What are the key technical challenges and design options for optimizing a geothermal heat pump design? Review the pros and cons involved with centralized or distributed pumping, with hybrid or decoupled systems, and with the controls that can guide them.
Today, commercial property owners and facility managers are constantly looking for ways to reduce their utility bills. An often over-looked opportunity arises when it is time to replace old, inefficient compressors in HVAC systems.
Kevin Amyot had serious qualms last spring when contractor Ed Friedrich first proposed a major pump-retrofit project at the Sunset Motor Inn, one of the properties Amyot manages for the H. A. Manosh Corporation in Morrisville, VT. Friedrich’s $13,000 estimate called for the replacement of 18 fixed-speed circulating pumps in the heating system at the Sunset with 10 circulators from the Grundfos Pumps Corporation.
Sometimes, what seems like a need for more cooling capacity could be the need to take a hard look and fine-tune the existing chiller plant. With a hospital expansion coming up, the team on this UMass Memorial Health Care project avoided adding up to 120 tons of capacity with tactics that included attacking inefficiencies in piping, valves, cooling towers, and controls.
New York City is certainly renowned for the quantity and variety of tall buildings towering over the Manhattan skyline. Many of these structures are at a point where age has taken its toll on mechanical systems and now require replacement. Even if they are still operational, today’s new A/C systems are more energy efficient, making it cost effective for changeout.
Hot water is the lifeblood of any restaurant kitchen operation. Lacking a sufficient and ready supply at the correct temperatures, as prescribed by local health authorities, facility management usually has no choice but to lock the doors until the problem is fixed.
Rockefeller Center is one of the most recognized commercial properties in the world. Defining midtown Manhattan, Rockefeller Center encompasses the six square blocks between Fifth Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas from 48th to 51st Streets. The landmark property consists of approximately 8 million rentable sq ft in ten buildings with unique, internationally recognized architectural features.
After reviewing basic design options, the next steps for potential geothermal designers are to challenge the common concerns and myths, study how different choices have different cost impacts, and be aware of the ways a good design can yield bad performance if the installation isn’t done well. Add the habit of turning a retrofit’s circumstances to your advantage, and this underground approach can rise above client expectations in short order.
For the massive 235,000-sq-ft Merrimack County Nursing Home in New Hampshire, the geothermal source available nearby may not have been the fountain of youth, but it did prove key to the center’s “uber-green” mechanical system retrofit. See how the companies involved brought together 16 wells, over 300 water-to-air heat pumps, and the rest of the 615-ton system to serve this 290-bed facility.
Two engineers mine their collective experience for tips on designing, modeling, and operating hydronic radiant heating and cooling systems. From conceptual basics to control nuances, on to goals like maximizing deadband operation or deploying a hybrid system, the article circulates plenty of practical information for an array of radiant opportunities.
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