Any Petter Fans out there?

[The Fox]

Any members old enough to remember any of the Petter units, there may be new engineers who think stop/start of cycle sentry is new but it has been around for a long time the Petter PCL was a trailer unit around in 1970 ish used a BMC petrol engine converted to run on LPG. Had a dynastart to stop ans start the unit on demand. Not only that all of the mechanics ran cars with the same engines so never had to buy spark plugs or points for there cars. naughty but a nice perc. Petter made some good units but lost there way somehow.there was a man called Alister (i think) in the training school in Hamble,for me he was the best trainer i have seen.

[cadwaladr]

yeah i am a survivor,new alistair well,hand on heart was his saying and them little cigars,dfm was the besty,dpv was rubbish the pdl was good until the main belt issue,anyway back to the potting shed

[clivemtk]

did aliaster take over from ken legg who was surely best trainer ive ever known

[clivemtk]

how old are you

[cadwaladr]

hi clive too old one of my mates said he had a pa ,i said wow he said she was very efficient, i said i worked on them ,she is married he said to my bro .nurse nurse!!! nuuurrrrssss

[Latte]

I still remember having to use a key to start units.

am i really that old :eek:

Anyway when i started to break you in they would give you a belt change on a p6-500, changing the belts was ok it was just opening all them bloody doors

happy days :D

Latte

[The Fox]

think thats when it all went wrong, the p6500 and its brother the undermount. the guy who designed the unit is still detained at a secure location somewhere in Hampshire. enough said.

[whiteair]

I knew Alistair too from the training school, forgot his surname but I think he was Canadian, had worked the Praries. So you remember the PCL, how quiet were they then? Had a horizontal radiator, Unigate had loads of them. How's this for an old unit... Mk1 M, Wisconsin AENLD (?) engine, engine only unit, to defrost...stop truck, jump out, open hot gas hand valve, pull Bowden cable on front to shut defrost shutter, jump in and drive. When the defrost water had stopped flowing, repeat operation, The spanish lorry drivers loved them! Now that is a low tech unit!

[whiteair]

We had P6500s, but we bought in 'correct' radiator/condenser fan blades to bring the air in across the engine, if you remember the backside of the rads were always covered with dirt (i'm being polite), fitted defrost timers, and a big red emergency stop button up at the top so when you were working with the doors open, at least you could stop the beast when your ladder slipped! P6100Us weren't that bad, we used a different make of coupling (Gates I believe) and were much softer, originals were Reynolds I hink. Back in the late 60's there was an undermounted PDL, known as a PDU, only a couple of prototypes were built, Lyons Ice Cream had one and the other as far as I remember went to Oz for railroad trials.

[cadwaladr]

Any members old enough to remember any of the Petter units, there may be new engineers who think stop/start of cycle sentry is new but it has been around for a long time the Petter PCL was a trailer unit around in 1970 ish used a BMC petrol engine converted to run on LPG. Had a dynastart to stop ans start the unit on demand. Not only that all of the mechanics ran cars with the same engines so never had to buy spark plugs or points for there cars. naughty but a nice perc. Petter made some good units but lost there way somehow.there was a man called Alister (i think) in the training school in Hamble,for me he was the best trainer i have seen.the DFM was the daddy

[thermo prince]

What little I recall of them was the PDL - although it had that BMC mudplugger engine, the fundamentals were NWD, a strange licensing agreement with TK when it was based out of Liege, before Galway.
And that was well before TK ever bought over Southampton.

The 6-500 .... was that not the CoolStream ? The one where after you tightened one belt, you found that you'd slackened another? And so on all day .... ; -))

Another bloke there was Gus .... Ormerod? Whatever happened to him and Alister I wonder.

regards
T-P

[SKOOBY]

Yep Petter PA,HPA,PKW,PT20,KL,DFM,DPT,DHT
LOC,MOC,HY,PY and so on the nail in the coffin
P6500
Worked onthem all.Thank god for new technolgy:p

[cadwaladr]

yeah they were not bad in the old days,but the drier location on some was a nightmare to change,as for the dht,i found the man who designed that ,to be honest i killed him and he holds a bridge up on a motorway.

[whiteair]

Do you remember the old PA's, they had HRP dessicant driers before Sporlan, needless to say the beads shook themselves to bits and worked their way round the system!

[SKOOBY]

Sunstrand hydraulic pumps.Totally carbonated systems that took days to clean. Few and far between now days

[whiteair]

Yes but weren't they good pumps? Stophers of Newbury was all he would run on HM20D's etc

[whiteair]

Yes I think the P6500 was rebadged as a Coolstream, of course that made it a lot better!

