We trustees at the church are a very hands-on bunch. Many of us have backgrounds in the trades and aren't afraid to work and get dirty. One of the projects we participated in recently was replacing the chiller. Our role in this project was taking care of the demolition after the HVAC contractor got the system pumped down.
It appears the old chiller may have been set in the basement boiler room with a crane back in the late 50's and the building erected around it. The goofiest thing was the cooling tower was also installed in the boiler room. The air intake was from the boiler room itself (louvers were built into the wall that separated the boiler room from the stairwell) and then the air was ducted to the outside.
A few people were concerned about getting the old compressors out of the basement. The HVAC contractor estimated them to be at least 700# each. I told them when the time comes I'll bring the tractor and pick them out. We did some disassembly of the chiller and cooling tower and most of the lighter pieces were carried out.
There are maybe 4 steps to a landing inside the boiler room to the man door, then after going through the door there's a small recessed landing at the bottom of the stairs. That landing is probably around 12' deep and there's a handrail at the top.
The first picture shows the three compressors still in their original spot after removing a couple heat exchangers and junk that was above them. To get them down on the floor we simply drained the oil and pushed them off. I had the smaller (3000#) winch in the receiver on the loader bucket and dangled the cable into the stairwell, ran it through the man door and then through a snatch block hooked low on the handrail inside the boiler room. Then down the short flight of steps to the compressor. The loading ramp the guy has standing up in the second picture was placed on the steps so the winch could drag the compressor up the short flight and to the indoor landing.
Then the cable was reconnected to the one end of the compressor where a chain could be wrapped around some substantial fittings so it wouldn't slip while it sat on the indoor landing. As the cable took the weight, the compressor swung into the stairwell. A couple shots make it appear the chain is wrapped around the bottom of the compressor to pick it, but it's just draped over it to keep it out of the way. As soon as I had the weight of the compressor on the line, everyone was evacuated from below and it was winched up enough to clear the handrail. There's a roof over most of the area where we were working, so we didn't have unlimited height to work with. After clearing the handrail, it was just a matter of backing out and depositing the compressor in a waiting trailer. Did that X3 and it went very well.
This winch is a 3000# HF that's been laying around here since it was removed from the first Kubota when it was replaced back in 2012. A while back I bought a couple wireless remotes for it and its bigger brother. This winch has a heavy pair of cables that were jumpers in a previous life.
It appears the old chiller may have been set in the basement boiler room with a crane back in the late 50's and the building erected around it. The goofiest thing was the cooling tower was also installed in the boiler room. The air intake was from the boiler room itself (louvers were built into the wall that separated the boiler room from the stairwell) and then the air was ducted to the outside.
A few people were concerned about getting the old compressors out of the basement. The HVAC contractor estimated them to be at least 700# each. I told them when the time comes I'll bring the tractor and pick them out. We did some disassembly of the chiller and cooling tower and most of the lighter pieces were carried out.
There are maybe 4 steps to a landing inside the boiler room to the man door, then after going through the door there's a small recessed landing at the bottom of the stairs. That landing is probably around 12' deep and there's a handrail at the top.
The first picture shows the three compressors still in their original spot after removing a couple heat exchangers and junk that was above them. To get them down on the floor we simply drained the oil and pushed them off. I had the smaller (3000#) winch in the receiver on the loader bucket and dangled the cable into the stairwell, ran it through the man door and then through a snatch block hooked low on the handrail inside the boiler room. Then down the short flight of steps to the compressor. The loading ramp the guy has standing up in the second picture was placed on the steps so the winch could drag the compressor up the short flight and to the indoor landing.
Then the cable was reconnected to the one end of the compressor where a chain could be wrapped around some substantial fittings so it wouldn't slip while it sat on the indoor landing. As the cable took the weight, the compressor swung into the stairwell. A couple shots make it appear the chain is wrapped around the bottom of the compressor to pick it, but it's just draped over it to keep it out of the way. As soon as I had the weight of the compressor on the line, everyone was evacuated from below and it was winched up enough to clear the handrail. There's a roof over most of the area where we were working, so we didn't have unlimited height to work with. After clearing the handrail, it was just a matter of backing out and depositing the compressor in a waiting trailer. Did that X3 and it went very well.
This winch is a 3000# HF that's been laying around here since it was removed from the first Kubota when it was replaced back in 2012. A while back I bought a couple wireless remotes for it and its bigger brother. This winch has a heavy pair of cables that were jumpers in a previous life.
