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April 28, 2005

Making Pitt Work: Steamfitter Paul Werley goes underground

You can’t see it, but it’s there: Under Forbes and Fifth avenues and many of the streets in between and beyond, a spider web of pipes threaded through a maze of tunnels blows the cool breeze into Pittsburgh campus offices and classrooms when it’s hot and lets off steam to warm campus buildings when it’s cold.

The steam heat and air conditioning for some 60 campus buildings serves as the respiratory system for the University, taking in water and pumping out steam or chilled water, whatever the weather requires, changing the temperature of the air in offices and classrooms. But it doesn’t happen automatically: On a daily basis, seven steamfitters and dozens of engineers plan, tinker, repair and expand the system.

During a typical week, a computer in Facilities Management spits out work orders for preventive maintenance covering 3,300 pieces of mechanical equipment supporting heating, ventilation and air conditioning. With that much equipment, work never is routine, according to Laura Zullo, manager of equipment preservation in Facilities Management. Budgets are prepared, parts are ordered, and engineers and steamfitters complete jobs. And that’s if everything runs smoothly, sans unexpected malfunctions or new projects.

Zullo confers with Paul Werley, steamfitter foreman, who schedules maintenance, trouble shoots, gives estimates on new job requests and orders parts such as new valves for the steam lines. They may have to deal with temperature problems in an individual office or classroom. Most of Pitt’s buildings have temperature sensors in each room, controlled by computers. Facilities Management engineers can check and adjust the temperature in any given room on campus with a keystroke.

But on this spring day, one of Werley’s tasks is to walk the tunnel running from beneath Posvar Hall, under the lawn of Frick Fine Arts and ending at the Bellefield Boiler Plant in Panther Hollow. This is a portion of the one-plus miles of campus steam tunnels that are checked monthly for leaks and other problems. Werley also inspects the condensation lines that carry water created by excess steam back to the Bellefield plant to be heated and converted to steam again.

Not a place to linger, the cement tunnel from Posvar Hall to the Bellefield boiler Plant is large enough to stand and walk in easily, but the average temperature of 110 degrees, no matter the season, makes for sweaty work. The very presence of the steam lines — carrying steam at 175 pounds per square inch of pressure at about 388 degrees — creates dry heat in the tunnel.

But Werley said he is used to the blistering heat. When he has to check some valves or make a repair, he makes sure he brings plenty of drinking water with him.

Werley and his staff must check the steam lines regularly for leaks. Taking a pair of pliers, Werley checks the condition of an expansion joint, explaining that the fitting compensates for the expansion of the pipe when it’s heated. “If you didn’t have such releases for these high-pressure lines, they would have a difficult time staying attached to the wall,” he said.

Posvar Hall is the main hub for chilled water and a major site for the distribution of steam heat throughout the lower campus. The steam leaves the Bellefield plant and travels through lines reaching out to various parts of campus.

The steam that makes its way to Posvar Hall travels through underground pipes and tunnels to the bowels of lower-campus buildings, where the steam is sent to air handlers, which heat the air that is sent to offices, classrooms and labs.

Taking a break from the heat, Werley checks the chiller plant in the basement of Posvar Hall. Chillers are huge air-conditioning systems used to chill water that is sent to buildings on campus, creating cool air for circulation.

In Posvar Hall, the hum of compressors reverberates throughout the basement, which is filled with a row of five chillers, lined up like hotdogs on the grill at the Original. Each chiller is about 20 feet long, resembling a stripped-down locomotive sprouting color-coded pipes, valves and pulleys.

Werley has been spending time with the chillers this winter, prepping them for spring. While Pitt staffers and faculty were reaching for their mittens and thermostats, Werley and colleagues worked on the cooling system, checking parts and re-tooling sections of the system.

“The chillers are dependable,” said Werley who points out an older model that is very powerful and operates best when run hard during the hottest summer months. He said he likes the seasons and the change they bring.

“There’s always something new to do,” Werley said. “The job is extremely busy but it’s never boring.”

—Mary Ann Thomas


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