Engineered Systems - January 2009 - (Page 57) When it comes to that unexpected (and unwelcome) development, it’s usually less a case of if than when. Avoiding confusion over the specific technical scope of work up front, keeping an eye on codes and insurance, and considering contingencies for discovered problems along the way will smooth the path as much as possible. BY JOHN R. PUSKAR, P.E. I t seems simple enough doesn’t it? I need a new burner or controls for my boiler, furnace, or oven, and you have these to sell. You give me a price, do the work, and then we’re all happy, right? Wrong! Unless we do some very careful planning and communicate very carefully, we could be in for trouble. All too often, our firm is hired by many of our clients in the role of arbitrator, mediator, and neutral third-party expert on projects that have gone wrong. The end result of these projects gone wrong can range from damaged equipment that is out of service for months, to long and ugly lawsuits. What’s even worse is the wasted money and time on the part of the equipment owner. Here are some of the issues and suggestions that may help you avoid these situations. PROJECT SCOPING AND RESPONSIBILITIES We encounter very few OEMs that make their own burners and control systems. Therefore, calling them back in often brings no peace of mind for a correct and functioning project. Retrofits are a different animal. You are asking someone to try to fix, in some cases, years of neglect and a history of changes made to a piece of equipment. For example, in the case of a boiler that is getting a new low NOx burner, there are several issues that can make for disappointment. Sometimes, conditions inside the boiler itself may have changed over the years, such as the spacing of tubes between passes that can make for leaked CO rich flue gas to the flue. This is not the fault of the burner, but it would most likely be discovered in the burner commissioning process. Whose fault is this? How do you as a customer feel when you are told the burner does not meet performance expectations but it is not the burner vendor’s fault? What about a furnace or oven where the contractor starts to tear into that “snake pit” of a junction box and finds out things are not as they seemed? What happens now? Is it fair for the contractor to eat 25 years of sins and problems? No retrofit project should commence without a formal meeting to discuss all of the prob- w w w. esmag a zin e. c o m 57 http://www.esmagazine.com
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