October 19, 2009
Lodge 359 Boilermakers Pride Prevails in Kamloops
During the months of June and July, 2009, 35 members of Lodge 359 went into Domtar's Pulp mill in Kamloops British Columbia to do a partial generator section rebuild, working for Canadian Industrial Mills Services (CIMS). Matt Beauregard, the superintendent for the project, reports that "the crew worked under extreme heat, due to the fact that the other boilers were running plus it was mid summer in one of the hottest geographic areas of B.C., some days it was 39 degrees outside, never mind how hot inside it was."
Boilermaker sliding into one of the drums
In addition, the Boilermakers were required to wear personal protective clothing and equipment to ensure their personal safety while working in a confined space.
The Power Boiler was built in the early 1970's; the drums created a challenge but that did not slow down the Red Seal Boilermakers of lodge 359 and CIMS. Some days they were only able to get 15 to 20 tubes stabbed due to the conditions of the drums. Beauregard added "In the end the Boilermakers prevailed using their expertise and pride, to get job right the first time."
The first task was the removal of the tubes by arc air gougers.
After the removal of the tubes and the tube ends it was time to clean and prepare the tube sheet holes inside and outside the drums.
After that the tubes were then stabbed into place and the tack tubes were expanded into place to prevent the drums from rotating.
Once the tack tubes were in place the Boilermakers set the tubes into place.
Each tube was expanded to sit tightly into the tube seats with the tube ends sticking out pass the tube sheet inside the steam drum using the CIMS tube expansion procedure.
Phil Halley, Business Manager of Lodge 359, reports that before the job started he met with the client along with Dave Ingram, the General Manager and Vice- President of CIMS, to explain that "the members of 359 are the highest trained Boilermakers in North America". He further assured the owner "that by using 359 the job would be done in a very safe & professional manner". Once the client was able to see the co-operation they were promised by the union, CIMS was awarded the contract over a contractor with limited experience in this type of construction that does not hire 359 members.
John McLaughlin, owner of CIMS and a member of Lodge 359, said "the 15,000 man hour project was a complete success with no injuries and a 100% dry hydro test, the tubes were rolled tight the first time."
Joe Maloney the International Vice-President of Western Canada said "Again the members of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers pride got the job done accident free and on time, giving our employers and clients an advantage in a competitive global economy."
"The Local 359 Boilermaker community contributes significantly to the success of the Kamloops pulp mill. Simply put, we could not execute a shutdown or project without this resource as they have a unique skill set," says Greg Drinkwater, power and recovery manager at the mill. "The recently completed work on our power boiler is an excellent example of these skills at work along with ingenuity and plain old determination to get the job done safely while working under challenging working conditions."
Besides the generator rebuild the Boilermakers and CIMS made repairs to the air heater, fire air ports, hog chutes, expansion joints, dust collectors, super heaters and ID fan.