EPRI Case History Study: High Pressure Feedwater

Heater Replacement
A Success Story in Outage Management and Project Execution
1010279

EPRI Case History Study: High Pressure Feedwater Heater

Replacement
A Success Story in Outage Management and Project Execution
1010279
Technical Update, December 2005

EPRI Project Manager

R. Chambers

ELECTRIC POWER RESEARCH INSTITUTE

3420 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, California 94304-1395 PO Box 10412, Palo Alto, California 94303-0813 USA
800.313.3774 650.855.2121 [email protected] www.epri.com

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Framatome ANP, Incorporated, an AREVA and Siemens Company

This is an EPRI Technical Update report. A Technical Update report is intended as an informal report of
continuing research, a meeting, or a topical study. It is not a final EPRI technical report.

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CITATIONS
This document was prepared by
Framatome ANP, Incorporated, an AREVA and Siemens Company
7207 IBM Drive
Charlotte, NC 28262
Principal Investigator
F. Causey
This document describes research sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
This publication is a corporate document that should be cited in the literature in the following
manner:
High Pressure Feedwater Heater Replacement: A Success Story in Outage Management and
Project Execution. EPRI, Palo Alto, 2005. 1010279.

iii

ABSTRACT
U.S. utilities are faced with the need for continuous change in the way plants are operated and
maintained. A focus on generation costs sets the stage for innovation in the way fossil plant
outages are planned and managed. While nuclear plants have been pioneers in this area, fossil
plant managers and support staff are now recognizing ways to extend runs between outages and
minimize outage duration. This is being accomplished with aggressive application of conditionbased maintenance, and improved outage management, including tighter controls and better
planning/engineering of plant modifications and upgrades.
This case study takes a high-level look at one plant upgrade performed at a major southeastern
U.S. utility in the context of how it contributed to a successful unit outage. The perspective will
be that of the engineering firm authoring this case study, who also provided the engineering
package for this plant upgrade.
Engineering outage challenges focused primarily on crane upgrades and structural modifications
required by increased feedwater heater loads.
The upgraded feedwater heaters were successfully installed on schedule, and within 2% of the
final cost estimate. Contributing to this level of accuracy were factors such as the level of design
completion, level of accuracy in bills of materials, experienced project and outage management,
and the use of experienced subcontractors.
Also examined are lessons learned from this project that will apply to similar upgrades
throughout the industry.

CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1-1
2 SCOPE DEFINITION ........................................................................................................... 2-1
3 RESPONSIBILITY MATRIX................................................................................................. 3-1
4 COST ESTIMATING ............................................................................................................ 4-1
5 ENGINEERING PHASE....................................................................................................... 5-1
6 MATERIALS ISSUES .......................................................................................................... 6-1
7 PRE-OUTAGE PLANNING.................................................................................................. 7-1
8 CONSTRUCTION ISSUES .................................................................................................. 8-1
9 OUTAGE ACTIVITIES COORDINATION ............................................................................ 9-1
10 INSTALLATION ISSUES..................................................................................................10-1
11 LESSONS LEARNED/BEST PRACTICES .......................................................................11-1

vii

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Old Feedwater Heater Ready for Disposal ................................................................ 2-1
Figure 2 New Feedwater Heater Prior to Uprighting Over Heater Bay..................................... 2-2
Figure 3 New Feedwater Heater Showing Support Leg Extensions ........................................ 5-2
Figure 4 16-Inch Elbow for New Feedwater Line..................................................................... 6-1
Figure 5 New Support Columns .............................................................................................. 7-2
Figure 6 Feedwater Line Welding............................................................................................ 8-1
Figure 7 Sparks Fly During Weld Prep/Repair......................................................................... 9-1

