Thank you for posting this. My father worked at that plant for 30+ years. I hand no idea that his job...well was kind of dangerous. He did the welding in the boiler room. Used to come home with tiny homes in his clothes all the time. Lol wow! Thank you again.
Thank you so much for this awesome comment Zanita! Really makes me happy to know the video helps you to glimpse into what your dad did in the past. How did you run into it? Did he send it to you? There are two other videos I put up on this plant as well. Links in the description. Tell him if he wants a small chunk of a turbine blade from there I have one for him. I'm sure he wouldn't want it but if he does let me know!
@@NoNonsenseKnowHow my dad sent me both of your videos plus one of them imploding the plant. My mom just told me that my dad actually saved one of his co workers from falling up his death. They still don’t know how my dad hung on to the guy for the amount of time it took to get help. And for the record I would have fell to my death when I saw the spider. Almost threw my phone when I saw it in your video.
Finally an explanation video from a guy that actually know something about what he's looking at and actually focused on tge equipment instead of looking through files and crap like so many other explorers.
You are a pretty knowledgeable power plant buff, you nailed quite a few of your descriptions. So much so I’d think you are or were an operator. But you said you’re not, so good job. The metal strainer was to the suction of the condensate pumps that are at the beginning of the condensate/staged feedwater heating cycle. The long shinny cylindrical items you seen walking thru the plant were actually the stage feedwater heater that raise the water temp say 50-100 degrees per heater Enroute to the boiler where it enters at about 450 degrees. This saves fuel in having to heat the water from 80 degrees on the hotwell that you were standing in when you videotape the mesh screens. The thousands of tubes you seen in the condenser in fact have river water going through them to condense the steam rapidly, so much so that it causes a vacuum with which the condenser normally runs at 29-29 inches of vacuum in operation. Those probably weren’t safety valves on top of the HP turbine, safety valves are typically placed on the boiler drum proper and the secondary superheater outlet to provide cooling through the superheater in case of a Overpressure scenario and turbine trip. The flooring were most likely tile on the turbine deck, as that was the detail and pride they built on the 60’s. My plant has the same detail. They started transitioning to corrugated siding and concrete in the 60’s and 70’s. You may be able to tell I work in a power plant and have been in the trade for 30 years, starting in the NAVY. You video is very cool but may I suggest a safety person next time. They may slow you down but may save your life. One slip on those orange rust deposits in that condenser and you would have pin balled all the way to the hotwell and been in a heap of pain if not worse. If I can help with anymore info let me know. Again good job!
Wow, can't thank you enough for the detailed comment with such descriptive information. Sounds like you really know your stuff. And you are correct, I never worked as an operator or anything like that but have just done tons of research to have a good understanding of power plant operation. I'd have to say, getting into the power generation industry would be a dream job of mine. Never did any college though. I'm 33 years old now, maybe I should consider joining the military.
Also, I completely agree with you about having a safety partner. Unfortunately none of my friends were willing to come hang out in there. I was Ultra cautious, but probably should have had a harness on as well. If you saw the other video I did on this place climbing the stacks you would see I can be a little bit careless I suppose.
The valves you speak of on the turbine are control valves (hp) And intercept / stop valves for reheat. And the condenser tubes are usually stainless steel or titanium. Depending on type of cooling water used.
Thanks. Yeah I was always fascinated by this place as well. Was really neat to be inside of the heart of it. Where thermal energy is converted to electrical energy. I always knew a decent amount about power generation but I learned so much more after spending countless hours walking around this place.
sorry Im late to the discussion. . . thanks for the video. actually makes me sad to see such works of engineering being destroyed. those GE Steam Turbines at "Mercer" were very unique design (only ones ,1960). they were codes FP/FS cross compounds. that is two turbine/generators using one steam source. so as a pair 1&2, only turbine one got HP steam and the reheat came back to 1 and 2. those large valves on top of the turbine you showed were actually to control the reheat steam to turbine 2 yes river water is used to condense back to water AND is a BIG waste, but that is the way they all work and for GE steam turbines those "blades" are called buckets (design of the turbine where the steam strikes the rotating elemet for extracting power) as a pair, the first turbine made about 325MW and the second about the same. so about 650 for the pair and therefor 1.3 GigaWatts for the plant those vintage turbines had mechanical "flyball" governors. Once synchronized to the grid/system, the turbine/generator speed was controlled by all the other turbines in the US (they are all like meshed like with gears). But those flyweight governors had to cut back the steam flow if imediately disconnected. (like throwing car into nuetral while going up a hill) If the governor didn't cut steam back, the turbine would go to destruct speed in a couple second Oh, I travelled, working those mechinial control for decades. . . Loved my Job.....just shedding a tear to see them now :(
Since i'm here, guess i'll view the old power generator series...and also maybe search for more of your early "adventure, informational historical" videos...sure miss them, but now understand why with becoming a new father...take care of yourself....wm
Imagine the level of noise in this facility at even low operation. Now it sits silent for you to explore and speak at a soft tone in. Wild stuff to fathom.
