P1 News

Understanding Building Technologies

P1 Group's Building Technologies (BT) division may focus on a specific need, such as a sound system for a school or security system for a manufacturing facility. But it can also cover a much greater expanse, such as Low Voltage systems for an entire campus.

The following projects illustrate the diversity of P1 BT capabilities.

While field technicians, electricians, and plumbers are feeling the heat of additional summer service calls, the P1 Ammonia Division is also in the thick of the current rush.

This small but mighty division consists of just three technicians: Jamar Jackson, Troy Stewart and Mitch Sturke, and they do a great job taking care of P1’s ammonia customers.

P1 Group was recently featured in PHC [Plumbing & Hydronic Contractor] News magazine.

The article details P1’s rich history, business principles, Safety Culture, and P1 as a single-source provider of customer solutions, with a focus on P1’s recent and ongoing work with Berry Global. Some highlights are below, or read the full article at PHC News.com [pages 172-176].

When it comes to large equipment, P1 Group’s Millwright team can fabricate and install some amazing solutions for customers like CertainTeed, manufacturer of building materials for both commercial and residential construction.

One product the CertainTeed plant produces in large quantity is roll-sealed insulation. P1 Group provided a turnkey solution to design, fabricate, and install two Metal Building Insulation Roll Sealers.

Kaolin Silo Modifications at Central Plains

What do you do when your 500-ton capacity silo needs to be modified from a tapered, oval shape to “true round”? It’s not something most of us will ever face, but it’s exactly the type of challenge P1 Group Millwrights are highly trained to solve.

When Central Plains Cement in Sugar Creek, MO, needed to change the shape of its 500-ton capacity silo to accommodate a new material, P1 Group was chosen as the prime contractor to design, fabricate, and execute the modifications of the silo and also allow the install of a new 34,000 lb. flange-mounted rotary feeder.

When Chart Industries called upon P1 Group as a trusted ESP (Engineered Systems Partner) to do the LN2 (liquid nitrogen) installation/replacement at Aisin Light Metals, Project Manager Nick Lawless knew there would be challenges.

Through the ESP Program, Chart helps P1 Group by bringing regional opportunities to our attention. In turn, P1 Group supports Chart by promoting their product and sharing opportunities with them as well.

The most challenging components of this project were:

• Measuring new piping while the equipment was in use and the new components were not in place
• Installing a new system while existing system was running, with limited down time

Overall, P1 Group installed 400 feet of new rigid piping and final connection hoses.

“In order to replace the system, I had to go out and field measure for new components being added while the equipment was up and running,” Nick explained.

Nick said that besides the equipment being in use while he was measuring, new sub-coolers were being added at a later date and were not yet in place, forcing the team to “best guess” final valve locations.

The team had to be nimble as well. During installation, the equipment was still up and running, producing parts. As each piece of equipment came off line, new piping was installed, requiring P1 Group to work quickly in between those production intervals.

Nick says Brock and Trace went the extra mile to ensure the success of such a challenging project.

“Not only were Brock and Trace able to make sense of the layout as I had intended, they had to make some on-the-fly adjustments to some pretty unforgiving piping,” Nick said.

“Since the system is engineered to order and it takes 4-6 weeks to produce, they had to be innovative in making the new system fit while the old system was still in play,” he explained. “While working safely, they had to crawl all over the equipment to place hangers and coordinate limited downtime for the more difficult-to-reach locations.”

“We did a similar project at Honeywell, but this was the first time we were called upon for an ESP installation outside of the Kansas City Metro area,” he added.

This meant the team was in an area with limited resources (compared to a metro area like Kansas City) and had to overcome obstacles in procuring parts installation.

In addition, Nick noted there was no way to make field alterations once the pipe was fabricated by Chart, leaving little room for error.

Stepping in to work while production is in full-swing and getting the job done right is what P1 Group is known for, and the Aisin Metals project was no exception.

“Brock and Trace really brought this one home for us,” Nick said. “Working right up until Christmas, away from their families, they put a nice big bow on the entire package.”

On an October morning in 2019, P1 Group received an urgent call from the owners of the I-44 Cold Storage in Springfield Mo. I-44 cold storage is a storage facility for restaurant supply and custom cold storage that houses a 10,000 sq. foot freezer, 10,000 sq. foot cooler space, and 30,000 sq. foot of dry storage space.  

During the night, winds of up to 90 mph had whipped through the area and caused significant damage to the building. The roof of the cooler and part of the freezer were completely blown off, including the majority of the ammonia piping, causing a considerable amount of ammonia leakage.

