Condensation Extraction

A condensation-extraction unit at Wangi Power Station sits in the turbine hall basement, the steel-cased pump assembly mounted to a concrete plinth between two of the turbine pedestals above. The pump is a vertical multi-stage unit with the drive motor stacked on top, the suction line entering from one side and the discharge running through the upper bulkhead toward the feedwater heaters. The casing is painted in the pale industrial green of the broader plant, weathered along the lower flanges where condensate has dripped over decades of operation. A nameplate on the motor housing gives the manufacturer's specifications. The cabling and pipework around the unit are still in place; the motor coupling has been disconnected.

Condensation-extraction pumps pull the condensate (steam that has been cooled back to water by the condenser below) out of the condenser hot well and push it forward through the feedwater train to the boilers. The pumps run continuously while the plant is operating, matching the steam flow through the turbines above. Wangi had a CEP set for each of its six turbo-alternators. The plant operated from 1958 to the closure of B Station on 31 October 1986. The CEP units were among the smaller machinery items, but several were left in place during the 1995 to 1997 equipment-removal program because of their integration with the surrounding pipework.