Over the weekend of September 10th thru 13th,
1999, a special repair project to strengthen and beef up
the motor base frame was completed. The photos below show the
new structural steel members that were welded on and new spring
isolator support units that were installed.
This
project will hopefully eliminate the frequent shaft failures of
the past. Prior to completion of this work (original design),
the heavy motor end had inadequate support and flexed "out of
sync" with the fan proper placing extreme forces on shaft and
bearings leading to numerous failures over the last three years.
with the fan proper placing extreme forces on shaft and bearings.
Some
background on the problems: Beginning
about 5 years ago, 24 hour operation became a requirement in order
to accommodate the schools of Natural Science and Biology programs.
This resulted in more than doubling the run time while allowing
practically no time for routine maintenance. These stresses along
with the 30 + years of equipment age led to no fewer than a dozen
unplanned emergency repairs (with resultant loss of heating, cooling
and ventilation to the entire building) over the last 3 years.
Many of these repairs were shaft and bearing replacements as well
as burned-up (literally) drive belts and eroded pulleys. Shaft
and bearing costs amounted to approximately $1600 per copy plus
labor. The HAC "Hacsperts" became so extremely proficient at shaft
changes, they whittled a (previously) 3 day job down to a mere
6 hours. For the past several years, a spare shaft and bearings
are always kept on hand.
We
are hopeful the results of this latest repair prove to be a permanent
fix to the old problems. I checked the air handler myself just
this morning and so far so good. The air handler now starts and
runs as smooth as silk, completely contrary to the old wobble
and flexing. A special thanks to Phil Westbrook, Tony Macasso,
and Rene Ongoco, the Building Service Engineers most involved
with the project, and to Mr. Chriss Saldecke of JCS Welding, the
contractor who helped design and did the welding and fabrication.
BACK
TO NEWS & UPDATE