From Cheese to Freeze: Troy Stewart Finds Rewarding Career in Ammonia Refrigeration

Industrial Ammonia Refrigeration Technician Troy Stewart is the father of three little girls, who most certainly keep him on his toes. And that’s probably a good skill to have when you work in ammonia service, one of the most highly regulated, and dangerous, segments of our industry.

The career path that led the Wisconsin native to P1 Group began with the iconic staple of America’s Dairyland: cheese.

The rugged terrain of Wyoming is where Derby, Kansas, native Eric Williams finds himself these days. Eric has now been a Wyoming resident for five years, and it all started when he joined P1 Group as an HVAC technician.

P1 Group’s Kindred Biosciences Production Expansion project was born from customer relationship building and a solid example of P1 teamwork across many trades and services.

KindredBio, a pet biopharmaceutical company based in San Francisco, took over an older pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Elmwood, KS, and will soon manufacture drugs there for companion animals like cats, dogs and horses.

When P1 Group Proactive Solutions Consultant Ann L. went on a cold call with Churchill Container, she learned they were getting ready to relocate their operations to a new facility.

Even though Churchill’s mechanical work was covered by another contractor, Ann told them about P1 Group’s additional capabilities and the client expressed interest in having our Millwright and Electrical experts look over their new plant.

Do you have a project with equipment needs beyond P1 Group’s typical trade skills? Are there heavy, complex pieces of machinery being moved or set? Are major conveyor systems involved? Do you need to construct a pre-fabricated office or erect a storage mezzanine? Is equipment or a structure being demolished?

The Millwrights can handle it.

LENEXA, Kan. – P1 Group is responding to new OSHA regulations by providing customers with updated information on how to proactively convert and replace HVAC systems.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a phase-out of the production and importation of ozone-depleting substances under the Clean Air Act. The act calls for the former industry-standard refrigerant R-22 to be phased-out. R-22 will not be produced anymore in the U.S. after Jan. 1, 2020.

LAWRENCE, Kan. – P1 Group‘s fabrication shop is taking on more panel fabrication work and recently landed a significant contract to build room pressure reference panels for a lab client.

These panels track the pressures in a room space versus a neutral space and/or an adjacent room’s space for the building automation system. This ensures that rooms hold their negative or positive pressures when doors are opened, fume hoods are used and heating/ cooling systems ramp up or slow down.

Chase Serrault, a P1 apprentice, won top honors in the HVAC portion of the UA District 4 contest earlier this month in St. Paul, Minn.

He is the first Local 441 apprentice and the first from Topeka Service to place first and move on to the International Contest, which will be held in August in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Congratulations to Kyle Cullen and Andrew Maginness on winning state craft competitions in pipefitting and HVAC, respectively.

The purpose of these competitions is to see how well unions across the country are learning different skills and to improve skills overall as a trade.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Recently, Schultz Industrial awarded P1 Group with the Saguaro Distillation Facility Project in Henderson, Nevada. The facility produces distilled water utilizing steam generated by the power plant, which will supply distilled water for local businesses’ use.

The project scope consists of the installation process, utility piping, and valves that complete the project assembly to produce distilled water. Detailed design drawings were provided by engineering firm, Sargent & Lundy. The project is being assembled with carbon steel, stainless steel, HDPE, and EPDM pipe, distilling units, pumps, heat exchangers, engineered piping supports, and the steam accessories. The systems that are being installed by P1 Group consist of: steam, raw water makeup, cooling water, condenser water, instrument air, distilled water to tank farm, and reverse osmosis water.

LAWRENCE, Kan.  - Aquatherm Pipe has published a case study on a project at Berry Global, which was completed by P1 Group.

Berry’s Lawrence plant produces food-grade plastic cups and containers, operating 24/7 all year long. The plant uses an injection molding system and the steel piping that circulated cooling water was corroding, slowing the process down.

P1 Group’s millwright project at Magna Excelsior Springs involved the demolition of three existing storage and retrieval systems and replacing them with new structures. The towers weighed 9,000 pounds and each one had to be operating before the next system could be removed.

P1 provided flexible labor hours to work with Magna to provide efficient and cost saving concepts.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – P1 Group has been awarded the mechanical, electrical and plumbing work with Epstein Global at a new Daily’s Premium Meats facility in St. Joseph.

The 100,000 square-foot facility will produce Daily’s sliced-to –order smoked bacon. Daily’s currently has plants in Missoula, Mont., and Salt Lake City, Utah.