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Burst Pipe Floods Basement Areas in Bldg. 10 |
By Jenny Haliski |
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Ceiling tile debris litters the top of a work station in one of several Clinical Center areas damaged June 26 by flooding from a broken water pipe. |
Late Tuesday evening, June 26, the Clinical Center experienced one of the worst floods in its history when a water booster pump vibration eliminator on a chilled- water pipe burst and ran for 40 minutes before it was detected and stopped. The B1 and B2 levels of Bldg. 10 experienced significant flooding, including Medical Arts, the NIH Library lower level, the CC's materials management department's biomedical engineering and property management section, computer support services and linen service. No one was injured in the incident or in the remediation period in the weeks after the flooding.
A vibration eliminator is a rubber fitting that joins two pipes and keeps water flowing. The broken 8-inch pipe had 140 pounds of pressure on it, pumping 1,000 gallons of water per minute into the CC. Because the water pressure had backed up, it became so intense that the pipe failed. The pipe is fed from a pump sitting on the floor on a concrete slab; it transfers water to coils in the air-handling unit in the South entrance lobby.
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