Preparing for a wash...

Not a high quality picture but it gives an idea of our work...
Anne is writing down as Eddy (in the background, crawling between the pipes) is is doing the work....
We are preparing the gasturbine of unit EC 4 for a so-called "off line water wash".
So before we can do that we have to put several valves in an "off line wash" position.
Each valve has an interlocking system with keys.

Valves have to be put in the right position according to a checklist, we only have permissive to turn the next valve when the key of the former valve has been put in, and so on. The key of the last valve has to be put in a slot in a cubicle to give permissive to wash.

All the gasturbines are equipped with new burners and now there is almost no space to work there. Helmets fell off (like happened to trainee Wouter). He's more than 2 meters tall so he has a problem, because when he gets stuck between the piping, he will never be able to get out anymore....
When all the valves are in position we pump water and soap through the compressor which is then at 750 RPM.
In this way the blades will be cleaned which improves the efficiency.
After the wash we have to rinse to get the soap out.
We just blow a lot of water in the inlet of the compressor when it's still at cranckspeed of 750 RPM.
After a few hours of drying the gasturbine is then ready to run again with a higher efficiency.

Here are Anne and Eddy in LARGE...