The Cryo Hauler Thread

So I won't count my chickens just yet!

Y'all know how we must always keep the mind on task and follow your proven routine.
Last week for the 1st time ever I filled the wrong tank...
Filled a small 1500 that was adjacent to twin 13's. We always fill those after the small one. Never in my yrs have I not.

Well this time I didn't check my tank # and
was supposed to fill a different one across the complex.
Told the boss I was most likely thinking of other things..
And it was a rain, slept and snow mix.
Last stop of the week for me.
I owned it and quite frankly did NOT physically check the tank number.
Let this be a lesson to all who have a long career ahead of them.
Oh well, crap occurs

 

Those little dewars are always a pain.

I once got routed from Corning Ny to Albany Ny at 11pm because a low fill on a dewar was going off at a hospital for low o2. Bad sensor.

Running out of Allentown PA, that trip filled up the 14 hour clock.

 

Right, I know.

 

Been trucking a good while, haven't changed jobs very many times (3 in 22 years), that was the longest hiring process I've ever experienced... but by the grace of God I made it... looking forward to learning something new and cruising into retirement in about 10.5 years.

 

Congratulations! Hope it all goes well with Linde.

 

How long is the Lin Lox Lar training period? One week? 2 weeks?
How long is the hydrogen training period? 3 months?
What are some specific examples/reasons why hydrogen training takes so much longer?

 

It depends on how fast you pick things up. You'll be with a trainer 2-4 weeks, The hard part is learning the flow of the plumbing and being able to identify valves if the tags have fallen off of them. It looks like Chinese handwriting until it suddenly clicks and then its nothing, but its fascinating how different the plumbing can be for each trailer hauling the same product. Probably a couple loads on LOX and LIN each. The basics are the same, just a few tweaks here and there on procedures and differences in equipment. Hydrogen, I have no idea.

But to be honest, Learning how to load and unload is a 1/3 of what you need to perfect. Cryo is , Hands down, the strictest field I have ever worked in and most people don't get fired because they screwed up a load or unload situation. What get the vast majority of people fired is breaking a company policy. Back up to a tank without walking a site and laying your cones down before you back, you can be terminated. Touch your phone while in the truck, while its in motion or the brakes not being set, you can be fired. Move that truck an inch without your seat-belt on, you can be fired. Don't lay your chocks done, Don't secure your truck while unloading, don't, don't, don't, don't. There's a lot of Don'ts. With Linde, you'll be handed a big black binder, that we all refer to as our 'Bible" If you follow the Bible, you wont have anything to worry about for 2/3 of your employment. But keep in mind, Policies vary from terminal to terminal. What you can get away with at one terminal, can be a fire-able offense at another. My terminal is pretty lax. If you screw up, you'll get scolded. We have a very experienced crew here. 5 out of the 7 drivers here all have a minimum of 20 years of experience(not all in cryo), so there isn't alot of drama anyway. But some other the other terminals that have high turnover to begin with, are very intolerant. Fife, Wa goes through alot of drivers. Garfield, Utah has been hiring since I started my career again in 2004. I contemplated moving back to salt lake city, But I dont know if I could work there.

See, looks like nonsense, but is actually easy once you know how to read the plumbing

 

As far as I've read, hydrogen training is much longer than Lin Lox Lar training. What is so much more difficult about hydrogen? I've also read that hydrogen trailers are preloaded for the team drivers. That seems easier. Is the delivery that much more complex?

 

@Cali kid can probably answer that.

The only thing I know is that the process to offload is longer and takes more steps plus its very dangerous and you use helium to purge the hose.

Lin, Lox, Argon are very simple to offload. You build tank pressure, cool down pump, load off with pump. When you're finish you close pump, vent off tank pressure and drain hoses before disconnecting. Full trailer load takes about 1.5 hours average to get off.

Hydrogen on the other hand cant be vented off and takes longer for the process before pumping off which I have no clue on the steps. Only thing I know is that it can take over 3 hours to offload a trailer and its highly flammable.

One time we were shown the process on offloading liquid hydrogen and it looked so overwhelming lol.