Hot Tapping Case Study: Drax Power Station

HOT TAPPING CASE STUDY

Client:  Dale Power Solutions (DPS) on behalf of Drax power station

About: DPS and Drax power station have trusted specialist hot tapping contractors, Ormond Pipework Services, to complete live tapping’s on their coolant pipework. 

The problem:

Drax Power Station required maintenance works on their back-up generators.

To complete the maintenance, the generator coolant installation had to be drained.  However, there was no drain off point on the coolant pipework. 

Ormond Pipework Services Ltd were brought in to install new drain off points by hot tapping the connections. 

Hot tapping allowed the coolant system to remain live and control the draining down.   

Our solution: 

Our engineers attached a 2” by 1” hot tapping clamp to the existing pipework. 

After a successful pressure test, we began to under pressure drill the new drain off point. 

Once the live tapping was complete, a safety plug was attached to the valve. 

Hot tapping the connection avoided plant downtime, which saved time and expense. 

Tasks Involved:

• Hot tapping / Under pressure drilling on coolant water
• Live tapping on steel pipework