How was your day?
#1
12-10-2009, 02:38 PM
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Washington
Posts: 21,060
How was your day?
Here is a preliminary report, investigation to follow. 
At approximately 3:14 yesterday (December 9) we had an incident out here at the ONRC. One of the sprinkler pipes in the GIS Lab either froze or pulled apart, causing the whole room to be flooded with an inch of water. Fortunately this happened during regular business hours, and my office is in the room next to the Lab, so I heard it right away. As soon as the pipe broke, this caused a water flow in the fire sprinkler system, which started the Fire Pump causing a tremendous pressure situation where that pipe broke. I ran to the main Riser for this building which is located behind my office, and shut it off, then I opened up 2 low drains, but the water continued to flow out of the ceiling until the 4 inch pipe was completely empty.
Guardian Security dispatched the fire and police departments who responded to the call. I called a local fire and smoke damage restoration business, and he got all of the water off the carpet. With fans and heat and a dehumidifier we were able to get the room dry again. However I was able to get the heat going only after resetting the fire panel since the air handlers are tied directly to the fire panel. There is still a trouble in the panel until we can get the pipe repaired and the system pressurized again. I will let you know when that happens. I still need to pull the light fixture in order to see exactly what happened.
So far there is no damage to any of the computers which also includes our brand new server. Most of the smaller items such as books and personal effects were taken to the Chem lab to allow them to finish drying.
Deric Kettel
Maintenance Mechanic II
University of Washington
College of Forest Resources
Olympic Natural Resources Center
P.O. Box 1628 1455 S. Forks Ave
Forks Wa 98331
At approximately 3:14 yesterday (December 9) we had an incident out here at the ONRC. One of the sprinkler pipes in the GIS Lab either froze or pulled apart, causing the whole room to be flooded with an inch of water. Fortunately this happened during regular business hours, and my office is in the room next to the Lab, so I heard it right away. As soon as the pipe broke, this caused a water flow in the fire sprinkler system, which started the Fire Pump causing a tremendous pressure situation where that pipe broke. I ran to the main Riser for this building which is located behind my office, and shut it off, then I opened up 2 low drains, but the water continued to flow out of the ceiling until the 4 inch pipe was completely empty.
Guardian Security dispatched the fire and police departments who responded to the call. I called a local fire and smoke damage restoration business, and he got all of the water off the carpet. With fans and heat and a dehumidifier we were able to get the room dry again. However I was able to get the heat going only after resetting the fire panel since the air handlers are tied directly to the fire panel. There is still a trouble in the panel until we can get the pipe repaired and the system pressurized again. I will let you know when that happens. I still need to pull the light fixture in order to see exactly what happened.
So far there is no damage to any of the computers which also includes our brand new server. Most of the smaller items such as books and personal effects were taken to the Chem lab to allow them to finish drying.
Deric Kettel
Maintenance Mechanic II
University of Washington
College of Forest Resources
Olympic Natural Resources Center
P.O. Box 1628 1455 S. Forks Ave
Forks Wa 98331
#2
12-10-2009, 02:48 PM
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!! ALABAMA #1 SEC CHAMPIONS!!
Posts: 1,327
#4
12-10-2009, 04:29 PM
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!! ALABAMA #1 SEC CHAMPIONS!!
Posts: 1,327
Yeah I must say I was gagging the entire time I was trying to clean that up. I think I threw up in my mouth a little. But its otay. They just got a $300.00 itemized cleanup bill from me to include all my **** I had to throw out because it got contaminated.
#5
12-11-2009, 12:19 AM
dang deej. I got an OT call tonight saying that the greyhound bus station boiler was frozen! I am thinking oh no....this could be bad. Sure enough, the main make up water line was spraying 80psig water all over the electrical, the burner, etc. 2ft ice cycles are hanging off of motors, controls, what a mess.....
#7
12-15-2009, 02:46 PM
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Washington
Posts: 21,060
A few pics of the aftermath
Outside wall......that's not good.
There were two factors that caused this pipe to freeze. In an attempt to save on heating, and the fact that the room sits empty with nobody using it, I turned the heat off (factor one) # 2 in the next picture you will see a space where there is no insulation and that space is directly in contact with the bird blocking that allowed freezing air to break the pipe. It took a week of building up to pop the fitting. So I will be stuffing insulation up there and keeping the heat at at least 55 degrees in the room.
Outside wall......that's not good.
There were two factors that caused this pipe to freeze. In an attempt to save on heating, and the fact that the room sits empty with nobody using it, I turned the heat off (factor one) # 2 in the next picture you will see a space where there is no insulation and that space is directly in contact with the bird blocking that allowed freezing air to break the pipe. It took a week of building up to pop the fitting. So I will be stuffing insulation up there and keeping the heat at at least 55 degrees in the room.
#8
12-15-2009, 03:42 PM
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!! ALABAMA #1 SEC CHAMPIONS!!
Posts: 1,327
