Bank of America Plaza is the tallest high rise office building in the Southeast U.S.: fifty-five floors, 1023 ft. up, and 1.3 million sq. ft. of office space.

The cooling towers are on the roof, with chilled and condenser water
riser measuring as large as 30 inches in diameter. The setup creates a
high-volume water column with pressures approaching 400 psi in the
central plant.

The task: replace all the 30+ year old butterfly valves for the flat plate
heat exchangers located in the basement central chiller plant by
freezing the pipes – with only 36 hours to get the job done.

The issue was that the valves were too close to the incoming electrical
switch gear (which was as old as the building), and we couldn’t ensure
the safety of our team, or effectively prevent damage to the sensitive
switch gear. Any damage to it in the process could result in waiting
months to a year for replacement parts. We had to find another way,
and the clock was ticking.

Our engineers, project managers and field foremen put their heads
together, studied the drawings and did the math, designing a
prefabricated piping system to quickly drain and fill the massive water
systems.

The prefabricated drain and fill piping was installed prior to the shutdown. Within 45 minutes, the chilled water risers were drained and subsequently refilled 1.5 hours later. We then drained the condenser water risers in 1.5 hours and refilled them in 2.5 hours. All-in-all, the shutdown lasted just 15.5 hours – less than half the time given to get it done.

Afterward, we left the piping and components on site in a storage room with a detailed drawing of the labeled fabrication for future use, so the customer has everything they need on-hand if the need should arise again.