We were engaged by a contractor working for the New York City Mass Transit Authority (MTA) to supply our HEJFFL expansion joints and SPG guides for installation in a new steam heating system at their main repair facility on 207th Street in Manhattan. The project included replacement of all the pressure balanced expansion joints as many were leaking. There were thousands of feet of steam pipe and our contract included a stress analysis of the whole system.
We made many trips to the jobsite to find out what the problems were. It was amazing to find that many of the existing expansion joints were not properly anchored or guided. We also found that the pipeline had many twists and turns around obstacles. With a little imagination we were able to use these offsets for handling thermal expansion, wherever possible, to reduce overall cost. In some areas where movements exceeded 8 inches we solved the problem with our BJW250 ball joints.
Our high deflection SLF spring mounts served as variable spring supports. The contractor was so pleased with our initial work that they hired us to design their pipe anchors and guides. The system was turned over to the MTA and is working to everyone’s satisfaction.
Anchor and guide design is critical for high temperature piping to operate safely. Unfortunately, most expansion joint suppliers only sell product. They may not have the staff to engineer complete systems whereas we employ 10 people with P.E. licenses. We feel a great responsibility in getting the job right.
Don’t just replace bad joints; please call us to help with the entire system.