William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower Building
Emergency Replacement of Electrical Buss Duct System

Customer Profile:

In September 2003, the William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower State Building was hit by lightning. This caused a power outage and put the building under emergency power. The sprinkler system malfunctioned, thinking there was a fire, it began to release water. This continued until the building flooded. Because of severe water damage to the electrical system, the State called Stones River Electric, the holder of their electrical maintenance contract.

Customer Issues:

The State stressed that they needed their building functional within 48 hours. This required immediate response in multiple areas. We needed to assess the damage, understand the load requirements on each floor, create a temporary resolution, prepare a plan of action to provide power to the building, notify the local utility and codes department of our actions, coordinate delivery of material, and complete the temporary repair in just 48 hours.

Project Objective:

After analyzing the situation, we discovered that the Electrical Buss Duct System (EBDS) was severely damaged. It would have to be replaced. The delivery time for new Buss Duct would be two weeks. We devised a plan with the State and Local Codes to temporarily restore power to the building until the new EBDS could be installed.

Results:

Utilizing 46 men and three managers, we worked around the clock for 48 hours in order to temporarily repair this major electrical emergency. To create acceptable working conditions, we demolished 1400 ft. of 1600-amp EBDS and installed several 500 mcm cables to temporarily feed the electrical system on each floor, while we waited for the EBDS to be manufactured. Then, we connected all electrical rooms from floors 5-27 to the cables. Two weeks later, when the new EBDS was delivered, we worked two crews simultaneously around the building’s hours of operation. One crew laid out the buss duct before the building opened in the morning, and a second crew installed the EBDS at night to keep from disrupting employees. The entire project was complete within a two week time frame. Stones River Electric, was able to complete the project within the expected time frame of the State Officials as well as put smiles on their faces.