Faulconer Construction, UVa, W. M. Jordan - Ship of Fools?

Of the roughest days on the job perhaps the most brutal came courtesy of an engineer. As many of you perceive there was some real shady work going on. Honestly as messed up as it is at the end of the day any craft or tradesman wants to believe that they've done something helpful. Even if the sum of some days meant that chemistry students would have a potty to poo in - well, at least it's not in the street. This is my home, and my neighborhood, and I would rather see it go down a magical ferry ride to poo paradise where it may be meet its brethren.

So after digging 150 under four steam tunnels (yeah, the poorly shielded ones), experiencing several collapses, and watching gallons of raw sewage flood what is essentially my back yard, there was still that sparkle of redemption.... it was finished, and it needed to be done, and it wasn't perfect, but.... well whatever.

Along shows this engineer, and I just had to ask him - "Why did we have to replace the existing line, and install a new one 2/10's of an inch lower?"


To which he replied "Because that old terra cotta line really needed to be upgraded."

To which my colleague and I winced "WTF!!! Are you kidding?!?! That was a ductile iron line we just replaced with cheap PVC!?!" NB: for those tender readers not versed - ductile iron is a heck of a lot stronger than PVC plastic.

To which he replied "Oh."

So in other words that entire exercise could have been prevented had anyone just looked in the man hole to see what was there. Several $$$$$$ thousand+ with lives risked and it was entirely pointless. The complete and utter lack of effort on the part of everyone involved is astonishing. Facilities Management at UVa, could have poked there heads in there, someone at WM Jordan might have wondered about lowering a line that little, and anyone at Faulconer could have stepped up... c'est le pee - ship of fools for real.

Setting 12" Megalug Style Chilled Water Lines at UVa South Lawn

Chilled Water Lines and the Megalug system
Water serves as a great way to move thermal energies. Many large and intensive heating and cooling systems are heated and cooled more efficiently with heat exchangers built with water lines than with traditional AC cooling.

The megalug system is designed to join ductile iron pipes from 3 inches to 4 feet in diameter. Placed around the UVa underground they serve with steam tunnel pipes, water lines, and chilled water systems.

Technical Notes
Capable of handling lines with up to 350 psi the megalug system is very popular. At UVa the lines are usually carrying a load of 60 psi and are tested for 2 hours at 200 psi*. These lines were given bedding in several inches of stone dust. All bolts are tightened to 90 lbs.

Insulation
Depending on the depth of the line the lines may require insulation of some sort - I believe this is the stinky glass insulation stuff we use - watch out! it's got glass shards in it and has cut many hands, beware of it in your eyes as well.

Tools needed
Every megalug kit contains a megalug, the nuts 'n bolts, and a gasket. Armed with an 1-1/4" wrench, a chipping hammer (for banging in gasket), and a torque wrench (set to 90 lbs) you're good to go. An air wrench may be helpful on larger pipes - deep-welled 6 sided sockets work the best. In case for some reason you need to back up a broken megalug use the 5/8" socket.

Here's a video of Johnny aka "Blaze", Travis aka "T-Bone", installing a 12" line for the South Lawn project - "Happy Dawg" is the bank man, Norris operating, Rick Lane foreman.



*When it comes to testing water lines
***Many lines are going to have small pockets of air in them - it's often impossible to avoid this. Over time air may leak out, or with enough flow of water it may eventually lessen it's impact...
***Remember to consider the temperature outside when you start and finish - 4 degrees Celsius water's most dense temperature.
***Seal's often require some time to harden into place - pressurize lines over night and expect the gaskets to be in better positions - a few drops of water in a line may lower psi markedly.