Cat® G3600 series gas engines have logged more than 140 million operating hours around the world. How can you make sure yours delivers maximum uptime and reliability? Don’t skip the commissioning process. Here are four reasons to turn to a professional certified by Caterpillar or a Caterpillar factory commissioning engineer to ensure your engine’s ready to perform to its full potential.

1. Operate with confidence.

When you choose one of our certified professionals to commission your engine, you’ll have no doubt the equipment is installed correctly and operating as designed. We start by making sure the installation conforms to Caterpillar recommendations, checking everything from wiring and piping to alignment and cleanliness.

Then, we start the engine and let it run at your expected load parameters for at least four hours, verifying temperatures, cooling system pressures, emissions levels and more to ensure they’re all within specification. We also perform shutdown tests and hot alignment and detection checks.

The entire process typically takes around five days, and you’ll receive a written report detailing the commissioning process within a few weeks.

2. Reduce your risks, downtime and costs.

Commissioning is a small step that could save you big dollars. We’ve seen serious issues with engines that haven’t been through the process, including damaged turbochargers and crankshafts—big-ticket items than can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace. Even smaller problems, like water pump damage due to a contaminated cooling system, can be expensive if you need to order parts and send a service technician to fix the problem. And any repair means downtime, which results in lost revenue.

While commissioning can’t eliminate the possibility of damage and downtime, it does reduce your risk for both significantly.

3. Activate remote monitoring.

Part of the Caterpillar commissioning process is making sure that Cat Product LinkTM is connected and functioning properly. That means you can immediately start taking advantage of the data-collection and remote-monitoring capabilities built into your engine.

With Product Link, you can keep track of fuel status, work time versus idle time, upcoming service needs and more—and customize alerts so critical operations receive immediate attention. This information can help you lower owning and operating costs, improve productivity and make smart, data-driven business decisions.

4. Work with the best.

Our factory-certified commissioners go through extensive online and instructor-led training before they’re sent out into the field, and ongoing testing ensures they stay up to date on the latest issues. They also meet regularly to share lessons learned with one another. You can rest assured the commissioner we send to your site is an expert on G3600 engine installation and operation.

To schedule commissioning for your engine, contact your Cat dealer.