As my first time down south it has been so far an amazing experience and it doesn’t look to be anything but amazing in the coming months. Don’t think twice if you have any inkling about applying to come down here.
The plumbing team are kept quite busy over the summer months kicking goals and completing projects. One of the main projects I was involved in was providing the station with a potable water supply. To do this we use a RO (Reverse Osmosis) plant, sadly it changed its name to a ‘NO’ plant proving difficult to commission for the summer. After a bit of work and the old ‘never give up’ spirit, we got the RO plant back to production and the self named ‘Vestfolds Water Company’ filled the storage tanks for the season (the Vestfold Hills the extensive ice-free hinterland where Davis Station is situated, the company name and below poster I made up for fun).
Other work the plumbers are involved in is the maintenance to the site services distribution system, which consists of a network of insulated pipework that’s connected to every building. One of the main parts of this system is station heating. We recover heat from the generators in the powerhouse and pump this hot water to air conditioning units in each building, this stops the buildings and us freezing up, so much so a few of the guys walk around inside in shorts and tshirts. We spent a chunk of summer upgrading and repairing this system ready for when winter returns as a lot of it gets buried under snow and ice then. Also repairing a water leak in −30ºC weather might be a bit of a challenge, but it would be a great story down the pub after. Being prepared for winter is the obvious option and a big thank you to the summer plumbing team for all the help with that, Webby, Craig and Bob! That leaves myself, Glenn and Iain to keep things flowing here at Davis over winter.
Cheers, Terry.