[cadwaladr]

as i said before good units at least some of them,there is a need out there today for some of the product,albeit with a little updating.the dfm was my favourite its noise level was a little high,oh memories of workin at kew house farms in southport every second weekend keepin them going,but the petter management were stuck in the mud,grundy is a name i seem to remember was it Jack?.

[whiteair]

Yes, Jack Grundy. I did an intro course at the factory in Hamble for the P6500 & I asked the question why there was no spin-on oil lub filter a la TK, we're not here to discuss it, the replaceable cartridge gives better filtration anyway?????? That was the reply!

[cadwaladr]

yep and that answers the question,need i say more,the vestry empire ,dewhurst etc kept them going forward thinking where is that sand need to bury my head again.

[Andy Longhurst]

can anyone remeber the belt run on a pa when the bodybuilder sparayed over the drawing

[john hardcastle]

Okay so you remember the new stuff how about the MD mk1 ?

[Andy Longhurst]

how about the hpa,ob,pt,pdlre1

[Andy Longhurst]

Had several courses at Hamble with alistar got dragged over coals/bollocking for not starting at the battery when fault finding
Also the small bit of spit that went from the lower to the upper lip when he spoke nice bloke to know and be trained by as for gus another story

[cadwaladr]

dont remember the md thought that was tk,the oldest i remember was the M unit,and when they used PA belts on the pdl they were like elastic,think there was a prob with the original pdl belts which were made by Dayco usa ,they used to last years but something went wrong,TK then took over nothing could match the NWD by TK you could change the main belt in 5 mins

[whiteair]

I think the problem with the main drive belt, B108 from memory, sorry no part number, was that US supplied Dayco belts were fine, then they were made on Ireland, again by Dayco, but the spec was never the same. NWD's were the business!

[SKOOBY]

Belt was B105.5

[Latte]

there was a man called Alister (i think) in the training school in Hamble,for me he was the best trainer i have seen.

Think you would find it hard to beat Colin Lacey in his MTK days. Anyone know where he is now ?

[cadwaladr]

what about pat riley,a leg end is his dinner time ahh mtk before r edwards,now at eberspacher or some place like that.

[bessershmit]

Not really a fan but I´ve got a PDL standing in my backyard.

My first experiense in transport refrigeration was Petter :PDL, DFM AC 1/AC 2, LOC 4
Remember most: Oil allover, wires through the grill to pull speedsolenoid,
Difficulty to start in the cold , -30 c
usally in winter.

But it "was a good school"

[cadwaladr]

Not really a fan but I´ve got a PDL standing in my backyard.

My first experiense in transport refrigeration was Petter :PDL, DFM AC 1/AC 2, LOC 4
Remember most: Oil allover, wires through the grill to pull speedsolenoid,
Difficulty to start in the cold , -30 c
usally in winter.

But it "was a good school"
what you got there is a PDL SG/seagoing,a veyron in its day.

[Andy Longhurst]

we overhauled 100 seagoing pdl units for cp ships in the 1980s stripped them right down to the bare frame. new wooden frame for the evap new engines/compressor/electric motors took about 2 weeks finished them of with a fresh lick of petter blue paint. new badges/decals they looked brand new
they done the job

[bellg]

I too did my time on the old PDL's. A constant fear at the time would be to get a call-out to one with a broken main drive belt.If it did not have a spare belt clipped into place (and most did'nt!) it meant the compressor had to be pulled back to fit new belt. Somtimes the rubber bushings in the flywheel would have expanded making it virtually impossible to remove the compressor, What a nightmare @ eleven o' clock at night usually in a downpour as well!!
No,I dont think I miss that memory of the Petter PDL 50 too much!!

[SKOOBY]

We repaired most of them in late eightys and ninetys for Boxtainer they
used them for staticsLoads of money in
repairs

[Andy Longhurst]

We made up plates to go under the compressor to slide it back on still got it in my shed upon sliding it back you would hear the PING as the belt clips broke times have changed

[whiteair]

Yes Andy, I still have my 'cricket bat' but why I don't know?? At least you could change belts without unshipping the compressor, just clamp the flexible equalising pipe at the back of the compressor and you were there! Al

[TimSaxon]

hey, I love the pictures of pdl, a right trip down memory lane!

I too have attended a course at Petter Hamble, probably one of the very last before they shut shop.

[whiteair]

Just to continue in the 'old unit' vein, how about the PKW, onan engine driving V4 compressor, belts set up as the PA, fan shaft through the receiver tank!

[mickey1071]

Alister was my service manager at Petters Leeds at the back end of the 70`s. I still have my Petters ID card!!! We both moved to Hill And Smith Oldham after the Leeds shop closed. I moved on to Marshalls TK shortly after. Lost touch with Alister. Now working for TK Southeast in Orlando FL.

