The Merrick Group, Inc.

The Merrick Group was called upon several times in 2011 to complete hydro-excavation projects at PPL Susquehanna.

One of our newest services, we use a specialized high pressure water blasting head along with a vac truck's suction to hydro-excavate the ground to uncover underground piping systems.

Hydro-excavation is used in lue of traditional excavating to protect any other underground piping or wiring during the excavation process.

The work completed at Susquehanna was done in two separate projects.

The first project was to replace the river intake piping at each cooling tower and the second was to install a valve in the plants fresh water piping system.

Our crews worked safely and successfully to complete the project on time and within the specifications required by the plant.

Our company worked with the PPL Montour Power Plant in Washingtonville, PA on thier spring outages of Unit 1 and Unit 2.

We had various crews working on multiple projects during their outages. The three main projects completed was their condenser cleaning, raw river piping hydrolazing, and heat exchanger cleaning.

Our crew worked around the clock to complete the condenser tube cleaning within the alloted time frame. This was a very aggressive window and our crew worked tirelessly to finish ahead of schedule.

The raw river piping was cleaned using manual hand lancing and the rotary hose device with pressures up to 10,000 psi to clean the piping system. The walls of the pipes were reduced by 50% due to continuous service. Our technicians were able to return these pipes back to the original diameter.

The heat exchanger cleaning was done by manual hand lancing with 10,000 psi.

All work was completed safely, on time and within budget.

The Merrick Group returned to PPL SSES in the spring of 2011 to take part in Susquehanna's refueling and inspection outage. Our crew worked around the clock to ensure our work was done safely and successfully.

We took part in several intricate parts of the outage this year. 

Our company was responsible for the entire maintenance of PPL Susquehanna's Cooling Tower. This work included inspecting and repairing any deteriorated fill sheet and nozzles, removing algae and debris with 10,000 psi water blasting of the cooling tower support columns, removing all of the sediment and debris from the cooling tower basin, and making any necessary concrete repairs.

The Merrick Group worked hand in hand with PPL employees to drain the entire facility. This project takes coordination and cooperation to ensure it is completed on time and does not hold up any other work groups at the facility. Our crew successfully worked around the clock to remove all of the water from the power plant.

Our skilled technicians completed the maintenance to Susquehanna's safety related residual heat removal (RHR) system heat exchanger. Our team worked through our full heat exchanger maintenance program. We disassembled the unit, followed by an inspection and wipe down. Once the heat exchanger was wiped down, our technicians worked around the clock using 20,000 psi hydrolazing to clean the tubes of the RHR heat exchanger. This was followed by a full NACE inspection and repairing of any surface that was identified as damaged due to service.  Our crew followed by reassembling the heat exchanger and torquing to the specified amounts.

The entire outage was a success and The Merrick Group completed it safely, on time, and within budget.

In March 2011, The Merrick Group took part in Beaver Valley's Refueling and Inspection Outage. Our company was called upon to work on hydrolazing using the rotary hose device. Using 10,000 psi water pressure, we hydrolazed their raw river piping. This piping was 21" and was reduced due to years of service. Our team of skilled technicians successfully returned the system to the original wall of the pipe. The project was completed safely, on-time, and within budget.

The Merrick Group Inc was hired by COT - Puritech to provide hydrolazing services at Merck Pharmaceutical. Our services were needed to remove scale, stalactites, and oil from a turbine in which there was a mixture of oils present. Merrick's needed to clean the turbine before COT - Puritech could introduce a new oil into the system. Our technicians disassembled over 100 flanges and two heat exchangers for cleaning. A combination of gun work and hand lancing was used to clean the pipes, flanges, end-bells, water-boxes, and heat exchangers. All of the components were cleaned to the satisfaction of the facility. Our technicians completely reassembled, including fully torquing, every component. When put back into service, the facility reported that not one flange had to tightened for leaks. All of the work was completed on-time, within budget and safely.

Susquehanna Unit 1 entered an emergency forced outage in July 2010. The Merrick Group was requested to come on site and work around the clock to repair and replace fill sheet in the Unit 1 Cooling Tower. The Merrick Group replaced over 2,000 pieces of fill sheet during the 4-day outage. All work was completed on time and safely.

