Why was the Los Angeles electronics store's rooftop replacement hard to stage?
A national electronics store on a dense Los Angeles block needed large packaged rooftop units replaced on a raised structural steel platform, with no parking lot available to stage a crane.
This national electronics store sits on a dense Los Angeles block, where there is no spare parking lot to stage a crane and the street out front stays busy well into the evening. The roof carries large packaged rooftop units that sit on a raised structural steel platform rather than on standard curbs, with sizable supply and return duct transitions dropping from each unit into the building.
Equipment of that size on that kind of support means the replacement is as much a rigging and logistics job as an HVAC one. Every piece that came off the roof and every piece that went up had to move through a dense urban block.
What did the Los Angeles electronics store rooftop replacement include?
The Los Angeles scope covered a night street-side crane lift, removing the existing units from the steel platform, and setting new large rooftop units tied into the existing ducts, disconnects and gas piping.
- Stage the crane, spreader bar and trailers on the street after dark
- Rig existing rooftop units off the steel platform and onto trailers
- Fly new large packaged rooftop units onto the platform
- Tie the new units into the existing duct transitions
- Connect the electrical disconnects and gas piping
How did REE run the Los Angeles crane lift from the street at night?
REE Mechanical Inc. ran the crane lift from the street after dark, keeping the crane and trailers out of the block's busiest hours, then completed the duct, electrical and gas connections on the roof in daylight.
The lift was worked at night. The photos show the crane deployed at the curb under the streetlights, a spreader bar rigged over the equipment trailer, and technicians up on the trailer setting slings on removed units. Working after dark keeps a crane, trailers and a rigging crew out of the street while the neighborhood and the store are at their busiest. The last night frame shows a new rooftop unit waiting on a heavy-haul trailer for its turn on the hook.
The daylight photos pick up on the roof. Each new unit sits on the raised steel platform with its duct transitions connected back to the existing supply and return openings, the electrical disconnect mounted at the unit, and the gas line run and connected. On a replacement like this, matching the new unit's connections to ductwork and steel that are staying in place is where the planning shows. A misjudged transition or a unit that does not fit the platform cannot be fixed with a crane already booked.
This is the kind of job our rooftop unit installation and replacement team plans before the night of the lift. We handle rooftop units up to 100 tons. Where a building needs supporting systems reworked at the same time, our make-up air and exhaust work follows the same plan.
What was in place on the Los Angeles electronics store's roof when the job finished?
The Los Angeles job finished with new rooftop units set on the steel platform, duct transitions connected, disconnects mounted and gas piping in place. Store name, tonnage and schedule stay unpublished under NDA.
The record finishes on the roof in daylight: new rooftop units set on the steel platform, ductwork transitions connected, disconnects mounted and gas piping in place. The client is under NDA, so we do not publish the store's name, tonnage or schedule, and we will not estimate figures we cannot show.
New equipment of this size earns its keep through a preventive maintenance and tune-up program and HVAC asset inspection and testing, so the facilities team can see each unit's history in one place. See our Los Angeles and Los Angeles County coverage for more.
