marine. Some U.S. companies prefer
Canadians
on their ships because of the superior training they get. Canadian
trained
Marine Engineers are considered to be amoung the best of the bunch.
Camosen
College in Vancouver B.C. Canada is the place to be for that training.
[More info like this in the institutions contact list section.]
Another way of doing this is to first
get into
the Marine end of things and be writing off exams simultaneously. This
way you can be learning and earning while aboard ship and traveling the
world. Food and accommodation is good and you can devote much of your
spare
time to educating yourself. Some guys go full boar at it and just take
off a month or two every year until they get all their tickets earned
as
well as a swollen bank account. This way they have more options in life
supplied by TWO POWERFUL careers and a solid bank account. This sort of
approach really sets a guy up for the future, big time. Look at it like
a university education. You work your butt off for four or five years,
get great pay, get an education, maybe two educations, have everything
paid for except your clothing perhaps and a few incidentals and come
out
on the other side with enough money to buy a beautiful house, a new car
and still have money in the bank. From there on you may decide to do
what
ever you want, where ever you want. Remember you will have your
education
to fall back on, plus four or five years experience.
With a choice like that, why would
any one
want to go to university for four or five years to ge ta degree and
come
out on the other end with little or no experience and a world of debt?
Then again, if you are a land lover,
like me,
you may not choose the oceanic route and stay on dry land. These are
just
a few of the many different possibilities and combinations of ways one
may involve themselves in one or both of these careers.
Although I have had job offers from
The Middle
East and other parts of North America, for now I'm staying put. I've
found
my neigh in Noth America. How about you? Have you found your neigh yet?
Are you pleased as punch with your career? I wish you the best luck in
your endeavors.
It may be time to move up in the
world by becoming
a POWER ENGINEER TECHNOLOGIST or STATIONARY ENGINEER.
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