What a Day!!!

Timco

So I shut down a very large (mil+btu) steamer and came back 3 hours later to drain it. Water was cool enough to put my hand under the drain water. I have it about 3/4 drained and the garbage truck had come in from back alley, grabbed the trash bin, and when it set the bin down, it was just outside the boiler room and it made a hugh BANG! I about jumped out of my skin because I was draining that steamer! Then, on another job the water was off and I was asked to fix some leaky shower (bad seats) and there was a maintinance company there fixing a "bad pipe". (I service this steamer as well) They get the water back on and guy on 3rd floor says no hot water. Turns out, they capped off the hot water recirc loop and just tied this one unit into it. (Let's just cap these extra pipes that seem to go nowhere) I said nothing, but could see what had happened. I am sure they will call sooner or later. These same guys, after water was turned back on, yelled out "No leeky reeky" being funny, but this tenant was Asian and did not find it funny...wasn't me!

Tim

ttekushan_3

I get a call about a boiler feed pump

thats making a dreadful noise. Its a steam system that I maintain. 150 HP boiler. The feed pump is a regenerative turbine type. I figured that I would take the spare sitting on the shelf and evaluate it or rebuild it and swap it out. A little background: the building is being rehabbed to a new use and the boiler room was being used for inappropriate storage and workshop activities. Once the boiler was running for the season, the boiler room had to be clean.

So I arrive to find the boiler room completely empty of anything that wasn't bolted down. Dumpstered was the spare pump, drive coupling, boiler spares including ignition rods, proprietary hardware, hand hole gaskets, right/left radiator nipples, F&T rebuild kits, a few balanced pressure traps, burner nozzle cleaning tools, mercury pressuretrol, honeywell flame amplifier and electronic burner control unit.

Now the system will need to be shut down for the duration of the rebuild- or a new pump. Naturally the relevant question has become, how long will it last? No $ until complete failure. Sigh. Money's tight everywhere, but risking freezing everything in the building doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

Terry

Steamhead (in transit)

You can't

fix stupidity!

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"