[cadwaladr]

pm me please mickey 1071

[cadwaladr]

hi mickey,got any 24volt bulbs for my beacon on my transit,the yorkshire motorway police ran you outa towni guess are you still smokin marlbora reds

[The Fox]

a voice from the distant past,,still remember the cabin at south emshall. me and Jim Mc. were always over dragging you out of the brown stuff.

[aircon50]

A lot of old memories out there!
As an ex Petter apprentice (started 1967), I still remember the old units. Still have an Onan dynastart puller in my toolbox! Swarfega always worked for me on the swollen PDL drive bushes. Can anybody recall the KL 55SG-DC as supplied to Strick Lines?
Ken Legg was the best instructor that I can ever remember, and I've met quite a few over the 35-odd years that I was in the industry.
Would welcome PM's from all.
Graham

[whiteair]

Yes, still have my Onan dynastarter puller too. If I recall there were two types of puller, the long range stepped one being Petter issued and the TK one was the short one. Interestingly enough, my vinage car has a dynastarter, so what I learned on the Onan dynastarter has helped solve problems on the car.

[The Fox]

can anybody remember refitting the dynastart after fitting new brushes, trying to get it on correctly before the brush springs all clicked and the brushed dropped. managed to break a few brushes before getting the hank of it, happy days

[cadwaladr]

can anybody remember refitting the dynastart after fitting new brushes, trying to get it on correctly before the brush springs all clicked and the brushed dropped. managed to break a few brushes before getting the hank of it, happy daysone memory i have is an old unit with a dynastart a KL i think ,,aworking on lpg it was like the car in uncle buck,turn it off ,30 seconds later BANG!!!! another good one is watch a know it all bleed the fuel on a pdl

[The Fox]

know i am going of thread a bit, but on the subject of having fun. the old nwd/snwd units. spent many a happy hour watching the new apprentice or any new start who thought they knew it all trying to remove the compressor, happy days.

[geoffthefridgem]

Just read the last entry about the nwd/snwd comp removal,just remember fiddling about with it and then it would pop out the only snag was I could never remember what position it was in so had to fiddle about again to get it back.I am sure there was a quick way of doing it but I never managed to find it.

[cadwaladr]

Just read the last entry about the nwd/snwd comp removal,just remember fiddling about with it and then it would pop out the only snag was I could never remember what position it was in so had to fiddle about again to get it back.I am sure there was a quick way of doing it but I never managed to find it.done thousands up the ladder sump on my knee,i have an aching back for life now foolish boy!!!but them starters on the merc engine inspector gadget would have struggled.

[clivemtk]

what is any easier than a block of wood to support it done 100s that way

[bellg]

done thousands up the ladder sump on my knee,i have an aching back for life now foolish boy!!!but them starters on the merc engine inspector gadget would have struggled.



What about the heater plugs on that same Merc engine? Especially if the previous guy had not used copper grease or damaged the threads putting them in.
Injectors could also great fun...!!

[dave.m]

Talking of old things, does anyone remember Don Trill ?

[ttb]

Any members old enough to remember any of the Petter units, there may be new engineers who think stop/start of cycle sentry is new but it has been around for a long time the Petter PCL was a trailer unit around in 1970 ish used a BMC petrol engine converted to run on LPG. Had a dynastart to stop ans start the unit on demand. Not only that all of the mechanics ran cars with the same engines so never had to buy spark plugs or points for there cars. naughty but a nice perc. Petter made some good units but lost there way somehow.there was a man called Alister (i think) in the training school in Hamble,for me he was the best trainer i have seen.
I am in contact with Terry Nutman & Geof Eckford. Both did their appenticeships at Petters.
Rebuilt the Bock FK3P & FK5 compressors used on LOC2 & P6500's
Great compressors on not so good units

[SKOOBY]

Talking of old things, does anyone remember Don Trill ?

Didnt he make Budgies bounce with health.
DaveM not from Sittingbourne by any chance:p

[dave.m]

No mate, i,m chillin in bedfordshire !

[kelvin278]

Having read all of this don't think me and "peter" would ever have been friends. I grew up on plugs and points. i just get this vision of frankensteins monster getting bconnected up.

[Toosh]

Having read all of this don't think me and "peter" would ever have been friends. I grew up on plugs and points. i just get this vision of frankensteins monster getting bconnected up.

By the way its Petters not Peter and it is a diesel engine company in the UK and overseas

[UKGENT]

Why or why did no one mention the Big T - The PDL RE with the evap stuck on top. There is still one sitting in a field at Biecester looking very grand. Petter Better was the tag line.