Thanks man. And what are you talkin about the boilers and demolition debris? Yeah lots of work had been done by the time I shot that Drone footage. That was several weeks after
10:59 looks like it’s been sanded or sum😂 or replaced previously, I jus noticed that and thought it was cool like someone has done repair work at some point
awesome content perhaps it's worth investing in some ppe like a dust mask, I can't imagine these dusty rooms to be good for you in the long run (especially in terms of heavy metals, or salts from all that corroded and collapsed equipment)
Yeah it was pretty neat looking through all the different buttons and controls. Would have been really neat to tour that place before it was decommissioned
Thanks man I appreciate that. I can't say the specific location because I got some grief for doing that before. But if you look at the previous video I did on this same place, it gives you a pretty good idea of where it is.
Am I gonna read your obit in the courier times?. Stop dude you make it interesting. Don't know you personally but losing you would be a loss for all of us.
*Here's a previous video of this place when I climbed the smoke stacks: ua-cam.com/video/ZiScv1gBJn4/v-deo.html
Thank you for posting this. My father worked at that plant for 30+ years. I hand no idea that his job...well was kind of dangerous. He did the welding in the boiler room. Used to come home with tiny homes in his clothes all the time. Lol wow! Thank you again.
Thank you so much for this awesome comment Zanita! Really makes me happy to know the video helps you to glimpse into what your dad did in the past. How did you run into it? Did he send it to you? There are two other videos I put up on this plant as well. Links in the description. Tell him if he wants a small chunk of a turbine blade from there I have one for him. I'm sure he wouldn't want it but if he does let me know!
@@NoNonsenseKnowHow my dad sent me both of your videos plus one of them imploding the plant. My mom just told me that my dad actually saved one of his co workers from falling up his death. They still don’t know how my dad hung on to the guy for the amount of time it took to get help. And for the record I would have fell to my death when I saw the spider. Almost threw my phone when I saw it in your video.
Wow, crazy. Yeah definitely a dangerous work environment there. And haha yeah those spiders were pretty sketchy! Tons of them we're on the ladder.
Finally an explanation video from a guy that actually know something about what he's looking at and actually focused on tge equipment instead of looking through files and crap like so many other explorers.
You are a pretty knowledgeable power plant buff, you nailed quite a few of your descriptions. So much so I’d think you are or were an operator. But you said you’re not, so good job. The metal strainer was to the suction of the condensate pumps that are at the beginning of the condensate/staged feedwater heating cycle. The long shinny cylindrical items you seen walking thru the plant were actually the stage feedwater heater that raise the water temp say 50-100 degrees per heater Enroute to the boiler where it enters at about 450 degrees. This saves fuel in having to heat the water from 80 degrees on the hotwell that you were standing in when you videotape the mesh screens. The thousands of tubes you seen in the condenser in fact have river water going through them to condense the steam rapidly, so much so that it causes a vacuum with which the condenser normally runs at 29-29 inches of vacuum in operation. Those probably weren’t safety valves on top of the HP turbine, safety valves are typically placed on the boiler drum proper and the secondary superheater outlet to provide cooling through the superheater in case of a Overpressure scenario and turbine trip. The flooring were most likely tile on the turbine deck, as that was the detail and pride they built on the 60’s. My plant has the same detail. They started transitioning to corrugated siding and concrete in the 60’s and 70’s. You may be able to tell I work in a power plant and have been in the trade for 30 years, starting in the NAVY. You video is very cool but may I suggest a safety person next time. They may slow you down but may save your life. One slip on those orange rust deposits in that condenser and you would have pin balled all the way to the hotwell and been in a heap of pain if not worse. If I can help with anymore info let me know. Again good job!
Wow, can't thank you enough for the detailed comment with such descriptive information. Sounds like you really know your stuff. And you are correct, I never worked as an operator or anything like that but have just done tons of research to have a good understanding of power plant operation. I'd have to say, getting into the power generation industry would be a dream job of mine. Never did any college though. I'm 33 years old now, maybe I should consider joining the military.
Also, I completely agree with you about having a safety partner. Unfortunately none of my friends were willing to come hang out in there. I was Ultra cautious, but probably should have had a harness on as well. If you saw the other video I did on this place climbing the stacks you would see I can be a little bit careless I suppose.
