Around the World with the Woltjers

Now seven years old, the hydro had developed a significant leak at the shaft of the large guide vane (circled in red).

We suspected that this leak was the result of that bushing being worn out. Spare parts had been purchased in 2019, but since 2020 we had not been able to have a technician come to help us with this procedure. As the leak got worse, we decided to plan to do the service ourselves. We were concerned that the bushings that support the large guide vane were worn through and that the shaft and bearing blocks were being damaged.

On Monday, July 26, we shut down the hydro, closed and drained the canal, and began work to disassemble and diagnose the condition of the guide vanes.

Once the turbine was removed and the guide vanes were out, we saw the true issue. The bushings were worn yes, and one was worn through to the bushing block, but the shaft actually consisted of a shaft with sleeves pressed on it. Those sleeves had somehow come loose and were allowing the shaft to move inside the sleeves.

We do not have the capability to repair this kind of damage here at Kudjip, so we got in touch with Chris Jenkins at PNG Springsmiths, a machine shop in Mount Hagen. Chris estimated that he could repair this by welding material onto the worn shaft and machining it to original specifications.

After about 10 days on backup generators, we received the reworked guide vane. It took two days of work to put everything back together and get the all the parts aligned (the turbine shaft has to be aligned to the gearbox coupling within 1.5mm!). We are thankful for God’s guidance and protection during this process.

On Saturday, August 7, we tightened the last bolts, prayed over the work, and started the hydro. It was a glorious moment when we were able to once again shut off the generators and provide good, clean power to the hospital and station housing!

I would like to give a big thank-you to our team that made this possible. Pictured above from left to right are Mark K., David, Earl, Taylor, and myself. Not pictured are Kenneth and Mark A. The team as Ossberger Wasserkrafttechnik in Germany was also very helpful. Above all, we want to praise God for being with us through the job and blessing this project with a successful result!