Heating system maintenance

Improved facility comfort and productivity; more reliable building systems; expert project oversight; efficient removal of old equipment; non-disruptive operation; provision of more modern and advanced facilities automation; greater energy efficiency; better system control. Installation of the new, energy efficient systems garnered a $83,438 rebate from Southern California Edison (SCE).

Objectives

To upgrade its central plant to meet new and improved standards.

Solutions

This client chose Mesa because of its extensive experience in performing air conditioning retrofits and its ability to deliver the project on a turnkey basis, ensuring consistently high levels of quality, precision, and professionalism. The project focused on the client’s central plant, which Mesa upgraded to a new, more reliable, and energy efficient plant.

EMCOR’s work began with the development of complete mechanical, electrical, and structural engineering drawings, which were reviewed by the owner and the city to ensure the customer’s goals and code compliance requirements were met. The company created a construction schedule, including equipment lead-times and system downtime.

But while EMCOR’s goal was to build up, it started by tearing down, since the existing equipment had to be decommissioned and removed. This equipment included centrifugal and reciprocating chillers, chilled and condenser water pumps, and a tenant loop cooling tower. The company removed a wall section of the penthouse, so it could rig old and new equipment in and out of the chiller room. The wall was replaced with steel double access doors. Mesa installed structural and seismic supports and modified the existing concrete pads to accommodate the new chillers.

At the height of the project, Mesa also managed the crane services, which the company conveniently scheduled overnight on a Friday and into Saturday morning, when both local traffic and tenant occupancy were minimal. The services included removal of the equipment listed above and setting of the new equipment on the roof for rigging into place.

EMCOR then installed two new 285-ton chillers, two new 20-horsepower chilled water pumps, and two new 20-horsepower condenser water pumps, and a tenant loop cooling tower, all with VFDs and two-contactor bypass assemblies. The airside builtup vane axial fans were retrofitted with two 150-horsepower and two 50-horsepower VFDs on the supply and return fan motors, respectively. The chiller room received a new ASHRAE 15 monitoring and ventilation system.