This major medical facility is a converted hospital that was operating with 2 high temperature, high pressure 250 HP hot water boilers installed in 1974, that, through heat exchangers provided steam for medical equipment, domestic hot water, and space heating hot water. The boilers were at the end of their useful life and one set had been shut down to comply with SCAQMD emissions codes, resulting in lost redundancy.
Project Requirements
The owner was initially interested in maintaining a self-contained boiler system, wishing to keep the existing system in place until the switchover could be completed. ACCO proposed a value engineered alternative which utilized the existing boiler room space for new and more efficient equipment. The new equipment was engineered for the building’s current and future long-term needs.
What ACCO Delivered
ACCO’s approach was to replace the centralized high temperature/ high-pressure heat exchanger system with individual systems for steam, domestic hot water, and space heating hot water. Since the existing system was designed for hospital use and had been re-purposed for medical offices, ACCO’s engineering department performed in-depth engineering analysis of the current and future loads. These new loads were then used to size the new systems.
The new system uses individual boilers for the steam, domestic, and space heating hot water loads. Careful consideration of life cycle costs, maintenance requirements, and redundancy will result in significant operational savings. Since the medical offices had to remain operational, ACCO brought in rental boiler systems that were set up around the perimeter of the boiler plant and fenced in for safety to handle the loads while the existing central plant was down.
The demo and reengineering/rework took place over a 3 month period and utilized ACCO’s depth of engineering and technical resources. ACCO’s Building Services Division performed start-up services and, working closely with the owner, the systems were “enhanced commissioned” through a third party agent. ACCO trained the in-house engineering department to operate both the temporary rental equipment and the newly installed permanent systems.