ix

1
INTRODUCTION
A major southeastern utility successfully completed a high-pressure feedwater heater
replacement, one of several significant tasks performed during the Spring 2003 outage. The
owner utilizes a proprietary Outage Management Process Manual to control outage planning and
execution. This process manual is extensive and comprehensive in its definitions of key roles,
responsibilities, and processes used for complete outage planning and management.
Outage planning is executed in six phases:
1. Conceptual - Planning that occurs 30 to 18 months prior to the outage.
2. Preliminary - Refinement of the conceptual plan, occurring 18 to 12 months prior to the
outage, and adding details to projects, work lists, etc.
3. Detailed - Completed six months prior to the outage, finished activities would include
awarding of project contracts with vendors.
4. Pre-Outage Work - This includes completion of materials requisitions, outage schedules,
safety and contingency plans, and other detailed components of the overall execution
plan.
5. Outage Execution - Actual execution of the work, accompanied by progress reporting to
management, along with preparing to return the unit to service.
6. Post-Outage - Normally extending up to 4 months after completion of the outage,
activities remaining would include final payment of invoices, final reporting to
management, and the completion of as-built drawings.
The various tasks and functions described in the feedwater heater replacement outage align with
multiple phases of the outage plan provided above. For example, Scope Definition is included in
the first three phases referenced above.

1-1

2
SCOPE DEFINITION
Project scope covers the replacement of two high-pressure feedwater heaters. The new heaters
have stainless steel tubes and a hemi-head design resulting in increased length, diameter, and
weight, as well as some new nozzle locations. Modifications to the turbine building were
required to set the heaters and handle the additional weight. Included in the work scope was the
design for the removal and disposal of the old heaters (shown below in Figure 1), installation and
reconnection of the new heaters (shown in Figure 2), replacement of small isolation and relief
valves, review of heater instrumentation and level controls, review and potential redesign of
floor openings and structural steel, and review and potential redesign of the heater drain and vent
systems. A modification to the turbine-building crane was required as well.
The lifting and rigging plan for this job included a crane modification designed by the OEM to
allow for a one-time engineered lift of 259,000 pounds plus rigging.

Figure 1
Old Feedwater Heater Ready for Disposal

2-1

Figure 2
New Feedwater Heater Prior to Uprighting Over Heater Bay

2-2

3
RESPONSIBILITY MATRIX
For this project, the owner handled procurement and construction activities and the engineer was
responsible only for the engineering package. Specific deliverables for all parties were identified
in the project scope document, and are listed below.
Engineer
Civil
1. Provide a lifting and rigging plan for removal of the old heaters, and the unloading, moving,
and installation of the new heaters.
2. Review floor openings for clearances needed to lower new heaters into place. Provide design
for floor modifications/core drills as needed. Include floor support steel as needed.
3. Determine if the new heaters should be shipped with or without heater support brackets.
4. Redesign the checkered plate support steel for the new heaters.
5. Redesign the lateral bracing structural attachments for the new heaters.
6. Review existing heater support stands for the weight and height of the new heaters and
provide the design for any modifications needed.
7. Provide stress analysis and support/restraint design for all new or redesigned piping.
8. Provide guidance on receiving and storing new heaters.
9. Review existing crane(s), lifting beams, etc. and coordinate with crane supplier to provide
any designs needed to support lifting and rigging plan.
10. Review any crane modification designs provided as part of this modification.
11. Issue bills of materials to allow the station to requisition support/restraint materials and
miscellaneous steel.
12. Provide as-built drawings.
13. Evaluate other structural members potentially impacted by heater replacement (column E31)
and provide the design for any modifications required.
14. Provide railcar loading instructions for transporting the heater to the station.
15. Provide the design and bills of materials needed for any cold-pull restraints.
16. Provide on-site engineering support during the crane modification.

3-1

Mechanical
1. Provide new or revised P&Ids for feedwater, heater bleeds and drains, heater vents, heater
relief valves, and heater level controls. Also provide as-built P&Ids.
2. Review and transmit heater vendor drawings.
3. Provide preliminary, final, and as-built piping drawings.
4. Provide data sheets for the shell-side and tube-side relief valves and flex-hose.
5. Provide data sheets for all necessary isolation valves.
6. Review feedwater system design conditions, pipe spec. requirements, etc.
7. Provide insulation requirements for new installation.
8. Provide engineering instructions.
9. Provide vent system orifices (coordinate with mfg.)
10. Provide Project Manager.
11. Provide on-site support during heater installation.

