CHICAGO — As construction in major cities across America is going vertical, The Whalen Co. is helping with the HVAC part.

“Cities are building up vertical,” said Tony Landers, Whalen vice president of sales and marketing. “Years back, everyone was going out to the suburbs. Millennials grew up in the suburbs, but they want to be downtown. They are moving downtown, but they want all the amenities of the suburbs. They are starting to build up instead of out.”

To address this need, the Whalen Co. launched its new Whispertherm™ Integrated Thermal Recovery unit with energy recovery module.

”Whalen is continuing its tradition of innovation by incorporating a thermal recovery unit in our Whisper Series vertical stack heat pumps,” said Craig Wanner, president and CEO of The Whalen Co.

The Whispertherm unit was designed to benefit the environmentally conscious owner by efficiently introducing outdoor air into the occupied space. Rather than directly discarding exhaust air from the occupied space, the energy is transferred to the incoming fresh air. As a result, less energy is required to bring fresh air to the indoor conditions.

“As we look at future building codes, we want to position our products to be ahead of the curve,” Landers said. “We want to go beyond the simple efficiency of heating and cooling and consider the building’s operating efficiency. As outside air requirements increase, so does the energy and dollars expended to condition that air.

“By utilizing a thermal recovery unit, we can capture existing thermal energy exhausted, use it to condition the incoming outside air, and reduce overall operating cost,” he added.

Whalen designed the unit for new construction and retrofit applications in both low- and high-rise buildings — the Whispertherm unit may be applied to a variety of building designs.

When the unit is combined with Whalen’s Whisperline® product line, an efficient reverse-cycle heat pump, it effectively conditions the occupied space year-round.

When combined with the Whisperpack® product line, owners benefit during the heating season by use of a hydronic heating air coil rather than reversing the refrigerant cycle. This allows for additional energy savings by turning off the compressor and diverting the condenser water to the air coil.

The company also announced the launch of its new Closetline® CAS packaged heat pump.

The Closetline capacities range from 0.5-5 ton with 13.5 or 15.0 EER at WLHP conditions in a compact cabinet designed for ease of service. Horizontal units can be serviced through the unit bottom to virtually eliminate removing ceiling units.

With optional hot gas reheat for temperature and humidity control, as well as hybrid heating and cooling, the CAS Series has flexibility over a wide range of applications

“The introduction of our CAS Series packaged water source heat pumps is an exciting chapter in the history of Whalen,” Landers said. “Having built vertical stack heat pumps since the early ‘70s, it is a natural expansion of our product portfolio that will expand even further. We have made significant investments in our corporate structure to support this expansion with increased staffing levels and additional physical facilities.”

The CAS series far exceeds the ASHRAE 90.1 minimum efficiency and utilizes R-410A refrigerant.

These compact units are popular in a variety of building applications, where quiet operation in a compact footprint is a key requirement. The CAS is advantageous for new construction or renovation of apartments, condominiums, hotels, senior living facilities, dormitories, and office buildings.

“We have taken the Whalen heritage of quality and innovation and infused it into our CAS Series,” said Landers. “Most compact units are viewed as cheap, entry-level units. However, the CAS Series is far from entry-level. We have spent a lot of effort to ensure the units are easy to assemble to have a quality, reputable product, service-friendly with multiple access panels on the sides and bottom, and quiet, reliable operation for the end user to meet the demands of everyone in the product life cycle. With a long list of standard features and options on the CAS Series, low cost does not mean stripped down.”  

Publication date: 2/26/2018