Mechanical equipment always seems to live in the worst possible place: on a roof, in a basement behind a door half its size, or in a penthouse the building grew around. We rig chillers, boilers, cooling towers, rooftop units, and air handlers in and out — by crane, by skates, or in pieces when that's the only way through.
Quick answer: HVAC and chiller rigging is the removal, relocation, and installation of heavy mechanical equipment — chillers, boilers, cooling towers, rooftop units, air handlers, and heat exchangers. Badass Logistics plans crane lifts onto roofs and into mechanical yards, skates equipment into basements and mechanical rooms, and coordinates teardown and reassembly with the mechanical contractor when a unit won't fit the opening.
Most chiller and boiler replacements aren't hard because of weight. They're hard because of access. The original unit went in before the walls, the roof deck, or the building next door existed. Now the replacement has to go through whatever openings are left — or over the top of the building on a crane.
Every HVAC rigging job starts with that route. We look at the old unit's way out and the new unit's way in: roof structure and crane reach, street and sidewalk access, door and corridor sizes, freight elevator capacity, stairs, and floor loading in mechanical rooms. Then we pick the method — a crane lift, skates and jacks, or both — and plan the old-out, new-in sequence so the building is without heating or cooling for as short a time as possible.
When a unit simply won't fit, the answer is usually to take it apart. Many chillers and air handlers can be split into sections, moved in pieces, and reassembled in place. We coordinate that with your mechanical contractor or the manufacturer, who handle refrigerant recovery, piping, and controls. Our guide to moving a boiler or chiller covers the basics.
Air-cooled and water-cooled chillers onto roofs, pads, and into mechanical rooms.
Commercial and industrial boilers rigged out of basements and boiler rooms and replaced.
RTUs and condensers craned off and onto curbs and rails.
Tower sections, fans, and basins lifted and set in sequence.
Large AHUs moved in sections into penthouses and mechanical spaces.
Exchangers, pumps, tanks, and central plant equipment set and aligned.
Almost every mechanical equipment job comes down to one of three approaches — sometimes all three on the same building:
Rooftop units, chillers, and cooling towers picked from the street or a lot onto the roof. That means a lift plan, a checked roof structure at the set location, and often an early-morning street or sidewalk closure.
Boilers and chillers moved on skates and jacks through loading areas, corridors, and freight elevators, with floor protection and load checks along the path.
Equipment split at the factory joints or flanges, moved in sections through the openings available, and reassembled in the mechanical room with the manufacturer or contractor.
Replacements add a second problem to the move: the building still needs heat or cooling. Good planning keeps the downtime window short.
For big central-plant replacements with multiple units, we can stage deliveries as project freight so each unit arrives when its space is cleared.
Crane lifts planned, rigged, and signaled by our crew — rooftop units, machine picks, and critical lifts.
Crane & Rigging // riggingHydraulic gantries, jack-and-slide, toe jacks, and air skates — heavy moves where a crane can't reach.
Jacking & Skidding // riggingGenerators, UPS modules, switchgear, cooling units, and loaded racks — rigged into live and new-build data centers.
Data Center Rigging // riggingTransformers, generator sets, switchgear, and turbines — jacked, skidded, craned, and set on their foundations.
Transformers & Generators // riggingEngineered lifts, machine setting, and heavy moves — from a few hundred pounds to 200,000 lbs and beyond.
Industrial RiggingSend the old unit, the new unit, and the building. We'll find the route and plan the lift.
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