By Louis Hoglund
The city has a checklist of more than a dozen items to discuss with the firms involved with the sale, manufacturing and installation of the new boiler for the Perham resource recovery facility.
A number of malfunctions and delays were not only costly to correct, but also caused loss in production during times the boiler was out of commission.
The boilers price tag was $550,000, but with installation and other expenses, total project cost was about $1 million.
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Its been very frustrating, said Perham Resource Recovery manager Brian Schmidt. We tied up a lot of time and resources.
City officials will be meeting to reach a settlement, and there will be various parties involved
Victory Energy, based in Oklahoma, was the firm that won the bid and was awarded the contract. HDR Engineering was the consulting firm representing the city; and Wrigley Mechanical had the contract to install the equipment.
A few of the issues on the citys list:
----The boiler was shipped without being registered with the National Board.
----Some of the piping did not meet Minnesota pressure codes, because the individuals who performed the welding were not certified by the state.
----Some of the piping had to be re-done or modified to meet state code. Also, additional valves were installed at the inlet of the boiler to bring it up to code.
----There were several issues with the burner itself, including an incorrect number of holes required for gas flow. Perham facility staff were instructed to drill additional holes--but it was then discovered that it caused an unstable fire because of improper mixing of air and fuel. To correct this, the seven holes had to be welded shut, and 56 different holes were drilled. This correction then enabled the facility to achieve a full load.
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----By re-drilling the holes and changing configuration, the unit became partly out of compliance with the state. This means additional testing of the boiler at full load, plus additional ducting and damper installations.
----In total, the Perham resource recovery facility was delayed for five days.
Another factor in the ordeal is the citys contractual arrangement with Tuffys pet foods and Bongards dairy processing plant. Both plants purchase steam generated by the resource recovery facility. With steam unavailable during prolonged installation, Bongards and Tuffys had to run their own boilers--paying a premium for gas, as well as operational wages. These costs will be an another aspect of the settlement.
A meeting of the parties involved is expected some time this month.
