Synopsis:

On January 8th late in the day, I recieved a call from the client letting me know the generator at Bethel Ridge had failed.

Bethel Ridge lies east of White Pass, and it relays all telecommunications and 911 emergency communication from the White Pass area to the phone company Central Office.  It is considered a critical site.  Our technician was dispatched on Jan 9th to meet up with the Century Tel technicians and travel to the site via snow mobile to evaluate the unit. 

Our findings were that the carrier bearing for the engine cooling fan had failed resulting in the fan travelling into the radiator and destroying both items.

The major difficulty with this failure was the age of the generator (suspected to be 1950's vintage).  The division of General Motors that produced it no longer exists, so repair parts were simply not available.
Discussion was had to determine a "plan B," but due to the location of the site and the limited access due to snow depth it was determined that we must repair this unit to get it through the rest of the winter.

Working with two of our suppliers (Seattle Radiator, and Flex-a-lite) we were able to scratch build a new radiator and install an electric cooling fan powered by the site's DC battery plant.  While these items were being built, assembled, and tested we worked with other resources to create an emergency backup plan for Century Tel just in case a long term commercial power faiure were to occour.

On Jan 24, the new cooling system for the generator was assembled and tested at our shop.  We were ready to roll.  A quick conference call later and plans were in place to access the site on Jan 29th and complete installation.

On Jan 29th, after a 16 hour day, repairs were complete and the system tested to the customers satisfaction.

The keys to this project's success:

-Excellent communication and planning between RTB and Century Tel.
-Resources in place that allowed us to "think outside the box" not only for repair options but for contingency planning until repairs were complete.
-Hard work and dedication from both Century Tel and RTB Electric And Power employees.