Electrical I&C
1. Review heater instrumentation and drains control design.
2. Provide any new I/C design required because of new heater design.
3. Provide any bills of materials needed to requisition I/C components needed to support this
design. The station will issue actual requisitions.
4. Provide electrical engineering support for turbine building crane trolley change out.

Installation Contractor
1. Fabricate and test lifting beam if necessary.
2. Remove existing heaters.
3. Install new heaters.
4. Install new piping and valves associated with the new heater design.
5. Insulate the new heaters, piping, and valves.

3-2

6. Provide for the inspection, and repair (if necessary) of the rail spur to be used for bringing the
new heaters into the turbine building.
7. Install structural steel modifications needed for increased heater loads.
8. Install structural steel modifications needed under area used for uprighting the new heaters.
9. Support engineer in development of the lifting and rigging plan.
10. Issue material requisitions from bills of materials supplied by engineer.

Owner
1. Provide vendor surveillance during heater manufacturer.
2. Conduct heater performance testing after installation at the stations request.
3. Provide project funding.
4. Provide Contract Administrator.
5. Provide funding for OEM crane evaluation and modification.

Plant
1. Install instrumentation associated with new feedwater heaters.

Project Management
1. Arrange for disposal of the old feedwater heaters.

3-3

4
COST ESTIMATING
The costs of the crane modification engineering, materials and installation were not included in
the engineering scope or cost estimate of the feedwater heater replacement, but were separate
items.
Engineering and materials were provided by the OEM and the installation contractor was
selected by the owner.
Within this utility capital project funding is done in two phases. Phase I is initial funding based
on a cost estimate compiled using a project scope document, prior to design completion, and
using a rough estimate for craft labor and materials cost. This level of estimating is ideally
completed in the conceptual phase of outage planning, with an expected accuracy of +/- 20%.
Phase II funding is based on a complete design, allowing for accurate installation and materials
cost estimates. The detailed outage planning period is the appropriate time for Phase II cost
estimating. Accuracy of the Phase II estimate, with the design information normally available at
this time, is +/- 5%.
For this project, the final project cost was within 2% of the Phase II estimate. Factors
contributing to the accuracy are:

Level of design completion at time of estimate

Level of accuracy in bills of materials

Experienced Project/Outage Management

Use of Experienced Sub-Contractors (Engineering, Installation, Crane Upgrade)

4-1

5
ENGINEERING PHASE
The utility provided the specification, including performance criteria, for the new heaters.
Therefore the engineering phase began with a set of relatively complete vendor drawings
showing new dimensions, weights, and nozzle locations.
One of the major challenges was the increased size and weight. The owners specification
provided improvements in performance, reliability, and component life. However, this resulted
in a replacement heater considerably longer, wider, and heavier than the original. Floor steel
reinforcement, and modifications around the heater bay openings were relatively easy to provide.
However, development of the lifting and rigging plan proved to be an interesting exercise.
The turbine building crane is a two-trolley design with an overall bridge capacity of 200 tons.
However, each of the two main trolleys was rated for 100 tons only. There was a third auxiliary
hook as well rated for 20 tons. The new heater had a design weight of 259,000 pounds (130
tons) empty, so either an upgrade to the bridge crane, or utilization of a mobile crane was going
to be needed for the lift.
After considering several options utilizing mobile cranes, it was decided to upgrade the turbine
building crane to provide the station with main trolleys rated for 150 tons, while the bridge
remained rated for 200 tons. This allowed the development of a lifting plan, utilizing only the
permanent turbine building crane, to move the new heaters from the railcar into their permanent
installation. New heaters are designed with upper and lower trunnions allowing for utilization of
both of the 150-ton trolleys. Slings are looped around the trunnions and threaded through the
main hooks of both trolleys to distribute the massive weight.
These feedwater heaters are U-tube design with channel inlet and outlet connections on the lower
head. The original heaters were full-access channels with bolted covers providing channel inlet
and outlet nozzles perpendicular to the heater. Replacement heaters are a hemi-head design
where the feedwater inlet and outlet nozzles were 30 degrees below perpendicular. The impact
this had on feedwater system connections was the most significant piping design issue.
Rerouting feedwater inlet and outlet lines to the new nozzle locations was accomplished with
surprisingly little impact in the already crowded area between the mezzanine and turbine room
floors.
Being just downstream of the feedwater pumps, feedwater lines connecting the high pressure
heaters have some of the most extreme design conditions in the plant, requiring pipe wall
thickness over two inches. The high thermal stresses involved require pre-stressing using
temporary cold-pulled restraints installed before the cuts were made to the feedwater line.
Once new piping was in place, the temporary restraints were removed, and permanent supports
and restraints carried the operating loads.
Structurally, high loads from new heavier heaters had to be considered all the way from the rail
spur entering the turbine building to the support steel around and under the heaters. The initial
idea of reinforcing existing steel underneath the heaters was scrapped in favor of adding new
5-1

