Moving a big generator at hospital

Submitted by Bill Kerans, Memorial Medical Center.

LUDINGTON — Memorial Medical Center’s recently-retired 12,000-pound generator was “flown out” of the hospital on Thursday afternoon by a large crane. The unit’s 2,000-gallon underground diesel fuel tank is expected to be removed on Monday.

The 588 kilowatt generator supplied emergency power to the hospital for three decades. It was replaced in March by two new 600 kilowatt diesel generators with integrated 3,000 gallon fuel tanks, as part of the current expansion project. The new generators more than double the hospital’s emergency power capacity.

The last run for the old generator occurred April 6 when a new power line was installed to meet the electrical needs of the expanded building. The generator ran for nine hours, consuming 150 gallons of fuel, to keep the hospital running while Buist Electric connected the new electric line.

When the old generator was installed in 1983, it was lowered through roof of the structure built to house it. Extracting it was more complicated. It had to be moved out of the building so the large crane could lift it onto a truck brought in by the unit’s new owner. The new generators are designed to operate outside, but the switching equipment for them was installed in the room that used to contain the old generator.