Do you know overhaul? Last week Palaceside Building took apart and cleaned (overhauled) unit 2 of the several emergency generators on basement level 6 — three machines in all. Unit 2, diesel plus generator, is 2.3 meters wide, 6.0 meters deep, and 2.8 meters high — about the size of a microbus.
The photo above is unit 2 mid-overhaul, pistons already pulled from the engine and cleaned. Compare the other generators in their usual state = photo right and you will see what is normally
hidden.
Overhaul means taking a machine down to parts, cleaning, and rebuilding so performance returns near new. Cars and motorcycles once needed it after a set mileage for engines and transmissions; passenger cars hardly need it now.
Other images of overhaul: watches and pocket watches, bicycles, pianos and wind instruments. Oddly, scuba gear also needs it, they say.
SLRs and lenses, in the film age, were used for decades with overhauls. My 1970s SLR had a maker service-center overhaul around 1995 and still trips the shutter lightly. Now cameras mean digital. Replacing is cheaper and better than overhaul or repair — the digital-gear flow. Printers often cost so much to fix that you feel steered to buy new. For a generation that likes “machines,” it is a little lonely.
Palaceside’s emergency generators get daily maintenance and periodic overhauls. Unit 2 was cleaned to the last detail, wear checked, put back together, and the overhaul finished early this week.