HVAC Design/Construction Process

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Here’s a task: bridge the new mechanical room to the utility connection in the old space - located in an adjacent building in Chicago’s South Loop. Room for equipment is frequently tight, but in the case of this steam pipe, the room for error was less than one inch. The kind of planning that navigated that challenge accounted for (almost) everything in this tricky retrofit.

The first university cogen plant in the U.S. to earn LEED® Platinum certification, the OSU Energy Center succeeded via consistently efficiency-minded design and an exceptional level of analysis and teamwork in the commissioning process. Fuel flexibility, staff training, and a projected $650,000 annual savings didn’t hurt, either.

A VRF system installed in this University of Hawaii dorm helped the school achieve LEED® certification and lower energy costs. Founded in 1907, the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UH-M)

Guiding a group effort isn’t effortless, but a few good habits will set the tone for success.

We can only afford our present complaints thanks to our previous achievements.

Earthquakes and strong gusts are threats in the physical world that creep into the HVAC design world of isolators, supports, and special louver considerations. Furthermore, a new legal world in terms of codes, insurance, and liability can leave inattentive engineers, owners, and manufacturers quaking in their boots. Read on to stay safe in more ways than one.

Some will say most engineering, construction, and O&M software offerings are “smart” because they are all programs built for computer applications, but I see that some software has added benefits beyond their program intent. To begin, computer programs are developed to provide a variety of technical features, such as performing energy calculations and system/equipment service that blends technical data with financial data. Even my own software programs have specific features for commissioning and air and water balancing. But what about the benefits a program can provide which maybe weren’t part of the intent?

If you can’t get to it, you can’t commission it.

For a consumer food group’s very mixed-space campus, HGA’s careful outdoor air strategy got support from smart boiler, chiller, and lighting design to create performance tailored for the client while comfortably exceeding LEED^®and ASHRAE 90.1 requirements.

Commercial system experts see flow as a key step to optimizing system efficiency. Cutting down required tubing size, insulated PEX for district systems, and variable-speed pumps to pin down a chiller’s exact needs are three points of attack in the modern campaign against waste.