ATLANTA, GA — BACnet®, the building controls standard published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), has moved a step closer to becoming an international and

Today’s boiler designs offer many advantages over the older boilers they replace. Today’s boilers tend to be smaller, more efficient, and frequently offer lower NOx emissions to comply with some local emissions regulations, such as those in Los Angeles, CA. Some newer boilers are also able to deal with a particularly troublesome operation problem, wild load swings.

We’ve finally reached autumn, in name at least. Even though many parts of the country are still experiencing summer-like temperatures, it’s definitely not too soon for schools and other commercial facilities to get their heating systems ready for colder weather. Steam boilers in particular need regular maintenance in order to avoid unscheduled shutdowns, the majority of which are caused by human error, our sources agree.

Rob Bates is an HVACR instructor at Delaware Technical & Community College. His enthusiasm for HVACR is contagious. Combined with his professional accomplishments as an HVACR educator, it’s clear why he was chosen to be a runner-up in The News’ 2002 HVACR Instructor of the Year contest.

Residents of Hawaii know that with high year-round humidity, the climate is very conducive to mold growth. However, when potentially dangerous mold closes all 453 guestrooms of a Hilton hotel building, sending guests elsewhere at the height of tourist season, that’s big news.

At the forum on “Water-to-Water Heat Pump Operating Problems,” held at the 2002 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), one of the problems, it was acknowledged, is that they need a volume of water flowing at all times.

If a building has too much humidity, not only will its occupants tend to be more uncomfortable, there’s also higher risk of mold and fungi growth, resulting in poor indoor air quality (IAQ). If humidity is too low, occupants can experience static shock, their sinuses may become too dry, and wood furniture may split. Now that ASHRAE has set aside funds to study the interaction of humidity control technologies with Standard 62 on ventilation, The News decided this is a good time to look at some of the newer humidity control products hitting the market.

“Sick Pool Syndrome” is a phrase that is relatively unfamiliar to the HVAC community. However, if there is a high school or college in your area with an indoor pool where swimmers train, there is a good chance that some of those swimmers suffer from Sick Pool Syndrome’s consequences: extreme shortness of breath or asthma events. Correcting the problem holds opportunities for contractors interested in natatorium work.

The importance of running a load calculation is not a new concept — but the load calculations are. And even the calculations are not entirely new. They are based on older load calculation methods, which we can now compute much more quickly than when they were first devised. Lynn Bellenger, P.E. (Pathfinder Engineers, Pittsford, NY), opened the ASHRAE seminar “Review of Load Calculations Procedure” with an overview: “How Did We Get Here.” It is probably the best way to understand and appreciate current load calculation methods.

HONOLULU, HI — How well can various HVAC technologies maintain proper space humidity while meeting the ventilation requirements of Standard 62? The topic has been approved for research by the