Cooling Tower Replacement

Rachke Piping and Mechanical partnering with carrier Corporation to replace cooling towers at the very top of the 77th floor of the building, was a very challenging job for logistics and for constructibility. 

The entire roof was originally proposed to be removed to replace the equipment. But in order to save time and money on a helicopter lift and cranes, we chose to have the cooling tower manufacturer provide the new cooling towers in small modules, which were brought up on a night shift in the elevators and staged.

All of our demolition was performed on a night shift, as you can see in the video, by restraining and holding the piping and infrastructure in place and then one by one demolishing the cooling towers.

This was done in two phases, there's two separate sets of cooling towers. The process was to demolish and then reinstall one system, connect the piping back, commission, start up, and then run one of the systems while we perform work on the second phase. 

Work was performed during the winter time when the cooling towers were not needed to provide cooling for the building, so the temperatures in the building were not affected by any of the construction work.

By doing the work in this manner, we saved several million dollars on crane and helicopter costs and structural removal and replacement of the roof.

The project went very smooth, there was absolutely no injuries whatsoever, it was a very successful project for all involved and we're proud to show you this video.

pressurized to failure Pipe test

Rachke Piping and Mechanical was contracted to perform a pressurized to failure test on a piece of pipe that contained an anomaly in the pipe wall.

The test was performed in order to see how much pressure it would take for the pipe to fail at the anomaly.

The pipe burst at 3,450 PSI.