ron2
Posted : 4/10/2008 8:08:49 PM
At work, we're still continuing 10 hour days Mon - Thur, 8 on Friday, and we were going to cut out Saturdays, but we are working this Saturday. We have a deadline to have the a/c's running by 4-15-08. I have the main switchgear finished except for a transformer feeding the kitchen and that is thanks to the manufacturer of the main switchgear. They were supposed to include a 225 amp switch and put in a 250. I think they should overnight one at their expense.
Anyway, looking for a final main switch inspection tomorrow. And we energize Monday, though I think we might do it tomorrow or Saturday. We're in a race against time now to get all of the a/c wiring finished and the a/c panels finished. April 15th. the woodwork will start arriving. Wood flooring in the gyms, cabinet work, etc. They need climate control to minimize contracting and expanding of the wood. And, overall, we have 90 days to turnover. That's where we turn over the keys to the building. And any set of as-built prints (prints where we note what was done as far as underground pipes, changes we had to make that differ from the initial prints. On this job, there has been no electrical engineer. We are "engineering" as we go, without the engineer's salary.) We must be out of there by July 15, 2008. School opens in August, heck or high water.
Easy money. We can handle it. We are the A-team.
Actually, I started that years ago and I got it from the tv show. At a company I worked at in the 90's, there was a crew of us that were the best and the brightest. We accomplished anything and everything, leaving others in the dust. We were the A-team.
Even when my supervisor, the electrical project superintendent, is stressing, I still like my job. I like the work I am doing. I know where his stress comes from because I have been there, done that. I just don't let it get to me. I have developed the ability to hear what he is saying without the need to take it personally. We're here to do a job. And it will be done. Which is good because we've got the new high school in the same little town and that thing's a monster and they're going to need more help on it by the time we're finished with this one.
So yeah, there's some pressure. Once in a while, one of the gc supers will talk to me and express the urgency and mention the timetable and I let him know we will make it. Which is what they want and need to hear. Confidence. But busy, man! And working long hours and getting fat checks. The overtime is being paid by the builders in order to meet the hard deadlines.
The switchgear is a three cabinets that bolt together. Each one is 7.5 feet tall by 3 feet wide, by 3 feet deep. Each weighing between 1,200 and 2,000 pounds. The gear itself is rated for and set for 3,000 amps but we've got 8 sets of 600 kcm THHN wire feeding it from a tapcan off of a utility transformer and that much wire feeds 4,000 amps. But, there are two extra 4 inch pipes in the the third cabinet for future power if they put up portable buildings later on (which often happens). The bus bars in the cabinets must be connected together with jumper plates.
The problem we had with this one is that the submittal page for this equipment did not include interior structural drawings. So there was no way to know how it was built in order to have pipes in a certain place in the concrete, which were placed last fall. So, with wire from all the branch feeders in there, in the second section, it was like cramming 9 pounds of crap into a 1 pound bag. But, with the help of a pry bar and 2,500 mule tape, we did it.
If I can remember, I will take a pic of it. Seeing is much easier than reading a written description.