The Merrick Group holds yearly contracts with PPL Montour. For the 2010 outages of Unit 1 and Unit 2, we were called upon to service their condensers, heat exchangers, raw river inlet and outlet piping, and scrubber absorber ducts.

The Unit 1 Outage was a mini, 72-hour outage in which The Merrick Group worked around the clock to clean the heat exchangers and condensers.

The heat exchangers were cleaned with 10,000 psi hand lancing. The condensers were cleaning using high volume water and metal scrappers. Our crew was successful in cleaning 36,000 tubes and rodding out any obstructed ones in the 72-hour window allotted by the outage.

The Unit 2 Outage was a 4-week main outage in which The Merrick Group worked around the clock on cleaning heat exchangers, condensers, raw river inlet and outlet piping, and the scrubber system absorber ducts.

The heat exchangers were cleaned with 10,000 psi hand lancing. The condensers were cleaning using high volume water and metal scrappers. Our crew was successful in cleaning 36,000 tubes, twice and rodding out any obstructed ones in the 1-week window allotted by the plant. The diligent crew successfully completed the project one day early to ensure on-time completion for the facility.

PPL Montour had not cleaned their raw river inlet and outlet piping in 40 years. Most of the pipes were restricted over 50%. Our crew removed approx 500lbs of solids from the pipes. The pipes were successfully opened using 10,000 psi hand lancing and with the use of the Rotary Hose Device to the original wall of the pipes.

The scrubber system absorber ducts were cleaned using 10,000psi gun work. Our crew meticulously used the high-pressure water to remove the stalactites formed from the scrubber system slurry. With the time allotted, our technicians were able to remove material above and beyond the expectations of the facility.

All work was completed on-time, safely, and to the acceptance of the facility.

Before

After

This Spring The Merrick Group completed another successful year at the Susquehanna Steam and Electric Station (SSES) in Berwick, PA. Each year, our workload grows and so does our thirst for more. This year we were responsible for the maintenance work of all the heat exchangers, condensers, cooling tower, and drain down of the plant.

In addition to our current workload, this year we took on the Drain Down aspect of the outage. Our personnel were responsible for draining all of the circ and service water from Susquehanna Unit 1. This was a daunting task that our skilled personnel rose to the occasion to complete safely and in a timely manner to help the outage move on smoothly.

Once the plant was drained, it allowed our other crews to take action. Our heat exchanger and condenser crews worked around the clock to assure that the outage stayed on schedule. We were responsible for the dismantling, NACE inspections, cleaning, repairing, and reassembling of all heat exchangers and condensers at SSES. This included extensive work on the largest piece of safety related equipment, The Residual Heat Removal (RHR) heat exchanger.

Our heat exchanger work also included the removal and reassembly of an entire water box for the installation of a new gasket between the water box and tube sheet of a stator cooler. As the outage progressed, Merrick's was given various emergent and expanded work from PPL. This included supporting operations with finding and repairing a tube leak in one of the condensers, multiple in service leak inspections, and more heat exchanger cleaning and repairs.

The cooling tower crew successfully serviced the entire cooling tower. Upon drain down of the basin, Merrick personnel de-mucked the entire basin by removing 220 tons of river mud. This mud was then pressed and de-watered for removal from site. The basin floor was subsequently cleaned. The cooling tower crew then worked their way through the outside of the structure high pressure cleaning all the algae and debris from inspected and identified support columns followed by any structural repairs deemed necessary. The skilled crew moved on to inspect and rebuild identified areas of fill sheet from within the tower along with a complete nozzle inspection and replacement. The final piece of maintenance included washing the mud from all distribution headers within the tower.

This project was completed on time, safely, and within budget. Each year, the work scope continues to grow and Merrick's continues to set the standard for safety and cleanliness within the worksite.

Drain Down Crew Inserting Pump In Cooling Tower Spillway

Replacing Fill Sheet in Cooling Tower

Merrick Personnel High Pressure Cleaning Cooling Tower Support Columns