The North Shore Marine Transfer Station is located in College Point near New York City and LaGuardia Airport. It is expected to open in the spring of 2013 and will haul about 3,000 tons of garbage from Queens borough by barge to landfills each day.
The facility is enclosed to limit bird attraction, which can be very detrimental to airplane traffic at nearby LaGuardia Airport. It was birds after all that were sucked into both engines of Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s airplane causing him to ditch in the East River. The North Shore transfer station is only 735 yards from one of LaGuardia’s runways.
The spiral duct manufacturer on the projects is Southern Tier Custom Fabrication located in Elmira, NY. Sothern Tier has been a loyal user of Ductmate® products for many years, especially the Spiralmate® spiral duct connector.
Ian Morrell, Vice President of Southern Tier is very proud of their relationship with Ductmate. “We really believe in Ductmate’s innovative approach especially with products like the Spiralmate,” said Morrell. “They are easy to install and are real time savers in the shop and in the field.” Morrell said the company has enjoyed incorporating the Ductmate line into their fabrication process for about 30 years. He said they are also an installing contractor, however not on this particular project.
Because the North Shore Transfer Station is a marine facility, it is naturally in a corrosive environment. The saltwater air will eventually start corroding any steel product including galvanized spiral ducting. The project was specified with 316 stainless steel to counter the corrosive seawater environment and any toxic off-gassing from the trash.
Stainless steel is also very expensive, almost five times that of regular steel, and Morrell said it’s important the spiral ducting installs correctly and without any damage.
Morrell said Ductmate offers their Spiralmate in a variety of materials that include galvannealed, aluminized, 304 stainless, 316 stainless and PVC coated. In addition, the Spiralmate has a sealing mastic in the pocket of the flange that eliminates the need to manually add sealant during assembly. Ductmate guarantees the flange will seal from 18’’ positive to 10’’ negative WG. The mastic is non-hardening and non-drying and will not crack when transported to the shop site by truck.
The sheet metal contractor on the project is Delta Sheet Metal Corporation located in Long Island City, NY. Delta is part of P. J. Mechanical Corp a mechanical contractor founded in 1971 and serving the greater New York City real estate market.
Jacob Pierides, Senior Project Manager for Delta Sheet Metal, commented that the installation was different from the typical spiral projects.
The overall size of the facility measures 260’ by 215’ and consists of three levels. The tipping floor approximately 26’ above the pier is where the large trash trucks enter and unload their waste. The waste falls to the loading section 10’ below where heavy equipment collects and tamps the trash into compact bundles. These trash bundles are then loaded onto barges 16’ lower at the pier level where they are taken for eventual burial.
The facility requires constant ventilation due to the refuse odor and exhaust gases from the trucks. Because of the volume of ventilation required, the facility has 28 fans with 18 located in the mezzanine level. These 18 fans are all connected to the spiral ducting with runs along the station ceiling.
In all, approximately 3,800 linear feet of stainless spiral ducting was installed at the transfer station in a variety of sizes from 10” to 62” with 1,400 feet sized at 52”. Over 1,200 stainless steel Spiralmate connectors of all sizes were used to attach the ducting.
The highest point in the trash facility is 62’, making the installation rather treacherous at times! For ductwork 42” or less in diameter, Pierides said the sections were manufactured 10’ lengths. Ductwork above 42” in diameter was manufactured in 5’ long sections. All sections were assembled piece by piece in the air.
“Spiralmate made it easier to connect spiral ductwork 60 feet up in the air,” mentioned Pierides. “The one bolt closure band accelerates installation time in the field compared to bolting the flanges together. Using Spiralmate connections helped with the production and quality of the spiral ductwork installation.”
He said that by using Spiralmate connections they did not have to add any additional stiffeners to the duct. That made production in the shop and installation in the field more efficient. It also made it safer by reducing the possibility of a section accidentally coming loose while workers were in the air.
Pierides also concluded the Spiralmate duct connectors helped the spiral ducting maintain its shape. Using Spiralmate connections made the installation of the spiral ducts on this project possible. It allowed for the spiral duct to maintain its shape after installation by adding rigidity to the overall structural product.