As I was saying last week, the application of the machine, or how it is used on your job dictates how much it costs to run. Yes, you have a fuel cost, which is relatively straight forward, but what about your hourly maintenance cost?
Look at the same landfill compactor, but used in differing applications. For example,
1. The video last week showed the compactor pushing up a slope in the 3:1-4:1 range, pushing large volumes of waste.
2. Think of another landfill, where there’s some pushing of waste, but a higher percentage of compacting.
3. A final scenario where it is following dozers, compacting waste at 600mm (2ft) layers, no pushing, maybe some levelling.
Then based on the fuel consumption rates you only have a limited amount of machine hours to use. I talk to sites and ask them what their plans are for machine life, they will usually give me an hour target, like, oh say 14,000hrs… When I ask what their target fuel consumption rate I get a confused look back asking why. So in basic terms, an engine is only good for a certain number of liters or gallons of fuel, once it reaches a limit you now push into the world of risk, and how far you want to pull the rubber band before it snaps.
In my experience with a number of sites running high and low engine load factors, I see the C18 in an 836 getting around the 750,000ltr of fuel before it’s ready for a rebuild. Now yes, you can run them further, but you start to put your business at risk with unplanned downtime, loss of core value if you use Reman, and lost density on site.
So just looking at the engine removal/rebuild/replace and refit cost @ an estimated $150,000
A compactor running at a 70lph fuel burn rate will have an engine cost of $14.28 per machine hour, while one that is primarily compacting will be closer to $10.70, which is a significant saving, both in engine life (more time on the landfill compacting) and the cost per hour.
So look at your site’s fuel consumption, and look at how the landfill compactors are used, keep them compacting and you will get a longer life at lower costs per hour, plus fuel savings! Get dozers to do what they do, and they do it well.
And remember, the Steepness of the slope will effect overall machine life through its load factor. Something as simple as lowering the steepness of the slope can extend the life of your equipment, who would have that? Yes, there are all sorts of other things to think about like the amount of cover that will use, the area exposed if you have restrictions, its swings, and merry-go-rounds.
