Abandoned Power Plant

[Moshly]

Vintage Meter porn starts at 13:00
Tek 547 at 14:20 

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Wow, those EICOs are soo cool!

[Halcyon]

Interesting, but it seems a lot of the signs, labels and documents they "found" are very modern (printed on laser printers etc...). The lack of broken windows and graffiti also suggests that the site isn't completely abandoned and they were allowed in (and escorted) by the landholders. Tours like this are common in Sydney, for example down in disused rail tunnels under Sydney CBD and the White Bay Power Station in Rozelle.

[Moshly]

Don't know if they are 'faking it' I think they are fairly legit having watched  a lot of the channel, on some videos they go into places that no one would let anyone into, some places are simply death traps.

I'd guess it was abandoned mid 90's ? judging by the PC's and the cal sticker on the Tek is dated 1991.
But the power station equipment is all chart recorders & analog meters 60's ish ?

[CJay]

Interesting, but it seems a lot of the signs, labels and documents they "found" are very modern (printed on laser printers etc...). The lack of broken windows and graffiti also suggests that the site isn't completely abandoned and they were allowed in (and escorted) by the landholders. Tours like this are common in Sydney, for example down in disused rail tunnels under Sydney CBD and the White Bay Power Station in Rozelle.

Well, laser printers have been commercially available since the 80s (and before but were rare) so define 'modern' and so what if they were allowed in or even escorted, I don't think trespass is a requirement for it to be called Urbex is it?

[m98]

I'd guess it was abandoned mid 90's ? judging by the PC's and the cal sticker on the Tek is dated 1991.

One PC had a Windows XP sticker on it.

[Electro Detective]

Abandoned X-Men or Terminator movie sets?   

[calexanian]

I would say you are only looking at about 15 years or so of abandonment. Things age fast when you pull the plug!

[jh15]

but why the restored looking eico 460? Not even a triggered scope, no fingerprints. In the 60's I liked the sharp trace on my friend's father's 460 though. Soon after  built a Heathkit triggered scope for my high schools nuclear lab in freshman year.

[daflory]

I want those knobs and gauges so bad...

It's so hard to find really satisfying electromechanical parts today.

[Zero999]

It looks interesting but is completely unwatchable for me. I wish they wouldn't walk with the camera. It gives me motion sickness trying to watch it.

[t_ryner]

  There's one of those in my chemistry classroom! I'll try to get a picture on Monday if I can, but I knew this looked familiar.

[Messtechniker]

Enough stuff to keep all EEVblog community members happy
after the next meeting of all members ripping the place apart.

[Seekonk]

Did I blink or something.  Never saw a generator or turbine.

[LabSpokane]

Did I blink or something.  Never saw a generator or turbine.

Fan motors were about as exciting as it got.

Those videographers are in dire need of a greybeard who actually has worked in a power plant to conduct the grand tour.

[nctnico]

Did I blink or something.  Never saw a generator or turbine.

Chances are these got sold for use in a different power plant.

[Cyberdragon]

I want those knobs and gauges so bad...

It's so hard to find really satisfying electromechanical parts today.

I'm the kind of guy who, if I had the money and space, would buy the whole damn thing and have it installed as the control system for some basement mad science lab.

EDIT: Hell, I would have my own actual small power station, maybe using some steam engines, then I could REALLY Photonicinduction some shit.

[Red Squirrel]

That's pretty cool.  It almost looks like at one point it was maybe used as temporary storage or office space beyond the life of the plant, there was even a pentium 4 computer in there, which seemed kinda out of place.

It's crazy to see places like that in an abandoned state, like you consider when it was first built it would have been state of the art, and now it's pretty much just old unusable equipment.

[Jr460]

Having did my EE co-op work in a coal fired power plant, I think I can date the thing.

My plant started in 1917 or about, units 1&2.  Those got ripped out to make space for unit 8 turbine which went online in 79-80.   Units 5, 6, 7, and 8 where operating when I was there.  Units 3&4 had been mothballed.  It would cost to much to remove all of the asbestos.  As long as it is wrapped tight, it is was safe.

To answer someone else, yes you saw a turbine and generator, but they were striped of the outer covers and asbestos removed, and now rusting.

One of the prints also gave away some clues, It showed a generator with a rating of 30,000K watts.   Small stuff, but state of the art back then.