[bellg]

Why or why did no one mention the Big T - The PDL RE with the evap stuck on top. There is still one sitting in a field at Biecester looking very grand. Petter Better was the tag line.


Never came across that one!
What was it?
What do you mean 'the evap on top'?

[cadwaladr]

RE remote evap,evap in front top of in side generator fitted to power fans 3/phase,gen driven by belt from electric motor,which spun while on engine

[bellg]

RE remote evap,evap in front top of in side generator fitted to power fans 3/phase,gen driven by belt from electric motor,which spun while on engine

When you say 'remote evap' was this a dual temp. set-up?

[cadwaladr]

no just one evap fitted in the most forward corner of the box,remember in those days the evap took up a lot of space on the bulkhead,the RE took up less space it worked quite well,a forerunner of split units but like all petters never any forward thinkin,as said before in earlier posts

[UKGENT]

No this was a evap sitting on top of the condenser frame . So no intrusion in the box at all.
Like the 6100U for Asda with the evap in an external box. Now you can see why the Petter engineers were better trained than the Thermo King engineers.

[cadwaladr]

beg to disagree,check facts ,then you can eat your words then apologise jf your man enough,by the way i was trained to city+guilds standard not mickey mouse training houses,and its recognised worldwide!!!

[cadwaladr]

plus if you check,R E are the first letters of would you believe it REMOTE EVAPORATOR!

[SKOOBY]

Yeh the B T.Was a RE MK2 with the remote evap in a fibre glass pod fitted on top of the main frame/ condenser
What a job changing a rad.
Thank god the Carrier Thunderbird came on the scene.Anyone remember
the RE MK1

[cadwaladr]

Yeh the B T.Was a RE MK2 with the remote evap in a fibre glass pod fitted on top of the main frame/ condenser
What a job changing a rad.
Thank god the Carrier Thunderbird came on the scene.Anyone remember
the RE MK1i never worked on any with the evap over the condensor,but as said in earlier posts no forward thinking i can imagine the design office taking the call ,radiator whats a radiator?its located where erm ill ring u back ring ring ,hello yes what to do is unbolt the whole unit,beeeeeeeeeeeep lol!!!

[UKGENT]

I agree the Petter designers did set the field engineers challenges, but in the Engish spirit we accepted the challanges and overcome the obstacles set in out path. We were the first mobile knights of the fridge world. Though us the industry grew ,Petter were the founding fathers then came the Dark side .......................................................TK

[The Fox]

personally think Petter were very forward thinking, they had some pretty good ideas. they may not have all worked but they put bread on my table for many years. given the choice i would pick working on a BMC 1500 everytime over an OM636, it came out of a boat and should have stayed in one. The BT again a good idea non intrusion but poor application.Cadwalader you may want to apologize to ukgent, if you are man enough.........

[cadwaladr]

this is my last post on this[any petter fans out there]not getting involved with a slanging match about which is best yeah i am a fan,or was a fan but tk were the first and would you believe it still here there and everywhere

[The Fox]

That would be a no on the apology then.

[TimSaxon]

Well that is interesting, I didn't know there was a PDL-re with an evap over the rad.. how was the evap section connected to the bit underneath?

[UKGENT]

From cadwaladr thats good enough..

[UKGENT]

Usual Petter way lots of small bolts and rusting screws..... i never said they were perfect....

[bellg]

One of those old Dinasours!!!

Still in good working order.

[fridgability]

Glad to see the thread revived.
I served my apprentiship at Petters Staines, went into the service dept in 1967, initaly working on diesels but soon graduated to fridges and still working on them today. The other engineers there that I can remember were: Petter (Petter) Greenway, Bob Cole, Roy Wicks, Peter Cannawaw, Ron Flowers, John

The early fridges we worked on were: PA's (of every discription) M Mk I, M MkII (anybody remember the DM- a MKII M with a Petter AB1 diesel engine), KL's Yes even worked on the Seagoing KL DC. PCL's (spent a lot of time at Lyons Maid Greenford) Then there were the PKW's, PRW,s And yes The PDU at Greenford. PDL, PDL SG.

Twice a week we had to go to Birds Eye Southall and service their fleet of PA's. They had to have an oil change every 50 hours.

Ah! how times have changed, compare the old Teddington thermostat on the M unit with todays electronic gizmos. Does anybody remember hoe to set up the microswitches in the origonal PDL TG thermostat?

[fridgability]

That should have read Peter (Petter) Greenway and John Philpot. The Manager at that time was Norman Grimes, but he went down to Hamble soon after and John ...? took over. Would love to hear from any of the old crowd.