When Swire Coca-Cola needed to expand its Salt Lake City distribution center, its facility manager, environmental manager, and mechanical engineers reviewed heating and ventilating options and made an interesting decision.

Improving energy efficiency and proper ventilation were important, and the High Temperature Heating and Ventilation (HTHV) direct gas-fired technology from Cambridge Engineering made a lot of sense. According to the company, the HTHV technology has a proven record of bringing energy savings and improved indoor air quality to large commercial and industrial spaces throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Unlike air rotation units, the energy-efficient HTHV solution allowed Swire to install a heating system that would not occupy useable floor space and would reduce energy costs. Nine Cambridge HTHV units were installed on both the existing 300,000-sqare-foot facility as well as the new 300,000-square-foot distribution center’s rooftop. Once installed, Swire was able to remove the old air rotation system and regain use of the valuable floor space once occupied by the cumbersome units.

After the first full heating season, Swire’s energy costs for both the existing and new facility remained the same as the prior year even though they added 300,000 square feet to the building. Swire saw that the HTHV technology installed in the existing location as well as the new 300,000-square-foot addition was a large contributor to the zero increase in energy costs to heat the entire facility. 

With HTHV having better energy efficiency than the air rotation heaters, choosing the HTHV option for the new 300,000-square-foot section of the building as well as in the existing 300,000-square-foot building was the right decision, says Jon Boettcher, corporate facilities manager of Swire Coca-Cola. 

“The Cambridge Engineering support team worked well with our building automation system installers and maintenance team to find the optimal working conditions for our HTHV system,” said Boettcher. “This has allowed us to not only heat this space far more efficiently than we did with the previous air rotation system but to also take advantage of free cooling that makes our warehouse space much more comfortable in the summer months. The nine Cambridge HTHV units are quite reliable, requiring minimal attention from our maintenance team and also providing redundancy not seen with the massive single air rotation unit previously installed within this facility.” 

Because of the energy savings that Swire realized in their Salt Lake City facility, Swire decided to install the Cambridge HTHV technology in their Johnstown, Colorado, facility as well. This winter will be the Johnstown location’s first year using the technology, and reps expect to benefit from a similar reduction in overall energy costs at that location.