Prepping the Steam Plant for Winter

It's just after 7 p.m. on a recent Friday, and the Duke steam plant control room is quiet. On any of the other 364 days of the year, this would be trouble. But on this night, it's a sign that everything is going according to plan.

Duke's Facilities Management Department spent the past year preparing for the next 12 hours when crews changed valves, repaired leaking pipes, replaced gaskets and much more.

To accomplish this task, Duke's steam plant was shut down from 7 p.m. Aug. 3 to 7 a.m. Aug. 4, so more than 100 FMD employees and contractors could repair the 20-plus miles of pipe that supply steam to heat Duke's buildings and sterilize hospital surgical equipment.

Crews worked in 33 "manholes" and in two underground tunnels on East and West campus. The scope included 83 items in 53 different locations across the university and medical center. During this one-time, annual shut down, no hot water is available, and surgeries are curtailed.

"We're replacing traps that take the water out of the steam and replacing old pipes and valves and things that don't work anymore," said Gary Teater, FMD's supervisor of steam distribution and site utilities.

"It requires a lot of preparation, but everybody helps out on it."

For 21 years, Teater has supervised the shut down of coal boilers and the underground maintenance. He drives around campus, a radio crackling with voices from the field.

One crew member in the field was Jim Burton, a Duke plumber. He emerged from one of the "manholes" after replacing an existing trap for a smaller one that allowed for more water to collect. Traps gather water that go back to the steam plant for reuse.

Burton's hair and beard were drenched. Beads of sweat raced down his face. His saturated sleeveless gray T-shirt and navy blue overalls made him look as if he has just climbed out of a pool, not an underground tunnel.

"It's not too bad," said Burton, guzzling Gatorade. "What kind of person is going to go down in that hot hole if you didn't like what you're doing?"

Dennis Kennedy, steam plant manager, said all FMD shops, from HVAC to maintenance mechanical, worked the shut down. "We would not be able to accomplish what we had to get done if other shops and trades didn't volunteer to work," Kennedy said.

Summer is not ideal for outdoor work, but it's the most opportune time for the shut down because steam use is at its lowest.

"The steam plant has six boilers, and in the winter time, you've got to have four or five of them going to keep up to provide steam for heat," Teater said. "You've got to make sure they're in tip-top shape for the winter heating season coming up."

Bringing the steam plant online after the maintenance takes four to five hours. The boilers need to warm before steam starts running back through the pipes.

By daybreak Aug. 4, the shut down was complete, and the FMD crew was already beginning planning the next annual maintenance. Said Teater, "We start our prep list for next year's shut down in a week."