The Blame Game
I need your help on this one, an HVAC technician said. I did a tenant fitup on the seventh floor of an office tower this spring. All I did was ductwork...
Not Enough Heat
My co-workers and I were hired to provide boilers for a cluster of buildings at a state facility. The original heating system was using high-pressure...
War Stories: Out With the Old
Converting a 1980s wood-framed office building to a private school was not going to be easy, but it could be done. Money was tight, but most of the building's existing mechanical and electrical systems could be reused. Keeping four main sets of toilet rooms intact also would save a lot of money. ...
First, Find the Fuse
At about 11 p.m., I received a call from the maintenance manager of a 20-story apartment building. The pumping system had failed, and he could not find...
Want to Get Paid? Check Your Work
To be sure the contractor would see a note in the specifications covering an addition to one of our plants, the following sentences were printed in capital letters: “When a contractor notifies the plant that his work has been completed, and before final payment is made, all of the work by the contractor will be surveyed to be sure it complies with the plans and specifications....
A Smelly Problem
The vice president of my company had a heating contractor remove his furnace and replace it with two units to provide two heating zones. Soon after the units were put into operation, an objectionable odor occurred whenever the units were used....
The True Story
During the first morning meeting of the day, several supervisors suddenly jumped up and ran out with their pagers in hand. Five fully manned Fire Department New York (FDNY) fire trucks drove up to our high-rise building. The fire-alarm system indicated smoke at a top-floor air-handler duct smoke detector (DSD). No smoke was evident, so the problem counted as a false alarm. Unfortunately, FDNY charges about $500 each time it responds to a false alarm. The firefighters reset the system, and everything appeared to be fine. We checked out the DSD, and nothing was wrong with it. It was working exactly as specified. ...
The Telltale Stain
After scoping out a new project, a client and I entered the "chichi" boutique next door. When he marketed the space the previous fall, he needed to have the space ready for any kind of tenant, so I had selected two HVAC units sized to allow flexibility. The tenant's contractor would design and install the ductwork to suit the tenant's needs as part of the tenant fitout. The new tenant now had been in business a while, and we stopped in to see how everything was going. ...
Triple Whammy
My firm worked in conjunction with an architect on an engineering design for an area library. The project had a well with a large pressurized tank that provided water. Although we specified an American Society of Mechanical Engineers-coded tank, the plumbing contractor submitted cut sheets that featured a non-coded tank for approval. I rejected it, calling for a coded tank. ...
Glowing Success
He was trying to keep the chiller from overheating, but the real problem was a condenser that kept shutting down. When electrical equipment shuts down, measuring current is a good place to start. However, the disconnect on the condenser did not have a "cheater," so I would have to shut down the unit to take measurements. ...
Shocking Problem
The old strip heat was removed, the wires were abandoned in the walls, and the circuit breakers were to be removed, disabling the old system. The boilers were installed in outbuildings serving 25 separate apartment buildings. A premanufactured polyethylene-insulated pipe assembly connected the boilers to the copper heating-hot-water circuits in each building. ...
Assume Nothing
The building was constructed as a large automotive garage, capable of serving eight large trucks, with adjoining two-story offices, showers, and locker rooms. The offices, showers, and locker rooms were separated from two-story-high truck bays by a fire-rated concrete masonry wall. Conditioned air was provided by a number of package-terminal-air-conditioning (PTAC) heat-pump units under the windows. ...
Finding a Balance
During an early planning meeting for a new large automobile-assembly plant that was to be built in the southwestern part of the United States, the planning committee was informed that the plant would be air-conditioned via mechanical refrigeration. The committee also was informed that, with a new paint process, relative humidity (RH) in production booths would need to be maintained below 45 percent at all times. ...
Trapped Gas
A sealed-combustion high-efficiency gas water heater connected to the outdoors by polyvinyl-chloride flue and combustion air-intake pipes running up through the roof provided domestic hot water and hot water for a heating coil in the air-conditioning unit. ...
Trapped Gas
Each unit in a new condominium had its own heating system. A sealed-combustion high-efficiency gas water heater connected to the outdoors by polyvinyl-chloride...
Airing Out Problem
Our company was involved in a project to renovate an existing hospital space to make way for a new pharmacy. Our first task involved a visit to the space...
Finger Pointing
My company did a great deal of work for a state corrections department. One of our assignments was to provide a new HVAC system for a women's facility....
