While the summer heat can take its toll on power transformers, it wasn’t able to get the best of our crew who decommissioned this beast weighing almost 725,000 lbs. Fire damaged transformers are not only messy, they pose a significant challenge to decommission which requires a well-trained team of professionals to ensure the safety of the site, while not jeopardizing the evidence to be examined.
As you can tell, this large auto transformer sustained significant fire damage, requiring a unique and tedious teardown in order to complete a comprehensive root cause failure analysis. Prior to relocation, our crew arrived on site to perform the careful removal of the badly damaged cabinets, conservator tank and radiators.
Once the transformer was relocated to an open area allowing for examination by many, A-Line carefully cut the transformer tank to allow the removal of the top section and initial examination of the transformer core components. Our team then spent the next two days removing core steel in preparation for the winding examination by our customer and other outside parties.
Although the transformer windings were significantly damaged, A-Line was able to safely and efficiently remove these phase packs for a very detailed examination to evaluate any potential failure areas. Many photographs are taken by inspection parties but A-Line also photographs each stage of the transformer removal as well. You’ll never know where you might find some of our material but you can look for some in Transformers Magazine!
Despite the messy nature of a fire damaged transformer teardown, A-Line always comes prepared to protect the property and leave the site clean and free of any oil and debris.
This next transformer was an unfortunate loss due to a transformer failure that occurred nearby. While not as badly damaged as some, our team had to take special care in opening the transformer in part due to the overhead lines which made the transformer tank removal difficult.
Thanks to our extensive field experience the A-Line team was able to come up with a plan for tank removal, avoiding an additional costly relocation.
Once the tank was off the crew made quick work removing the transformer core steel and windings.
Utilizing our specialized equipment designed for the safe and efficient removal of core steel matched only by our crew’s experience A-Line removed this transformer weighing in at over 500,000 pounds, in just under 5 days.
This next unexpected transformer failure occurred at a nuclear facility causing significant fire damage to the transformer and its surroundings. Due to the nature of the failure our customer was extremely interested in obtaining a detailed teardown quickly, in order to complete their root cause failure analysis and potentially prevent failures on like transformers throughout their system.
This 570,000 pound single phase transformer received significant damage and again A-Line came prepared to safely open the transformer for inspection while protecting any potential evidence.
A-Line carefully lays out a decommissioning plan for every project to allow customer personnel, engineering consultants, insurers and other parties to plan for each stage of the inspection. Our team is on site to assist at all times and provide the service our customers desire, especially for critical transformer failure analysis.
Every component of the transformer is made available for careful inspection and photography. A-Line is always happy to assist with sampling, measurements or any other requests that our customers have. We understand the importance of finding the failure to prevent future transformer catastrophes.
A-Line provides specialty equipment for the careful separation of the transformer windings allowing for detailed inspections. This is just one of the unique inventions that A-Line has created in order to continuously improve on-site transformer decommissioning.
Once all photographs have been taken, all transformer material has been sampled and the examination is complete, A-Line ships the material to our facility for further processing and recycling. While on-site service is the first important consideration for a transformer reycling project, it’s not the only one. Knowing that the transformer components will be recycled to their fullest extent, in an evironmentally compliant manner, provides our customers with the security they need for complete cradle to grave closure. Our violation free record speaks for itself. A-Line’s facility takes special care in handling every piece of equipment that we process.
Our experienced team and facility support allow A-Line E.D.S. to provide the most comprehensive transformer removal in North America. Giving our customers what they want, when they want it, is our priority and we promise to always provide the best value and most skilled transformer recycling services available.
