A gas turbine running with an exhaust temperature spread of 15°C between thermocouples and one running at 45°C both sound fine when the operator says "temps look normal" during handover. One spread is routine. The other is an early sign of a burner going off tune or a blade starting to degrade — and the only way to tell the difference is a round that reads inlet filter DP, lube oil, fuel quality, and spread together, every shift, against a fixed baseline. Sign up to see how a digital gas turbine round runs on your own units.
Why It Matters
A gas turbine trip almost never comes out of nowhere. It follows inlet filter DP climbing past the fouling threshold, lube oil pressure or temperature drifting outside its band, fuel quality shifting enough to change combustion, or exhaust spread widening between thermocouples over several shifts. Each of these is a quiet signal on its own. Read together on the same round, in the same order, they're the clearest early warning the machine gives before something more expensive happens.
What A Complete Gas Turbine Round Actually Covers
Five checkpoints make up a proper round. Miss one and the sign-off still looks complete while that system runs unmonitored until the next shift.
Inlet Filter DP
Differential pressure across the inlet filter checked against the fouling threshold, not read once at startup and forgotten
Lube Oil
Pressure, temperature, and tank level logged against band, since a slow drift here signals bearing wear early
Fuel Quality
Fuel pressure and heating value trend checked, since a shift here changes combustion before spread ever moves
Exhaust Temp Spread
Spread across thermocouples checked against baseline, not just individual readings against alarm limits
CMMS Sign-Off
Every reading timestamped and attributed to the operator, with out-of-range values flagged automatically
Walking The Round In Order
1
Start At The Inlet Filter House
Read DP first, since a fouled filter changes airflow and can influence combustion checks made later in the round.
2
Check The Lube Oil Skid
Log pressure, temperature, and level while the inlet reading is still fresh, so the round moves logically through the machine.
3
Review Fuel Quality Trend
Check pressure and heating value against the trend line, not just the instantaneous reading, before moving to the exhaust check.
4
Read The Exhaust Spread
Compare spread against baseline last, once fuel and lube readings are already logged, so any correlation is visible in the same round.
5
Close Out In The CMMS
Sign off the round digitally so every reading is timestamped, and let the system flag anything outside range to the next shift automatically.
A Round That Flags Problems Before The Trip
Sign up for a free trial to build your gas turbine round checklist in minutes, or book a demo to see how out-of-range readings get flagged to the next shift automatically.
Where Gas Turbine Rounds Break Down
Filter DP Read Once At Startup
Fouling builds gradually across a run, and a single early reading misses the trend entirely
Lube Oil Checked Against Alarm, Not Trend
A reading still inside the alarm band can be drifting steadily toward it without anyone noticing
Spread Checked Per-Point, Not As A Spread
Individual thermocouples inside limits can still show a widening gap between highest and lowest that gets missed
Fuel Quality Assumed Constant
A supply change isn't flagged until spread or emissions already show it downstream
Paper Sheets With No Timestamp
Without a timestamp attached to each reading, nobody can tell how long a warning sign was sitting there
Round Order Changes Shift To Shift
Without a fixed sequence, comparing today's readings against yesterday's stops being reliable
Frequently Asked Questions
Q
Why does exhaust spread matter more than individual temperature readings?
Individual thermocouples can each sit within their own alarm limit while the gap between the highest and lowest reading still widens, which is often the earliest sign of uneven combustion or blade degradation. Checking spread as its own number, not just each point against its limit, catches that earlier.
Q
How is a digital round different from a paper log for the gas turbine?
A paper sheet records that a check happened. A digital round in a CMMS timestamps each reading, attributes it to the operator, and can flag out-of-range values automatically so the next shift sees the exception without hunting through the log.
Q
Can the checklist be adjusted for a specific gas turbine model?
Yes. The five core checkpoints apply broadly, but fields like combustor type, number of thermocouples, or fuel configuration can be set per unit so the round matches the actual machine on site.
Turn The Clipboard Round Into A Timestamped Record
Oxmaint builds your daily gas turbine round into a mobile checklist that captures inlet filter DP, lube oil, fuel quality, and exhaust spread readings with a timestamp on every entry, and flags exceptions before they reach the next shift. Sign up for a free trial to set up your first round, or book a demo to see it against your own turbine configuration.
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