When a 1,000-ton chiller malfunctioned at an Atlanta children’s hospital – late on a Friday afternoon – Batchelor & Kimball’s facilities service team got the call. The team initiated a series of action steps that had a new chiller in place by 8 a.m. the next morning.
We also remember the call that came in just after 3 p.m. It was our client at the Scottish Rite location of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA). An hour earlier, the grounded motor of a 1,000-ton chiller had tripped the breaker.
The facility was OK; they had another 2,000 tons of cooling. But if any other part of the system malfunctioned, the building would heat up fast. In a place with dozens of young patients and scores of healthcare providers, that wouldn’t be acceptable.
We knew finding a 1,000-ton chiller on the brink of a weekend wouldn’t be easy. So, we immediately tapped into our network of suppliers and manufacturers.
A partner in Tennessee came through, and at 5 p.m., CHOA said, “Go.”
While a temporary chiller was in transport, a team at our fabrication shop stayed late to build a pair of condenser water and chilled water manifolds. We knew they would be needed later to connect flanged hoses from the chiller to main header piping in the plant.
We knew finding a 1,000-ton chiller on the brink of a weekend wouldn’t be easy.
Five hours later, a truck backed into the loading dock at Scottish Rite with the chiller. Our team got to work, first knocking a hole into a brick wall to run temporary power from a breaker panel. They also ran 10 large water pipes required from the chiller plant to the temporary chiller.
By 8 a.m. the next morning — 17 hours after the first call — the chiller was producing 40-degree water to the hospital, with air conditioning and safe air handling assured. A team of pipefitters, electricians, riggers and service technicians had pulled together to get the job done.
A good thing, too. The heat wave continued.
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