Tweet/Garot was awarded this project as the lowest bidder. Certified Welders were needed on this project as we were dealing with high pressure steam, condensate, fuel oil piping, compressed air, natural gas, and boiler feedwater.

There were many parties involved with making this transition during the summer of 2020 prior to college starting back up in September 2020. We maintained services during the construction phase for any onsite campus personnel. Sequencing outages and ensuring deadlines were meet was something we strived for, along with coordinating work between all subcontractor parties involved. The subcontracted boilermaker work involved demoing the old coal fired sections of 1966 boilers and converting them to fuel oil and natural gas.

Some unique processes needed for this project involved boring into the face of existing mud drums and installing internal piping within these mud drums to provide steam to heat the water. Additionally, the skins of each of the boilers were removed and the internal boiler piping configuration was modified to allow installation of the new burner assemblies. A new fuel oil pump station was then designed and placed in the project basement and tied back into the existing system. A new above ground fuel oil tank was installed outside and piped back to the new fuel oil pumps. A fully functional universal plant control system was then installed to control every piece of equipment within the Powerhouse Heating System. No safety incidents occurred during the completion of this project.

This project benefits the environment by removing the coal burning requirement completely and utilizing natural gas with the fuel oil as a backup service. Project challenges included scheduling outage work within short time slots. Since the campus was still in operation and students were still living within the dorms onsite during the summer months, it was necessary to maintain steam generation to support those individuals’ heating needs.