columns transferring the additional load down to the basement floor. This represented a savings
in both schedule and construction scope.
Figure 3 shows support leg extensions needed for the new feedwater heaters.

Figure 3
New Feedwater Heater Showing Support Leg Extensions

5-2

6
MATERIALS ISSUES
With piping design completion only weeks before the outage, materials had to be fast-tracked.
In addition, a new materials requisitioning system was in place at the utility. The result was
acceptance of heavy-wall pipe with excess wall thickness (up to beyond minimum wall). The
additional machining required in the field for weld-preps for proper match-ups proved to be
expensive and time-consuming (see the 16-inch elbow in Figure 4). A key point in the lessonslearned summary was to provide piping bills of materials far in advance of the outage on the next
project.
Careful procedures for hazardous materials abatement and removal were built into the outage
plan as well.

Figure 4
16-Inch Elbow for New Feedwater Line

6-1

7
PRE-OUTAGE PLANNING
Project schedule development involved the integration of three separate schedules: engineering,
procurement/manufacturing, and implementation. The engineering schedule was abbreviated
and focused on milestones needed to support the overall project, such as design release dates.
The owner was responsible for procurement and installation, and therefore maintained the
overall project schedule and used input from engineering to develop and maintain the overall
integrated schedule.
The pre-outage work consisted of two work scopes related to this modification.
The first was adding new columns to the floor support steel below the heaters, between the
mezzanine and basement floors. Figure 5 depicts these new supports. This work was handled
pre-outage but still required careful planning because of the nearby 4160 volt bus duct shown to
the upper left of the columns to the left of the light fixtures. Steel modification work was done in
the fall of 2002.
The second was the turbine building crane modification. This was outsourced separately to the
crane OEM and had to be complete prior to the start of the outage. During this same outage
there were other major projects, such as turbine maintenance, requiring use of the crane, so
accurate, on-schedule completion of the crane work was critical to the success of the outage.
The crane modification work was done in late winter, prior to the spring 2003 heater
replacement.

7-1

Figure 5
New Support Columns

7-2

8
CONSTRUCTION ISSUES
There are 40 connections on each heater, most of which are between the mezzanine floor and
turbine room floor. Although several of these are maintenance drains that arent connected to
piping, the nozzles that are connected to permanent piping systems provide a view looking up
from the mezzanine floor that can best be described as spaghetti. Obviously this presents some
installation issues for the pipe fitters. Pipe work including cutting, welding, NDE, hanger
installation, and thermal insulation all had to be carefully coordinated. For these heaters, the
largest line was 16 (feedwater) with a minimum wall thickness of 2.19 inches. All piping was
carbon steel.

Figure 6 shows the installation work under way on the new feedwater line.

