An Iron and Metal Recycling Facility, Located in Dayton, Ohio called and had a
transformer fail and was asking for help. I contacted Don Morris to asked for his
assistance. Between Don and Mike Butler, we decided to get Springfield Field Service involved. Jim Delawder and I were to make a site visit, collect photos and information to feed back to Don for evaluation. Dan Sneary showed up on site and did a temporary repair to get the transformer back on-line. In the meanwhile, Matt Velandingham was able to source a replacement transformer. The new transformer had a 50 working day lead time. The hope was to have the temporary repair last until March.
In February the new transformer arrived at the customer’s site. Dave Whited was there to receive the transformer for condition verification. It was a cold snowy day in April. The repair held and it was time to swap the transformer. Due to COVID-19, their business is down, and
I noticed the typical scrap metal mountain is currently just a hill. This made it the perfect time to swap out the transformers. Dan Sneary and Larry Stickney went through all their safety checks and prepared the transformer for removal. With all the leads marked and removed, the customer’s crew lifted the 26,400-pound transformer from its place, set it aside and the new transformer went into its new home. After meticulously weaving the cables into their places, they were connected to the transformer. After several hours, the final connections were made, final testing began. With the testing completed, power was applied to the
transformer. The voltage and phase rotation were verified at the two 2,000hp DC drives to ensure the proper operation of the two 2,000hp shredder motors. Job complete! The shredder is still running no issues. The original transformer, with the recommendation of Don Morris, is going to be cryogenically cleaned by Horner Springfield Field Service. It will be sealed in shrink wrap plastic and put into storage on site. It will be used as a back-up if needed in the future.
