Posted on October 1, 2021
LGH was called upon to provide equipment for a long-time customer, AMS Mechanical, performing an install of five air-cooled chiller units into a new data center being constructed in Northern Illinois. With prior experience installing these units with multi-beam picks, AMS was up to the task. Tim Riordan, Vice President of the Mission Critical Group for AMS, handled the planning, procurement and execution of the project. LGH rental representative Vince Bellik oversaw the rental equipment to ensure a smooth lift.
The main obstacles on this project were a need for a crane capable of long-reach as well as a tight headroom restriction due to FAA permits. With the need to cut headroom as much as possible, while also encapsulating all eight pick points, Bellik sat down with Riordan and his team to come up with the most efficient solution.
After looking through the plan, multiple options were available to complete the project, but in the end, Riordan and Bellik settled on utilizing the CMOD to eliminate a third row of beams and save considerable headroom.
The final solution included the use of a 20-foot MOD50 beam below the crane hook paired with two CMOD Spreader Frame units below. Given the length of the air-cooled chillers, a 9×9 and 9×12 configuration were required to capture all pick points and evenly distribute the load. To aid in keeping the chillers level during the pick, LGH also supplied four 3T come-a-longs to allow for mechanical adjustment to the load prior to performing the lift.
For this lift, the sensitive nature of the install and the size of the air-cooled chillers made getting the right rigging setup a priority. As Riordan put it, “we’ve used that CMOD a lot for these types of projects. It was uneventful and that’s what you like.” Given the weight of each unit sitting at 32,000 pounds, the CMOD provided the stability and versatility to safely complete the install.
As a long-time customer of both LGH and Vince Bellik, AMS Mechanical had the confidence to take on this project knowing that they could count on the equipment to ensure a smooth lift.
