Kaleidoscope of colors
"That's something we normally don't do. It's our first time and it's very nice," said CEO and project manager for the job Steve Keares, when speaking of the color coded conduit system for the new surgery center. "It makes it easier to identify pipes because you have so many different systems in there. It's important in this type of facility to know what every pipe is for before you cut into it."
The color coded pipes within the conduit system that will help an individual identify the service contained within the tube consist of the following: green for the normal system, orange for the emergency system, yellow for the critical system, black for the life safety system, red for the fire alarm system, white for the nurse call system, and blue for the telecommunication system.
"It makes it really easy because you look at the pipe's color and you know what it is right away," said project foreman Mike Musser.
Along with the color coded conduit system, another important aspect of the job that Keares is undertaking consists of the grounding of all the metal surfaces in each operating room to the room grounding module with #10 green wire.
"Grounding modules serve as collection points for grounds in large areas." said Project Manager Jon Williams.
Included in the list of metal surfaces grounded are: sinks, door frames, window frames, surgical lights, view boxes, pendant mounted medical booths and every sixth metal stud.
"It's the most grounding I've ever had to do," said Musser.
And, all of the grounding in the operating rooms is very important, said Keares.
Each one of the operating rooms also has its own isolated power panel with a 7.5 KW isolated transformer and a line insulation monitor, which is microprocessor based and self testing. This monitor displays any hazard currents and has an audible and visual alarm annunciation.
The four operating rooms, along with the preparation area, anesthesia, recovery area and business offices, are all contained within the confines of a 7,500 square foot building that was formerly a corporate office building complex. Keares Electric is also running pipes into a 3,500-square-foot space that is for future use.
In order to power all the square footage of the surgical center, Keares used a 500 KW, 277/480 volt generator that is five feet wide, 18 feet long and 9 feet high. The generator was installed outside with four automatic transfer switches.
Helping to power up the surgical center along with foreman Musser are Keares employees Doug Edwards, Bobby Campbell and Dustin Finger.
The general contractor for the job is KasCon Managers and Builders, from Columbia, Md., and the employees of the company who are working closely with Keares Electric are Project Manager Henry Brown and Superintendent Doug Hellwing.