Document x1J9qaZVE6QwZL82XBKgbgNrb

PLANT PROBLEMS put your know-how to work| jjelp the other guy cure his headaches .TYLIR HICKS, >uociol. Ci/ltor 11 ,nd 0 POi"` "r 'llC e.",,r * V,E-,,k. Bering l the '" ? .Led, nd dill.nno bwween win ,nd mewred. Codedt.ign.tion,..Ivo ' i-.rltui md di.t.nco oro tlenciltd on o I'- ' m.rker .tl.ohed to .l.ke. Bhotoi, lop i oi facing P"l'. *' 'yP,cal i*1*'* slakes with their markers, e'v ' Before placing stakes we considered Kthree Items: (I) accident haxard to .C^pwlesirinns and traffic (2) operation of /V-' poWer lawn mowers ond other gardenfeiJ-g equipment (3) d.ngcr to p.ti.nU, LOCATE VALVES that are "lost" under IN ERITREA, Africa, in 1942, we ran into :tJJ iono.al of .take, by litem. Study ground by moving o large compass over almost (lie same problem when building Vibd-cd beet locolion of Hake. wo. the ores where valve is thought to be un aircraft repair base on the site of the i\ usually near permanent object,--build- lly keeping eard vertical, tbe needle Caproni assembly plant, which had been ' ings, trees, fence,. oto. Ul.tnnce of etoko , assumes a vertical position when direct severely bombed. By interviewing pris from valve was not too important. ly over valve. An'army mine detector oners of war we found a man, Angelo, Stakes are made from scrap 1-in. pipe, might also be used, but I haven't yet who.was willing to work for u and v .having a, 4-iii-square scrap steel piste OUTDOOR VAIVE markers give compass bearing ond distance so personnel can eosily locate volve. Sign olso Identifies valve '] welded to bottom. A 5x8-In. marker plate is welded to stake top. Post-hole seen one tried. Make markera from flat %-in.-lhick steel plate about 6x8 in. Weld o 2-ft who knew the water system. Starting from scratch with the lines we could find and Angelo's memory, digger is used to place the stakes. Back- length of scrap pipe or rod to plate bot we approximated the valve positions, ' Question No. 1: How Can We Find Underground Valves? .IfiH it well tamped in. Stakes cannot be f - removed without digging up earth V around them. Height of atakes varies tom. Letter plate with raised beads of weld metal on top foce. Paint o bright color, such os yellow, to contrast with marked them with stakes and started digging. 'Sometimes wo found a man hole or a valve after much digging. II HERE ARE TIIE FACTSi Our hospital has over 100 buildings on 1600 aeres. Water-supply pipes run underground to all parts of hospital. System Is quite complex. Several times we've had to find underground shut off valves in a hurry. Because we havo no positive system, we've wasted water. Isolated the wrong build* Ings, and had other delnyt. Problem Is farther eomplleatod by system changes noi shown on our plans, personnel turnover,, aod poor Indication of valve location. I'd like to straighten out this mess without bavin# to di# up every pipe and valve we have, then place unobtrusive markers for the volves that won't Interfere with lawn mowing. What's best way to mark vnlvesT How can we find them?--Rf.. April Power '--``with snowfall conditions. Oura are 24 in. above ground. Our last step was to make charts showing valve use, and which ones rauat f/ * be closed to Isolate a building. Chart* b.- are hung beside plot plan In plumber's '-.shop, and engine room, photo, bottom, r; facing page. Valve identification is easy. : ; In sn emergency all we nied know lawn. Drive plate Hush with gross so lawn mower clears It. Identify main and branch water lines with a letter corresponding to that on blueprint of system. Use numbers for further Identification and an arrow to show direction valve is opened, sketch. Bring blueprints aod records up to dote os soon as possible after locating we didn't, we installed new valves. By cut and try we found tho areas con trolled by each valve, recorded them, and stamped this information on brass handwheel disks. After building manholes for the valves, we stenciled reference markers on the nearest permonenl structure. Be sides tnoking drawings of the layout we :ii building or area affected before re* valves and manholes In piping system. prepared a lilting that quickly directed .ferring to chart to see which valves wc A W Could Lowell, Mass. a person to any valve he was interested Here Are the Answers. *; ' mutt dose. Equipped with a compass 4-r. andi measuring tape the operator easily in. Total time for job was about 60 duye, but we saved its cost the first year. >,'v"shd quickly locates the valves on his Sketch above shows typical reference m .si ite. ..trVj-ltrdaitowt,'*jTf'jeigjssue*!*jr* wi-tufr M-yW'M 1**? -It** *B H.Tilh futUi l:; -l'i CODE IDENTIFICATION of woter velvet and piping-system plan simplify volve use OUR HOSPITAL, o menial institution, t,'.'' firsl'try. resembles BL's in many ways. A few' i--',1 Wbht we like about our system is that years ago we had the same problem of: '? 'even though men come ond go, ond locating valves In water-supply mains.' V. valve locations moy be changed, o new Here's how we solved it. .'V x iqan can always find the right valve. Several emergencies showed few els our men could locate the right vaKel L-. 'Of course, this assumes markers will be y'*^changed whenever valves are. But to in a hurry. We lost water, suffered'! s'.', dale this job hasn't proven burdensome building and equipment damage that], J'> ;because valves are so seldom changed, would not hove occurred if ihe correct, ' valve had been closed. j-i v Markers are used only for main shutN offs. Valves for hydrants, buildings. To set up our marking program we,, divided our land into plots called Se*11 tors 1, 2, 3 and 4. Sector boundaries^ / . sprinklers, etc, run into the hundreds and individual identification would be v, Mnfuslng. In an emergency we Isolate were marked, on two largo plot planH . whole area; then when we have more of the water-system piping. A code^ :' ''^me, we return to shut the smaller designation was assigned each maini ' vslves. shutoff in each sector and marked .on.^ , We think our system is loos. The the plan. Code conslala of sector nufflM ber and a letter for each valve. For ln*.E . Ides Is not new. hut this use of bearings in degrees instead of loiter points ellm- .. .inatei confusion, especially where three lance, 2-C Indicates valve C in sector 2. J Next, we drove a stake near each/ 0f more valves are in a S-ft circle and valve. Then wo placed a compass on top ]j <\ some dlstanee from the markers. of the stake, and stretched a string j LCVah Hudf.n Oranpeburp. Tf. Y. marker used on this Job. Howard Holcomdb Los Alamos, N. M. USE MINE DETECTOR, purchased in a surplus-material store. It is simple to operate and can be carried by one man, as the sketch above shows. A M Pai.m&d Brooklyn, N. Y. SEVERAL SCHEMES 11L can use ore: 1. Unless accurate drawings of piping system are available, prepare a Row diagram -shqwing equipment served, pipe sixes ond valve tag numbers. Bo uro to'include master shutoff valves that isolated building. 2. Identify ell pipes by stenciling serv ice name on pipe where it ia readily seen. Or use eolor bands recommended by American Standards Association. 3. Attach metal jags to valve handwheels. Secure with handwheel nut or clomp on wheel spokes. List service, For this month's two new questions, turn to page 138 134 SLANT OPERATION ANO MAINTENANCE SECTION POWO- -PLANT OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE SECTION 195