University Cooling Tower Dismantling Project

A large Staten Island mechanical contractor contacted R. Baker & Son to remove a 1,000-ton cooling tower at a university to make way for a new high-efficiency tower and filtration system. The Baker team was also responsible for removing structural steel and rigging in new supports for the new equipment. We had a four-day window to complete our phase of the project so that the new tower would be online by April 1 for the start of the cooling season. Design drawings were hard to come by, so the project involved a good amount of field planning with the mechanical contractor. 

Prior to rigging and dismantling, the contractor brought in a temporary rental cooling tower, cleaned the old tower to make our phase of the project safer and more efficient, and disconnected the tower electrically and mechanically. Working from the top down, Baker crew members removed the fans, motors, and fan housings using an 850-ton crane with 8-foot spreader bars and chain hoists. The tower’s internal and external walls were cut into manageable sections and bundled with slings for efficient crane removal. Large tower sumps and manifold piping were demoed using oxyacetylene torches, grinders, and reciprocating saws, and bundled as well. Finally, we removed the existing structural I-beams and rigged in the new steel supports that were bolted and stitch-welded together by the end of day four and ready for the new cooling tower to be set the next day, right on time.

About R. Baker & Son All Industrial Services

R. Baker & Son All Industrial Services, a Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE), in business since 1935, is a premier specialized contractor operating in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, with over one hundred employees and an exemplary safety record (we have been directly involved in four sites that received VPP OSHA Safety Awards). R. Baker & Son is financially strong, with bonding capabilities of over $10 million. Capabilities include industrial and commercial demolition, rigging, machinery- and plant-moving, dismantling, decommissioning, plant and equipment relocation, interior demolition, selective demolition, warehousing, wrecking and razing, millwright, plant reconfigurations, heavy rigging, salvage, environmental services, remediation, decontamination, abatement, and investment and asset recovery.

R. Baker & Son - All Industrial Services
190 Boundary Road
Marlboro, NJ 07746
732-222-3553

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