Emergency Generator Repair at NJ Hospital

R. Baker & Son was performing rigging and demolition on a mechanical HVAC renovation project at a northern New Jersey hospital when a utility power failure occurred. All of the hospital’s generators came on as required, but one failed during the cool-down cycle after running for a few hours due to a cylinder malfunction on a 2,000 kW diesel engine. Fortunately, the power was restored just minutes later and the generator’s failure cause no adverse effects in the hospital, but it was determined that repairing the engine would have a poor return on investment. A new diesel engine was located and ordered for emergency shipment to the hospital, along with a temporary emergency generator and cable should there be a power failure during replacement, and R. Baker & Son was tasked with the removal of the failed generator and rigging and setting the replacement. 

The existing generators were located in the basement in concrete vaults, and the only access point large enough to accommodate equipment was an air shaft not much larger than the units. With the assistance of a generator manufacturer representative, a Baker crew separated the failed diesel engine from the generator and carefully maneuvered it into the air shaft using several chain hoists and spreader bars. Once positioned in the air shaft, an 80-ton hydraulic crane was used to lift the old engine out through the hospital’s roof and rig the replacement engine down through the shaft and into the basement vault for installation. The entire operation, from disassembly and removal of the old engine to rigging in and installing the replacement, was accomplished in just nine hours by R. Baker & Son’s team of riggers and millwrights.

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

https://rbaker.com/