Based on the style of equipment and size rating of the unit, I would have to say it went online in the 1930s.

The control room was like some said, 60 vintage, but it was added later in the unit's life.   In the 30s they didn't have control rooms, more like a central area with a lot of manual hand wheels that had long shafts on them that controlled air dampers to the boiler.

I can't understand why a utility would run a unit that long.   The efficiency had to have sucked. Just the temps and pressures they ran the units at dictate the best you can do, second law of thermodynamics.  From the early 60s on, 2400 PSI and 1000F steam was the standard, I bet that old unit was at 1800PSI and no superheat on the steam.

Maybe it was a dual use plant. it could have made lower pressure steam for heating of a nearby complex, or for some process, like a paper mill.

Fond memories of the plant.  Even a modern one can be a rough and dangerous place.  So much stuff could kill you before you have time to react.  A steam leak for example.   You don't see superheated steam, it is a gas, you see it some distance away as it condenses to water vapor.  You just stayed aware of things and went about your job.

[TerraHertz]

Interesting, but it seems a lot of the signs, labels and documents they "found" are very modern (printed on laser printers etc...). The lack of broken windows and graffiti also suggests that the site isn't completely abandoned and they were allowed in (and escorted) by the landholders. Tours like this are common in Sydney, for example down in disused rail tunnels under Sydney CBD and the White Bay Power Station in Rozelle.

Speaking as an urbex explorer of 40 years experience... no, that was a genuine sneak-in and explore. Really fun to watch, since it reminds me of the many times I wandered around in Balmain (gone), Bunnerong (gone) and White Bay (semi-gone) power stations. Yeah, there are sometimes (very rarely) public tours, but you absolutely won't get to wander everywhere like that. Or stay after sundown. Also they were being light-cautious, not using torches near windows after dark. Because that is totally a great way to cause trouble for yourself.

I'd say that place is relatively un-trashed because it's adjacent to an active switchyard. Probably still under some security patrolling. But lax, hence there have been more than a few explorers - resulting in some damage, jumbling of office contents, etc. It's in better condition than some places I've seen, worse than others.

Owwww, that old Tek scope. Sob. If that had been me, I'd have rescued it. The principle of leaving retro-tech-treasures for later explorers to enjoy is all very well, but loses to the sad reality that sub-human vandals who enjoy smashing things they don't understand are so common. Amazing it was still intact.

They didn't seem to ever make it to the main generator hall. Pity.

[jh15]

Wher's the tek scope? I was focused on the eico

[TerraHertz]

Wher's the tek scope? I was focused on the eico

Bah, make me do your searching. 14:30, right before the eico. Tek 547 with 1A1 dual trace plugin.
And right before that, an OK lab power supply lying on its side.

So funny that he recognized the Futura font immediately.

[Moshly]

I was a little disappointed they didn't spend more time looking closely at the control room, just a little more zoom on the meters would of been good. But for an urbex I think its pretty good, they walk around and pan slowly & pause on interesting scenes. They are more interested in the explore and the photogenic aesthetic rather than the tech tour.

Dave needs to do a 'Flying tare-down video' in a place like this   

A few things I found interesting ->
Large motor under plastic wrap at 1:50 (kept as a spare but too expensive to remove maybe)
Interesting rotary switch at 2:10 (does it step or spin ?)
Blue prints at 9:05 (used for locating usable / valuable parts during the decommissioning ?)
Turbine hall at 10:30 (narration says it looks like a lot of stuff has been ripped out, also 1920's vintage meters)
Scrapped generator set at 11:40
Frankenstein power board at 13:00
Parts store room at 13:30
Lab PSU at 14:15
Tek 547 Scope at 14:20 (SN:005029, I bet it would still power up with a trace)
EICO 460 scope at 14:45
Control room 15:10 
2nd control room 19:00

If you found that interesting then have a look at this slightly mislabeled video->


Repair workshop at 37:50
Control room at 39:20

[TerraHertz]

Ha ha, amateurs. Do not even know how to walk silently on catwalks and steel stairs.
Great place though.

Amusing seeing them fail to recognize an old hard disk removable platter stack. Right at the end of the control room segment.

[LabSpokane]

Amusing seeing them fail to recognize an old hard disk removable platter stack. Right at the end of the control room segment.

Those platters were rapidly falling into antiquity thirty years ago, in other words, well before those two were born. Cut the youngsters a break, old man.