Figure 6
Feedwater Line Welding

8-1

9
OUTAGE ACTIVITIES COORDINATION
This station, like many, has permanent planners on staff who provide a detailed schedule of all
outage activities. Individual project schedules are integrated into the master schedule by the
planner. It is his responsibility to coordinate concerns such as crane availability, craft utilization,
staffing, station access, rail spur access, laydown space, staging areas, and other factors that
contribute to a smooth outage.
During the outage, regular meetings with craft, contractors, safety, engineering support and
project management help to identify issues before they escalate into problems. Decisions to
double-shift or add labor are made as the outage progresses.
Weld preparation or repair work is shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7
Sparks Fly During Weld Prep/Repair

9-1

10
INSTALLATION ISSUES
Lifting the new longer, wider, and heavier heaters was the dominant installation concern,
requiring a detailed lifting and rigging plan. Although the heaters were set on feet having the
same footprint as the old heater, the larger shell diameter required that one of the three legs be
shipped loose, and welded on in the field. The new heater had to stay on the crane hook until the
third leg was welded on.
Kevlar slings were used around the trunnions to rig the heater to the crane. While the heater was
vertical, supported only by the upper trunnions, a tear developed in the protective sleeve
surrounding the sling. Although the structural integrity of the sling was intact, the visibility of
the tear provided some anxiety for the rigging crew and crane operator. Figure 8 shows the
feedwater heater being uprighted in the turbine building.
Turnover activities were coordinated by the station responsible engineer, as was startup testing.
The installation contractor provided red-marked as-built drawings to the engineer for revision
and transmittal.

10-1

Figure 8
Uprighting Process

10-2

11
LESSONS LEARNED/BEST PRACTICES
After job completion, a meeting was held with engineering, the utility, and the installation
contractor to discuss the significant conclusions that could be taken from this job and applied to
future work. These are summarized below.
1. Inspection of the crane rail extensions needs to be an early activity. If they appear to be in
good condition, further review of their design may be added to the scope.
2. Final design completion needs to be well in advance of construction start. This would
include the lifting and rigging plan. Engineering target is hitting 100% of scheduled
engineering release dates.
3. Structural design needs to be complete in support of the spring 2004 outage. The current
scheduled completion date for this is 11/15/03. (Note: this was about 5 months in advance of
the outage).
4. Tighten up requirements and delivery of heavy wall pipe and fittings. Need to minimize
excess wall thickness which leads to expensive weld prep. This will require an early release
for piping bills of materials. Have materials on site in time to allow for pre-outage prep
work.
5. Need to build in a review cycle through owners engineering for contractor-issued
engineering documents.
6. Need to include some spares or excess materials on the piping bills of materials so that the
station has everything needed on-site.
7. Basement support columns are preferred.
8. Consider the following changes to the unit 4 heaters:

Extend length of upper trunnions two inches to accommodate wide chokers.

Have every leg at least tack-welded on.

Change the N connection (shell-side relief valve) to 2 to match the existing valve.

Reexamine location of guide lugs connecting to horizontal stabilizers. Unit 3 worked

well, but was a change from the original design.

Have the manufacturer stencil nozzle markers on at the factory.

Reconsider the need for capped nozzles (such as emergency drains). Make sure all
nozzles that need to be capped are capped at the factory.

11-1

Consider adding leg extensions to the manufacturers scope.

9. Reexamine specifications for rigging slings in light of unit 3 experience. Why did the
sleeves tear and what changes need to be made for the slings used on the next lift?
10. Have a civil and mechanical engineer on site for two weeks near the start of the outage.
11. Scope out electrical interferences more carefully for field-routed piping.
12. Reexamine leg base plate material, welding, and bolting requirements. Base plate bowed due
to welding on one side only resulting in some bolts being too short.
13. Engineer needs to be copied on communications between heater manufacturer and the owner.
14. Engineer requests that the station verify the new crane hook elevations.
15. Verify that all materials are clearly called out on bills of materials.
16. Clarify the phase 2 estimate to identify materials to be purchased, but not yet identified on
design drawings or bills of materials.
17. Identify thermowell locations more clearly on drawings.
18. Get early buy-in from all parties on lifting and rigging plan.
19. Note small lines, such as pressure equalization lines around valves, on design drawings, even
if dimensions are unknown
20. Reexamine design of new lifting lugs for old heaters. Owner feels that unit 3 design was too
conservative and could have been improved if shell thickness measurements of old heaters
were used in the lug design
21. Reexamine cribbing design. Owner felt it was too conservative.
22. Issue hard copy drawings on the transmittals.

11-2

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1010279