# Where I was at till 10 p.m.



## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

This is a hole at Dresden Nuke. It's inside the OCA (Owner Controlled Area,) but outside the PA (Protected Area.) It means it's inside the perimeter, you have to go thru the checkpoint, but not thru any turnstiles, so unbadged visitors, like me, don't need an escort. There was 4" Sch. 80 PVC line coming from the north. A 45 then a travel piece, another 45, then a 4x 3 reducer, with 3" sched 32 coming out of the reducer. The reducer cracked, because the it was in a bind, and all the years of stress finally caught up to it. I made a repair using a 4" cast iron coupling and a 3" cast iron coupling, when the water was turned, the first 45 was pushed off the pipe. So I had to cut out everything in the shoring box and rework it. Thankfully, I had brought some Sch. 80 45's with me and was able to make up a spool piece and reuse the cast iron couplings, turned on the water and my 4" coupling blew off:furious: Pumped out the hole and put the 4" coupling back on and just cranked the crap out of it. It's supposed to draw evenly as you tighten it up, but the pipes weren't parallel, and were a little off in elevation, and I made the spool piece out of the hole so it was dialed in. I really didn't have any options but to crank hard and hope for the best. This job was a make or break for several people's careers, because the plant is having it's annual employee and neighbor Easter Egg hunt today, and of course it is being held on the grounds of the training building. Anyway, we got it done, after I knelt on wet sandstone, turning wrenches for several hours, getting soaked and then the temp dropped from the 60's into the 40's. I got home about 10:15, showered, ate, went to bed and slept till 11 this morning.


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

*pic showing part of the plumbing*

This is the hole while it was being excavated. They don't dig here. They use jet vacs. That's the suction hose in the pic. The 45 visible is the south one, not the north, which is the one that blew off.


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

I hope they pay you well for the work you do. 

Meaning, above scale.


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## user2090 (Sep 26, 2009)

Glad your doing the work and not me. Does not look or sound like fun.


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

Sounds like you needed these restraint flanges.

http://www.starpipeproducts.com/jr.asp


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

slickrick said:


> Sounds like you needed these restraint flanges.
> 
> http://www.starpipeproducts.com/jr.asp


I would have used them or Mega-lugs, but I went and looked at the job Thursday, and had to order and pick up the material on Friday morning. The bottom of the hole was sandstone, the pipe laid right on it, no bedding, no room for flanges. If I had the time, it would have been a spool piece between two flanges. Either solvent welded or mechanical flange. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to do what I wanted. On the plus side, my brother works for the GC who does the maintence and construction on site and he was my escort in the plant, I bought him lunch and we repaired a sewer line break together:thumbup:


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

DUNBAR PLUMBING said:


> I hope they pay you well for the work you do.
> 
> Meaning, above scale.


Yesterday was a 15 hour day, so it worth $832.50, before taxes.


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

Was that a Vac trailer or something larger. Do they dump the material out and fill the hole or is it a muck at that point? I want one.


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## DUNBAR PLUMBING (Sep 11, 2008)

jjbex said:


> Yesterday was a 15 hour day, so it worth $832.50, before taxes.


 

Awesome. Now if you could figure out how to keep that tax bracket you're busting through to a higher % without giving it away to the gubbament, you could really make off like a bandit.


Time to start having more kids, like 9 of them.


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

slickrick said:


> Was that a Vac trailer or something larger. Do they dump the material out and fill the hole or is it a muck at that point? I want one.


It's a jet-vac truck. The GC has 2 of them onsite. One guy runs the jety hose, which is about 3000psi, and the operator mans the suction hose. He has a radio control box strapped around his neck that lets him control the vac hose and engine. They have a little dump site inside the plant, another one outside the plant.


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## Bayside500 (May 16, 2009)

what do you mean when you say "spool piece" ?


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

Short piece with flange on both ends to tie-in the line.


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## Bayside500 (May 16, 2009)

slickrick said:


> Short piece with flange on both ends to tie-in the line.


oh i see now


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## SlickRick (Sep 3, 2009)

If he would had the time he would have pre-fabed his 45 and pieces with flanges on both ends ( all of it being a spool piece) and put flanges on the other 2 ends, dropped it in and bolted it up. No slipping there.


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

slickrick said:


> If he would had the time he would have pre-fabed his 45 and pieces with flanges on both ends ( all of it being a spool piece) and put flanges on the other 2 ends, dropped it in and bolted it up. No slipping there.


You got it Rambo! I woulda had the laborers chip the sandstone and make some nice bell holes to fit the flanges, glued flanges on, took measurements, had a partner cut and fab and then bolt up the flanges and cool it a day. The flanges would have been nice because water was trickling through non-stop.


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## Bollinger plumber (Apr 3, 2009)

I am surprised they let you take pictures, whenever I went to nuke plants to work they would not let us take pictures and when we would camera a sewer line they would take the tape and not let us have a copy.


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

Bollinger plumber said:


> I am surprised they let you take pictures, whenever I went to nuke plants to work they would not let us take pictures and when we would camera a sewer line they would take the tape and not let us have a copy.


We can take pics outside the power block all day long. In the power block, you need to ask permission, they always give it to me, because it's just pictures of plumbing, nothing critical.


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## PlumbingTheCape (Mar 1, 2010)

looks like some kind of gold mine or something


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

PlumbingTheCape said:


> looks like some kind of gold mine or something


oh, it's a gold mine, alright:thumbup:


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## ILPlumber (Jun 17, 2008)

jjbex said:


> You got it Rambo! I woulda had the laborers chip the sandstone and make some nice bell holes to fit the flanges, glued flanges on, took measurements, had a partner cut and fab and then bolt up the flanges and cool it a day. The flanges would have been nice because water was trickling through non-stop.


Aren't laborers great! 

Just yell "Hey stupid" and they all look...:laughing: Just kidding folks. Please send hate mail to Rockstarplumber. He takes care of my light work...


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## 422 plumber (Jul 31, 2008)

Matt said:


> Aren't laborers great!
> 
> Just yell "Hey stupid" and they all look...:laughing: Just kidding folks. Please send hate mail to Rockstarplumber. He takes care of my light work...


My brother is a laborer. However, on the whole, I have to agree. It's usually a tossup between them and the ironworkers over who's the scuzziest, most stupid tattoos, fewest teeth.


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