October brought a couple of catastrophic transformer failures and the A-Line teams were challenged with safely dismantling them, while assisting the engineering teams to determine the root cause of the failure. While we have seen many fire damaged transformers, this first project was hands down the worst internal damage we had ever seen. This 600,000 pound transformer had its core completely consumed by the fire and not a drop of oil remained once the unit had burned itself out.
Upon arrival, the A-Line E.D.S. crew cleared the debris from around the transformer and began the tedious work of safely removing the external components and preparing the top tank section for removal.
The extensive damage was evident as the tank was lifted. The initial examination of the transformer core was performed prior to the removal of the core steel.
The core steel was removed which exposed the windings for examination and removal. The badly damaged transformer windings were then carefully removed, evaluated and shipped for recycling.
A-Line completed this transformer removal and failure analysis in 5 days leaving area cleared and ready for additional modifications.
We were just getting started on the 600,000 pound beast above when our crew from A-Line T.D.S. was already underway with a forensic of another fire damaged unit. You can see the original fire on our YouTube channel by clicking here. This core and coil style transformer weighed almost 500,000 pounds in operation.
The TDS crew took extra precaution in removing the damaged auxiliary components and in opening the transformer for initial inspection of the core.
The walls were carefully removed to expose the transformer core. Once the initial examination was made the top yoke was dismantled and the windings were carefully segregated and removed.
The A-Line team had this transformer removal completed in 4 days, clearing the pad for its planned replacement.
A-Line is equipped for any emergency transformer removal. Our experienced teams provide safe and efficient solutions for all your transformer removal and recycling projects. If we can’t do it, it can’t be done.
