Originally constructed in 1941 and expanded several times, Building 260 housed eight industrial watertube boilers and their supporting systems. The renovation is replacing this aging infrastructure with five new 49,000 PPH boilers and comprehensive upgrades to the plant’s mechanical, controls, fuel, ventilation, structural and life safety systems. RMF served as designer of record under the joint venture of SAW Contracting and Greenland Enterprises.
A central engineering challenge was maintaining steam service while the permanent plant was renovated. RMF designed a temporary boiler plant adjacent to Building 260 with three custom-built boilers totaling 168,000 PPH of installed capacity. Completed onsite in 90 days, the temporary plant allowed the existing boilers to be taken offline so demolition and reconstruction could proceed.
LocationDavis County, Utah
ServicesDistrict Energy
The temporary plant required careful siting on a constrained section of tarmac. It needed to remain close enough to connect to existing steam, power and water systems while avoiding interference with construction and movement around the adjacent hangar. RMF redesigned the piping connections to bypass the existing plant, extending piping up the building and across the roof to maintain connections during the interior renovation. Exposed piping susceptible to Utah’s freezing temperatures was heat-traced for continued operation.
The permanent plant design includes two fully redundant deaerators, N+1 boiler and feedwater pumping capacity, a new PLC-based plant control system, and three new 40,000-gallon above-grade fuel oil storage tanks. The boilers operate primarily on natural gas with No. 2 fuel oil backup and incorporate flue-gas feedwater economizers, flue-gas recirculation, oxygen trim and variable-speed burner fans. The project also includes a new fire alarm and mass notification system, a 1,412-square-foot equipment mezzanine, roof replacement and structural modifications to seismically upgrade the building.
Because the temporary boilers were custom-built for the project, their initial operation and performance testing occurred after installation onsite. RMF supported startup alongside the boiler manufacturer, owner and contractor. The permanent plant will undergo testing before the temporary plant is decommissioned.
Highlights
5 × 49,000 PPH New Boilers Replacing Eight Existing Watertube Boilers
168,000 PPH Temporary Boiler Plant Capacity
90 Days for Onsite Completion of the Temporary Boiler Plant
2 × 196,000 PPH Fully Redundant Deaerators
3 × 40,000 Gallons of Above-Grade Backup Fuel Oil Storage
1,412 SF New Mezzanine for Mechanical Equipment
N+1 Redundancy for Boilers and Feedwater Pumps
Project Photography Courtesy of R E Media Commercial Photography