Scania-Powered Stone Crushers Keep On Running

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Press Release / July 31, 2014

There’s a phrase some customer service staff are all too quick to fall back on, should they run up against a problem: “Well, it worked in the laboratory….” With this they effectively duck all responsibility and in the process imply the customer is somehow at fault for using their product in some unforeseen manner.

Happily, that was not the experience when UK-based plant hire specialist Barry Wood ran into operational issues with its Scania-powered Terex Pegson stone crushers. The company owns four such machines, three of which feature Tier 4 Interim-compliant Scania 9-litre industrial engines.

The company hires machinery to construction industry customers throughout the UK, each of which has its own specific operational needs and requirements.

“Typically, the conditions our machines work in are extremely demanding – quarries, for example, which tend to be dirty, dusty and, quite often, very remotely located,” says Barry Wood Plant Hire Managing Director John Hattersley.

The Tier 4 Interim machines employ selective catalytic reduction (SCR) to meet the required emission standard, he explains. SCR uses AdBlue (DEF), a urea-based solution, which is introduced into the exhaust system by way of a precision dosing unit. To work properly, the exhaust temperature must be maintained at a certain level or the AdBlue will crystallize, and the AdBlue system itself must be kept scrupulously clean and free from contamination at all times. Failure to meet either of these criteria means the dosing unit will clog up, causing the machine to shut down.

“Our problem was that we had customers who were experiencing both issues,” says Hattersley. “In some instances, machines were being regularly stopped and started. This meant the exhaust gases were often below the required temperature, so crystallization became an issue.

In other cases, AdBlue was being transferred from large containers into smaller ones for filling. Here, dust ingress leading to blockages was the culprit. While neither of these problems were directly of Scania’s making, we needed solutions – so we turned to Scania for assistance.”

Hattersley’s Crushing and Screening General Manager Paul Mack, takes up the story:
“I have to say we were pleasantly surprised by Scania’s response,” he says. “In the past, we have known manufacturers and their dealers to walk away from operational matters, saying they cannot be held responsible for the way in which their products are used. But Scania took exactly the opposite approach; they pro-actively came to us saying, ‘What can we do to help?’”

Scania offered several solutions. To remedy the exhaust temperature issue a temporary mechanical fix was implemented until a long-term electrical answer could be developed. The contamination problem was solved by the addition of a filler filter.

Scania also identified that dust could be introduced via the position of the breather pipe, so a remote breather filter was added to circumnavigate any potential issues there.

The work was undertaken by Scania (Great Britain) Limited in conjunction with Scania’s engineers in Sweden, but, says Mack, “we were also impressed by the attention shown to us by the company’s dealer network, which provides the front-line service. Here, dealers Keltruck and West Pennine Trucks in particular have given us excellent service, but it is encouraging to know that Scania has 90 service points the length and breadth of the UK.”

As a national hire company, he explains, the company’s machines could be operating anywhere at any time. “It is imperative for us to be assured that assistance is readily at hand should we or our customers need it,” says Mack. “And while all suppliers talk of excellent service, our experience is that in practice very few live up to the promise – so we are genuinely impressed with the way in which Scania has gone the extra mile on our behalf.”

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