Steam Main Repair in Historic Church Crawl Space

Steamhead (in transit) · May 2009

This historic church in downtown Baltimore was built in 1809 and rebuilt after a major fire in the 1840s. The steam system was installed in 1909. Services are still given in German.

One of the 4" steam mains developed a leak at the threads just before a tee. The asbestos was removed by others.

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Steamhead (in transit) · May 2009

We Installed a Wooden Path...

...for 150 ft from the entrance of the crawl space to the work site in order to move in our tools and machinery.

We cut the pipe and removed the failed section.

The Ridgid #141 was hauled into place and the cut pipe end was threaded in situ.

A new section of pipe was cut and threaded to match and bolted into place...

...and it is ready to last another 100 years...

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Steamhead (in transit) · May 2009

And here's a video

of us actually running the 141 with the 700:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WobEWDE5D8w

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MikeyB · May 2009

Excellent work!...Especially in such a confined space.

gerry gill · May 2009

very nice!

my knees hurt just thinking about that! my 141 hurts just taking it from the garage to the truck..i can't even imagine what a pain it had to be to drag it thru that crawl space..thats dedication!!

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Wethead7 · May 2009

repair

That looks good. I am glad you got that job. My body would be
quite sore after that one.

I am surprised you are not insulating it. A couple hundred feet of pipe insulation must easier to drag through there than
the treader.

DanHolohan · May 2009

My head hurts!

Super, guys. Thanks for caring.

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_12 · May 2009

reminds me of

a movie - The Great Escape! Even though you were working down below, that's some mighty fine Heavenly work.

clammy · May 2009

nice work nice memories

Gordo thanks for the memories it's been a while since i've dragged out my 141 and used it in a tight spot ,last time we did not have a 700 so we used a 1 inch rachett with a bar and they where on vertial risers two 4 inch and 0ne 3 inch they where about 8 ft in the air after that i was shot if i remenber it took us about 2 or 3 hours and it was a mess ,thanks again for the memories ,peace and good luck clammy

Steamhead (in transit) · May 2009

Insulation

will come shortly. Had to fix the leak first!

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Unknown · May 2009

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bob young · May 2009

FIRST CLASS JOB , GENTS

what method did you use to cut & remove old thread & pipe. was welding an option ? last time i made thread in place like that was late sixties.------no 700 ... hand ratchet. flanges look beautiful.

Steamhead (in transit) · May 2009

We cut out

roughly 30 inches of the original pipe in two steps- one in the middle of the span between two fittings and one about 2" from the tee, where the leak was. Then we cut out a "keystone" piece from the stub left in the tee, which allowed us to spin the stub out of the tee. The leak turned out to be in the root of a thread. Then we screwed a short nipple into the tee, threaded the cut end of the existing pipe, mounted the flanges, dragged the 700 and 141 back out to the PRV room to cut and thread the new piece and mount the flanges to it, went back into the crawlspace and put everything together.

Sounds simple, but for those who have never done this, the crawlspace location made it go very slowly. You just can't move quickly in such limited space.

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Rich Kontny_3 · May 2009

Key word

Is repair, most churches have very limited funds and have to go the repair route. The problem is the fact that the piping has reached the end of it's life span. The thinnest area in the threads are the first to go.

Very nice approach as far as the repair is concerned. The real challenge will be convincing the church elders to address the failing piping through out the building. Churches are also reactive instead of pro-active. That was a very substantial leak, I can't believe others won't follow.

Maybe the board path should be left in place.

Nice repair thanks for sharing

Steamhead (in transit) · May 2009

Yes, thank you!

My son (who took all the pictures) and I were whistling that theme song as we rolled the creeper cart up and down the crawl space. Gotta have fun when you can!

I was seriously considering installing tracks for the cart.
If there had been more than one leak, I would have done so.

Even so, the logistics of moving a half a ton of wood, machines, tools, fittings, pipe and personnel through that crawl space was indeed a daunting prospect.

I discovered muscle groups in forgotten places and it took me a day and half to recover.

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Steamhead (in transit) · May 2009

In Point of Fact

the pipe where we replaced it appears to be in very good shape. It looks like it was put in 10 years ago, instead of 100. There is very very little pitting. The Dead Men installed it with the seam in the 12 o'clock position.

We believe that the failure was due to a stress fracture at a weak point.

This Church is somewhat unusual in that they are now taking a more proactive view. We are playing catch-up, but we are getting results.

That board path will be left in place, just the same. "Always make it easier for the next guy" is our ethos...it might be us.

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Rich Kontny_3 · May 2009

Truly

The professionals, very classy.We had to tunnel under a slab once to get at a buried 1 1/2" water line. Inspector made us use slurry from above to fill void, Don't want to be the next guy.

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)_12 · May 2009

Just wait

till you get to be my age(G).

MikeyB_4 · May 2009

cutting

Great work guy's and a cool video, What did you use to cut the existing 4" that was threaded? Porta Band, or a sawzall?

Steamhead (in transit) · May 2009

For the first cut

which had to be square, we used the big Ridgid 4-wheel cutter. The second cut was not critical so we used the Sawzall.

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Dan Foley · May 2009

Repair

Frank & Gordo,

You guys are the best! Keep up the great work. Hope to see you soon - maybe a lunch meeting at the Inner Harbor? or G&M? - DF

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Tekkie · May 2009

The bottle in pix #2

That's that Billy Maze(sic) leak stopper isn't it? heh heh

Steamhead (in transit) · May 2009

That bottle I'm holding in that Picture

is anti-seize. Makes it easier for the next guy to get the bolts and joints apart.

In that same picture, on the joist behind my head is graffiti dated 1913.

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Dave Stroman · May 2009

Maybe this is a stupid question, but isn't that what dresser couplings are for?

Dave Stroman

bob young · May 2009

DRESSER

DRESSER CPLG WITH ASBESTOS CLAD GASKETS ARE PERFECT FOR STEAM REPAIRS.

Steamhead (in transit) · May 2009

Dresser couplings

don't last very long, in our experience. We have yet to see one on a steam pipe that didn't leak. So we made a much more permanent repair.

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Steamhead (in transit) · May 2009

Thanks, Guys

For all the comments!

Yes, welding was an option, but...

1) 350+ feet of cable would be needed to get from the truck to the site.

2) Risk of fire. The building just survived the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904. We don't want to go there.

3) Our usual welder didn't return our calls about this job. Small wonder.

The Ridgid 700 makes things a lot easier with the 141! We ran a 10gage 100 ft extension cord to keep the voltage drop low.

You all have my respect for using the 141 with just a ratchet.

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bob young · May 2009

serious---not !!

That statement Gordo , was made with tongue in cheek !! lol

bob young · May 2009

hand ratchet'

when we cut the 4 " thread by hand , we thought it would never come to an end. after we did it we actually stared at it in disbelief. never did that again, once was more than enough.

Steam Main Repair in Historic Church Crawl Space

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