Oilguy

I had a client clean his K&N filter with Varsol right before I got there to service his truck (24 valve) and didn't say anything.... Scared the poo out of me! It was still running after I went and found him and brought him out to shut it down himself!

OG

PoorMansCat

I've also seen the aftermath of a Cat 3512 that ran away on well gas. Eleven of the 12 rods were hanging out of the block, all the valves were bent, several counterweights were thrown off the crank and thru the block! The motorman on that rig said it sounded like a big chainsaw running right before it "relieved" itself!!...
Good thing was, all I had to do was change the engine. Better than a partially blown up engine that they want to try and repair on location!

Iron Mike

One of the reason's that oil field jobs pay well is because it is an inherently dangerous environment. Most production and process areas are classified as class I div II. This is true no matter what oil company it is. Due to the nature of what you are processing. There is always a chance of a leak. To reduce the risk, almost all companies including mine look at the worst case scenerio. That is failure of a line, leaking valve etc.. Then they take steps to mitigate those risks. Intrisically safe equipment. Gas detectors. Fire suppression systems. Positive Air Shutdowns on Diesels. No Gas engines allowed due to external ignition source. Most places do not have runaway engines on a frequent basis. In fact we have never had one at our facility. The reason is that there are steps taken to prevent leaks. But in cases were there is a failure of equipment or a breakdown in the process then you need these things to prevent ignition sources. Each time a piece of equipment comes offshore to our facility, it is inspected to ensure all safety equipment is in place before it can be used. Keep in mind that Natural Gas does not have much of an odor. What you smell in the civilian world is an odorant that Gas companies add to make it easier for a homeowner to detect a leak. If you think that a diesel runaway can never happen in an oilfield environment then my advise too you is to stay out of the patch.

PoorMansCat

X2 on what Iron Mike said.... When treated with the respect that the oil and gas field command, its a safe job. When there is an accident, it can almost ALWAYS be traced back to a breakdown in process or communication. The engine I spoke of above that windowed the block was a breakdown in process and communication. The engine was on a yard pump that had overheated and shut down several times a couple of days before. The ASO kept closing while the engine was running. Somebody had tide a piece of rope to the ASO handle so it couldn't close even if the HMSO tried to close it. The overheating problem had been repaired, but they still had the rope on the ASO, when the valve failure allowed well gas to flood the location, the engine took off to the moon, as soon as the HMSO hit the overspeed setpoint, it tried to close the ASO. Rope wouldn't let ASO close, engine kept going until the rods pulled into.
About $2 worth of rope cost them an $80,000 engine and about 10 hours on down time.

Lil Dog

They don't have to odour the gas typically. Most gas processed to the pipeline specs has other heavy gasses in it including very trace amounts of H2S that can give the gas its odour. Not many gas reserves have pure methane in them, at least not in our neck of the woods.

I have a PAS and hope I never need it. Just like the Scott Air packs for Sour Gas rescue. I have the training but really hope I never need it. The Oil and Gas industry is only risky to those that don't like to follow along with the rules. These rules are usually the result of a fatality, so why try and be the next statistic. Truthfully, in our area, more guys are killed on the highway on the way to work than on the jobsite.

satburn

From DodgeRam.org on a 12 valve...

http://dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/Facts/94specs.html

5400 RPM for sure, but 4100 for a long time doesn't sound "healthy"...

wcbcruzer

I've considered that, and the thought scares me, even if it's a very small chance. I've heard of tankers having a runaway from all the fumes of refilling the pumps.

MikeyB

Must be very rare. With EPA vapor recovery systems there should be very little that leaks into the atmosphere. Plus we had to shut the engines off during tanker refueling and unloading.
The Mack RS600 I drove had a emergency air shutdown system due to the fact that I also delivered fuel to land base drilling rigs.

MikeyB

cm979

Most of the time when there is a leak, its ushually not happening when you have so called roughnecks around, they have the well killed when they are pulling it. If its a natural flow, the gas is redirected to a burner, so everyone is safe while the well is being pulled or what ever the problem may be. If you circulate water threw an active well most of the time it kills it for awhile. If its a new well you are drilling thats one of the things the drilling mudd is for. Then agian when I was first on a rig I have seen the mudd go 30 to 40' higher than the rig when it comes in. Thats rare to have that happen if you have the right guys on the job, its just one of those things. Yes an internal combustion engine will have a problem. They call it running away. Its when it starts to suck the gas it will go ***** to the walls, have seen a cat mud pump go crazy but once that was the first and hope its the last.