The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAW) presented its yearly award for excellence in engineering to McGuire Engineers and Metropolitan Industries, Inc., for design achievements demonstrated during work on the John Hancock Building located in Chicago.
The award was presented by Jim Wolf, national president of ASHRAE, during a local chapter dinner held on February 5. John Kochan, Jr., president, accepted the award on Metropolitan’s behalf.
Metropolitan Industries and its subcontractors, Aspen Plumbing and Blaze Electric, made extensive repairs to a pumping system that supplied water to the condominium and transmitter equipment. The problem facing Metropolitan’s engineers was how to make repairs to the pumps without disturing water flow to the transmitter gear and hundreds of residnets.
The key to metropolitan’s success was designing a header assembly that takes flow from the fill water pump system in the basement. By shifting the butterfly valve handles, the company could shut the supply of tank water to the pumps and open the supply of the pressure header to the pumps. The end result was the ability to repair the tank and supply water to the building at the same time.
Source: Metropolitan Industries, Inc.
