About the Milwaukee post a week ago

[traintraveler]

LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

my exact reaction

[RamJett]

It takes great courage to step up and apologize, it would have been funny but the impersonation took it a bit too far. Thank you for the apology, you were correct about one thing though. The project has now commenced and will be done rapidly. It is, however, a complete system replacement.

Hey Josh! I'm pretty interested to hear about how far into the replacement you are if you don't mind me asking. How many sirens have been taken down and replaced? Or is it still in the part of sourcing all of the replacements before being able to actually put them up?

Thanks.

[Someone22]

It should be repairable, but we also know a lot less about Hurricane blowers than we do T-bolts. ACA/ASC may have used something funky and custom that's not unobtanium. I have my doubts, though.

IIRC, the Hurricane used an M-D Pneumatics 4012 series blower.

[jerrylovessirens]

It should be repairable, but we also know a lot less about Hurricane blowers than we do T-bolts. ACA/ASC may have used something funky and custom that's not unobtanium. I have my doubts, though.

IIRC, the Hurricane used an M-D Pneumatics 4012 series blower.

This is correct. Full rebuild kits can still be obtained for the MD 4012-16-3. MD is now MD-Kinney.
It's actually a fairly common industrial positive-displacement blower.
You can get an upgraded replacement 4012 brand new that would bolt right in from a local distributor.

Unless the blower is completely grenaded, they can be fairly easily rebuilt

The most common cause of failure for these blowers appears at this time to be lack of maintenance, specifically not checking/filling/changing oil at regular levels. There are five individual oil seals that seal the lobe shafts to the case, and over 40 years they get dry. The MD uses a gear/baffle system to convey oil on the one side on the gears and into the bearings. The other side has a slinger and baffles.

The Hurricane blowers are spun quite fast by the 30HP motor, with the blower being slightly underdriven from the 3450 motor rpm. unlike a putt putt of the older 6m Tbolt blowers.

[CincyTboltman]

I'm pretty sure they're keeping it in the new system. From what I've heard from videos and maps is that they changed the radio on the Hurricane so that it's now apart of the new system. ASC is also making sure that it will stay alive for as long as possible! (although it could be SWS that takes care of the Hurricane.)

I still might be incredibly wrong about this though, as I'm not a SWS worker. I don't even live in Wisconsin!

The Hurricanes definitely going to stay up for a pretty long time. One thing i wonder is if someone will buy the Hurricane and refurbish it do...

Not too sure about that one. If ASC or SWS are keeping it alive and how its radio was changed to be apart of Milwaukee's new system, it definitely isn't for sale. The blower may already be beyond repair, but I do at least hope it can be fixed enough to sound way better!

Isn't the problem with the blower anyways that it's leaking oil, which is causing the blower to heat up and seize as it's on? I'm not an expert on the repair jobs of blowers, but it does seem doable as long as the leakage is in somewhere that's accessible.

It is leaking oil. Those blowers weren't exactly the best design. They have it standing vertical without a way to keep the oil contained appropriately, causing leaks.

Those blowers required the oil to be changed frequently much like the oil in a car. Unfortunately, some towns didn't realize this and ran those blowers to death without maintenance.

[jerrylovessirens]

The Hurricanes definitely going to stay up for a pretty long time. One thing i wonder is if someone will buy the Hurricane and refurbish it do...

Not too sure about that one. If ASC or SWS are keeping it alive and how its radio was changed to be apart of Milwaukee's new system, it definitely isn't for sale. The blower may already be beyond repair, but I do at least hope it can be fixed enough to sound way better!

Isn't the problem with the blower anyways that it's leaking oil, which is causing the blower to heat up and seize as it's on? I'm not an expert on the repair jobs of blowers, but it does seem doable as long as the leakage is in somewhere that's accessible.

It is leaking oil. Those blowers weren't exactly the best design. They have it standing vertical without a way to keep the oil contained appropriately, causing leaks.

Those blowers required the oil to be changed frequently much like the oil in a car. Unfortunately, some towns didn't realize this and ran those blowers to death without maintenance.

They are not a bad design. It's a standard off the shelf blower that can be used in all orientations. The blower case breathers and oil baffles inside are placed to best direct the oil in the vertical/sideways orientation. The oil is sealed off from the outside world using standard spring loaded oil seals.

Other than that I agree, not checking/changing the oil frequently has lead to them failing sooner than anything