Engineered Systems - February 2009 - (Page 34) Uniform Success “The geometry of the building T created the need for a lot of offset piping” said Hann. “To complete the heating loop system, we’d make fivedegree angle welds in the g g l black pipe to accommodate the curvature of the building,” ” explained Joe Fox, president of Fox Mechanical. “To say the least, this was very timeconsuming.” i ” As foreman, Buyko led Aggressive Mechanical’s installation efforts at the facility. “While installing the domestic water systems, we faced many of the same piping challenges that Fox Mechanical dealt with because of the unique shape of the building,” he said. Between the tanks and the many plumbing fixtures, Aggressive installers connected miles of 1/2-in. to 4-in. copper pipes. “The domestic water system was engineered to go from ‘zero to sixty’ on short notice,” added Buyko. “It was sized to meet the needs of the entire cadet force, hitting the facilities all at once after a rigorous workout.” Now, when winter winds lash at the academy’s recruits, out for a run, they’ll return to comfortable temperatures inside, and plentiful hot water for showers. Or a swim in the heated pool. Surely, their jobs will be tough enough, too soon. No need to rush it. ES A worker performs a combustion air reading of one of the systems, while another employee inspects one of the boiler’s pull-out control panels during startup, confirming that the control sequence is working properly. The boilers are the largest of Laars’ Pennant series. The low NOx, fan-induced units are currently available in seven models, ranging from 500,000 to 2 million Btuh. The Pennant’s compact, modular design allows for ease of installation and maintenance. The systems are available in both hydronic and volume water versions, and they may be installed either indoors or outdoors. All models are designed for staged firing to meet required heating loads. Pennant boilers and water heaters offer the building owner six different operating control programs to best match the type of installation in each building. “Our crews installed 41 showers in one area and tap fixtures throughout the facility. To heat and store the domestic water, we installed two stacked, one-million Btuh Laars Pennant volume water heater systems, controlled in lead-lag fashion to feed hot water to two, 2,020-gal Laars storage tanks,” said Jim Buyko, foreman on the job for Aggressive Mechanical. “The storage tanks are the largest we’ve installed. It was a challenge getting tanks of that size in place, but they piped-up very nicely and definitely add to the facility’s energy efficiency.” Vastyan, a journalist whose work focuses on the plumbing and mechanical and radiant heat industries, owns Common Ground, a trade communications firm based in Manheim, PA. Vastyan is a graduate of Penn State University. He also served as a U.S. Army journalist for four years, winning the DINFOS Journalist of the Year award in 1984. He can be reached at 717664-0535, or at cground@ptd.net. 34 En gi neer ed S y stem s February 2009
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