ThermOmegaTech® railroad division product manager Dana Logue has announced the company’s GURU® Rebuild Program.
ThermOmegaTech’s GURU Plugs utilise self-actuating, thermostatic technology to automatically monitor the water temperature in a locomotives engine coolant and water storage tanks.
When the actuator senses that the temperature in the water-bearing system has reached the set point of the valve, the plug opens and drains the water from the tank before it can freeze. The plugs are completely mechanical and require no electrical or air connections to operate.
ThermOmegaTech recommends that GURUs should be replaced every 18-24 months. According to Logue: “The characteristic tendency of the GURU Plug actuator is to lose some small amount of stroke as it ages. While this change is a ‘safe’ tendency relating to freeze protection, the upward creep could cause nuisance-dumping. Our rebuild programme returns the refurbished valves to the standards of a new plug, achieving peak performance.”
An innovator in freeze protection, ThermOmegaTech’s GURUs are the North American railroad standard for protecting locomotives. Each year, GURU technology protects billions of dollars in rail equipment from expensive freeze damage and lengthy repairs. The Rebuild Program is designed to clean, refurbish, test, and return used GURU plugs to full operation.
Logue notes that during the rebuild process, the plug is completely disassembled and checked. Interior components are replaced, and the refurbished valve goes through three tests to ensure full functionality before being returned to the customer: Cartridge Test, Leak Test, and Pop Test.
The program will be operated out of ThermOmegaTech’s company headquarters and manufacturing facility in Warminster, PA, US, where the valves were originally assembled, tested, and distributed to their end users.
GURU PC valves, used to protect passenger cars from freeze damage, are also eligible for the GURU Rebuild Program.