Air-Cooled Chiller Rigging on a Downtown Ottawa High-Rise

A 16,000 lb Daikin air-cooled chiller had to reach the roof of a downtown Ottawa high-rise, 250 feet up, from a site with no room to work at grade. The unit arrived by flatbed down a narrow downtown alley, boxed in by hoarding, active trades, and neighbouring towers. Getting it up cleanly came down to the rig and the plan. 

Downtown mechanical lifts punish bad planning. At 40 feet long the chiller was awkward to sling, the only offload point was a tight alley shared with other trades, and the pick had to travel 250 feet up the face of an occupied high-rise with no margin for a swing into glass or steel. 

The pick was engineered around the site's tower crane. Sling geometry was matched to the chiller's lifting points, the offload was sequenced off the flatbed between other site activity, tag lines controlled rotation on the way up, and placement was coordinated with the crew waiting on the roof. Every step ran under an engineered lift plan and Ontario Reg 213/91. 

Offloaded, hoisted, and set on the roof cleanly, on schedule, with zero incidents on a live downtown site. 

•  Equipment: Daikin air-cooled chiller
• Weight: 16,000 lbs
• Dimensions: 40 ft L × 8 ft W × 8 ft H
• Service: Hoisting & Rigging
• Lift height: ~250 ft (high-rise rooftop)
• Site: Downtown Ottawa
• Method: site tower crane, engineered rig, alley offload and rooftop placement
• Compliance: WSIB, fully insured, CVOR, Reg 213/91

Have a chiller, RTU, or heavy unit going onto a roof? Send the weight, dimensions, and site address for a same-day ballpark. Call or text a photo to (613) 370-0158.