BASIC MAINTENANCE
It is important to understand that we recommend that you replace missing bolt hole plugs in the live fire lining system every three months for your burn building structure. However, it is not a problem to continue training as you lose plugs during the three month period. The plugs seal the bolt hole and restrain the nuts from “backing off”. As long as maintenance is performed on a regular basis, we find that the materials and labor required is very minimal.
Finally, in addition to daily inspections required per your SOP, we encourage you to inspect your burn building each time you perform tile maintenance. You should look for any cracks that might develop in the concrete structure and pay particular attention to the condition of the door and window shutters. Cracks in the concrete structure can allow water to seep into the insulation behind the linings, which can cause severe problems in freezing weather. This has not been a problem on structures that are designed with the concrete frame promoted by HTL, but has been an issue on some of the older refurbished structures. Any cracks found behind our linings must be repaired as soon as practical.
Doors and windows that might become loose present a particular safety issue for obvious reasons and require immediate repair and/or replacement. Check them on a regular basis to ensure anchors are tight and that shutters and latches swing and operate properly. If your structure includes a temperature monitoring system, expect thermocouples to require periodic replacement. You should keep a number of spare thermocouples on hand. If you have a temperature recorder (like a Yokogawa or Honeywell unit), the digital display will show a series of asterisks, or an artificially high or low temperature when a thermocouple requires replacement. See maintenance instructions for your particular system.
We hope this information is useful to you. HTL is committed to providing the safest training environments possible. We believe this information, and the attached documentation helps us all to achieve that goal.
