Canadian Wildfire Season Is Upon Us (A Few Engineering Notes on the Season)
In case you haven’t noticed the smell of burnt flannel and soft wood in the air, it is definitely Canadian fire season. This French fried time of year is accompanied by acrid smoke, heavy fog like conditions, and a feeling of having smoked a pack of non-filtered camels without actually being a smoker. With the ocean looking like the backstage of a Snoop Dogg concert it is time to take stock of a few issues that may occur.
A heavy pall hangs over Port Jefferson on Long Island
In conditions of heavy smoke a good engineer will be looking after their air filters and checking for air inlet restrictions. Whether it is volcanoes in Alaska or most of Canada burning down, lots of particulates and soot in the air causes issues with all types of air filtration and air intakes. Changing soot screens and assessing air filters for restriction is especially important in these conditions. A plugged-up air filter can cause engines to run inefficiently, burn oil, and even damage turbo chargers. Better to be safe than sorry.
Luckily most types of flannel can be easily removed with a shop vac even while the engine is running. Just expose the filter and vacuum the debris right off of the filter. It does nothing for smoke damage from the fires but why let perfect stand in the way of the good?
Air quality is expected to remain bad until most of Canada is burnt down so be vigilant, be safe, and keep your engines running. JJ
JJ Johnson (Author of this satire) pictured here onboard a car ferry on Long Island sound.
