USA fleet member Susquehanna and its Electrical Maintenance “Chiller Crew” has a new crew member—his name is “Bill,” short for “Buffalo Bill” or “Water Buffalo.” These names will all become clear in a moment.

At Susquehanna, when a Chiller pump-down of refrigerant is required, the on-board pump-down compressor is used. There is a Condenser on this pump-down unit which has a hook-up for water—designed to allow water to flow through the Condenser, keeping the pump-down unit cool, condensing the refrigerant vapor into liquid and allowing the pump-down unit to work more efficiently—and faster. Water was used in the 1980’s to accomplish this task but because of water leaks, the unit’s piping was removed.

“From that time until present, refrigerant was always moved by the pump-out compressor without water,” said Electrical Maintenance Supervisor Charlie Reed. “That challenged the pump-out unit with more wear and tear than was necessary, a clear case of lost knowledge transfer.”

By looking at Operating Experience (OE) and actual training to obtain the “Chiller Qualification,” newly qualified Chiller personnel asked the question, “Why aren’t we using water?” The Chiller Crew brainstormed the question and came up with possible fixes. The problem was, anything we could think of would require a “MOD” or else put the Station in the same predicament it was in the 80’s with water leaks, said Charlie.

“Then one day we observed the Electrical Maintenance’s battery crew watering batteries, using a smaller version of “Bill,” said Charlie. “It has a water tank, a sump pump inside the tank, a hose—and is portable. We thought, ’Why not us?’ It has most of what we require, it’s portable, and there would be no water leaks. A few modifications and we could use it.”

Electrical Maintenance bought a slightly larger one and modified it to fit their needs. It has been used three times so far. The most remarkable thing? Instead of taking 24 hours to pump refrigerant out of a Chiller, it took Charlie’s crew only six hours – a reduction of 75 percent.

“Using ‘Bill’ cut 18 hours off the pump-down time and the Station doesn’t realize what we did,” said Charlie. “This outage, we actually had emergent Control Structure Chiller problems and the Station hardly even knew it. That’s because of ’Bill’ and my team.”

Congratulations to Charlie, his “Chiller Crew” and their questioning attitude, focused on the task at hand, brainstorming, and ultimately coming up with a solution that makes work safer and faster.