The valves you speak of on the turbine are control valves (hp) And intercept / stop valves for reheat. And the condenser tubes are usually stainless steel or titanium. Depending on type of cooling water used.
Thumbs up 👍 the cost of energy and what it takes to give us the energy we want and need ✅
A great tour of a place that I have always been curious about. Most people are just energy users without knowing much about how our energy is created.
Thanks. Yeah I was always fascinated by this place as well. Was really neat to be inside of the heart of it. Where thermal energy is converted to electrical energy. I always knew a decent amount about power generation but I learned so much more after spending countless hours walking around this place.
What did they replace that plant with?
This was very interesting, you actually taught me something today. Love these coal power plant videos
Thanks for checking it out and awesome to hear you learned something from the video! I learned a lot myself exploring this plant
Love this type of stuff.
Very interesting process and machines there. Thanks for the tour.
No problem man. I appreciate you dropping the comment
sorry Im late to the discussion. . . thanks for the video. actually makes me sad to see such works of engineering being destroyed.
those GE Steam Turbines at "Mercer" were very unique design (only ones ,1960). they were codes FP/FS cross compounds. that is two turbine/generators using one steam source. so as a pair 1&2, only turbine one got HP steam and the reheat came back to 1 and 2. those large valves on top of the turbine you showed were actually to control the reheat steam to turbine 2
yes river water is used to condense back to water AND is a BIG waste, but that is the way they all work
and
for GE steam turbines those "blades" are called buckets (design of the turbine where the steam strikes the rotating elemet for extracting power)
as a pair, the first turbine made about 325MW and the second about the same. so about 650 for the pair and therefor 1.3 GigaWatts for the plant
those vintage turbines had mechanical "flyball" governors. Once synchronized to the grid/system, the turbine/generator speed was controlled by all the other turbines in the US (they are all like meshed like with gears). But those flyweight governors had to cut back the steam flow if imediately disconnected. (like throwing car into nuetral while going up a hill) If the governor didn't cut steam back, the turbine would go to destruct speed in a couple second
Oh, I travelled, working those mechinial control for decades. . . Loved my Job.....just shedding a tear to see them now :(
Since i'm here, guess i'll view the old power generator series...and also maybe search for more of your early "adventure, informational historical" videos...sure miss them, but now understand why with becoming a new father...take care of yourself....wm
Imagine the level of noise in this facility at even low operation. Now it sits silent for you to explore and speak at a soft tone in. Wild stuff to fathom.
Yea man for sure! Was eerily quiet and dark in the basement
I have said to friends, that the age of steam power has not ended. So efficient.
They look at me funny, but there it is.
🔥 video. at the end of vid for sure work been done ✅
Thanks man. And what are you talkin about the boilers and demolition debris? Yeah lots of work had been done by the time I shot that Drone footage. That was several weeks after
10:59 looks like it’s been sanded or sum😂 or replaced previously, I jus noticed that and thought it was cool like someone has done repair work at some point
@@delvinmartinda7852 yeah. Looks like maybe it had a crack that they welded
I worked there. What a mess that place was. Coal dust everywhere
That's cool. And yeah for sure! I'd imagined you were covered in Coal dust everyday after work
awesome content
perhaps it's worth investing in some ppe like a dust mask, I can't imagine these dusty rooms to be good for you in the long run (especially in terms of heavy metals, or salts from all that corroded and collapsed equipment)
When you said how much power it produced it made think of back to future “1.21 gigawatts” lol
LOL yeah! What a great movie. In this case only 0.65 gigawatts
At Peak demand
Hey Chris you're a daredevil. You're fn crazy. You must have terrified your mom. You scare Jen. Sht you scare me and I'm just watching.
Very cool. Control room was like Chernobyl... Just without the Russian oopsy
Yeah it was pretty neat looking through all the different buttons and controls. Would have been really neat to tour that place before it was decommissioned
nice
10:29, at the top of the stairs, what is that floor made of? Looks like tiles of some kind? Cool music too, who dat?
Yeah they are tiles. And the music is something from UA-cams "free to use" music.
Did you take a souvenir? How could you not?
In episode 3 I something about that
Nice, where is this? i subbed, cheers from CT.
Thanks man I appreciate that. I can't say the specific location because I got some grief for doing that before. But if you look at the previous video I did on this same place, it gives you a pretty good idea of where it is.
@@NoNonsenseKnowHow Okay, I meant like the State.
nj
@@NoNonsenseKnowHow Oh, you're my neighbor, I usually go to NJ.
Am I gonna read your obit in the courier times?. Stop dude you make it interesting. Don't know you personally but losing you would be a loss for all of us.
id be filing my van with copper, scrap value alone in there must be astronomical