HVAC, Building Performance: Preventing Coil Corrosion

Hurricane conditions may cause more corrosive damage to HVAC systems than other factors that typically cause corrosion. The problem is that corrosion problems may not be apparent immediately, according to an article in ACHRNEWS.

However, as we gear up for the cooling season, these problems may become more evident to people living in areas impacted by the previous season’s hurricanes like Hurricane Sandy. Sandy impacted the east coast as it became the most destructive tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

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Hurricane Sandy: Tips for Flood Damaged HVAC Equipment

While it’s been months since Hurricane Sandy ravaged the East Coast, and the flood waters have long since receded, people in the affected areas are still dealing with the storm’s devastation.

But building owners still dealing with clean up at their facilities might not realize the importance of properly cleaning flood-damaged HVAC equipment. And they also might not know if they must replace such equipment rather than clean it.

Once HVAC systems are submerged in water, they not only get dirt and debris inside of them, but they’ll also likely become contaminated with bacteria and fungi, warns the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Goodway Sponsors Post Sandy IAQ Roundtable

We’re glad to be a part of this important round table discussion regarding mold and mildew remediation and IAQ in the wake of hurricane Sandy. There will be some great speakers involved from BBJ Consulting Service, ASHRAE, Durst Organization, the NYC Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene  MTA and more.

This event, in conjunction with the Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute, Baruch College and ASHRAE will ask ‘real” questions regarding remediation efforts and hear from experts and professionals who do the remediation alike. Learn how specific actions can help mitigate the risk of future IAQ issues – and the pitfalls of doing it the wrong way.

The round table will be moderated by BBJ Consulting Service  Managing Director Robert “Bob” Baker, former president of the IAQA and fellow of ASHRAE.

The event will discuss the hidden dangers of quick and careless remediation, and some of the action plans to plan for proper remediation. This really is a great opportunity to see the challenges that commercial real estate professionals have overcome in New York City. If you are in the facility management business, HVAC or commercial real estate, this is a must see….and the price is right. It’s free.

When:

April 11, 2013

Where:

The William and Anita Newman
Vertical Campus Conference Center
151 East 25th Street, Room 750
New York, NY 10010

Registration is required. Complete information is available from the Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute website.

Building Energy Efficiency: ASHRAE’s Economizer Requirements and the Effect on Facilities

Within the year, ASHRAE 90.1 – 2010, the new energy standard for buildings, will become part of commercial building codes in the US. The new standard contains many changes from the 2007 edition that will affect the design, construction and operation of buildings.

One important change is that a cooling system with a cooling capacity of greater than 54,000 Btu/h must have an air economizer or a water economizer.

The only areas exempt from following the economizer requirement are the southernmost tip of Florida and some southern parts of Arizona because the climates in these areas are not favorable for economizing, according to the James M. Pleasants Company (JMPCO), a manufacturer of products and solutions for energy efficient water and steam systems.

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Hurricane Sandy and IAQ Series: Why IAQ Will be a Huge Concern in NY and NJ this Spring and Summer

This week we continue our Hurricane Sandy and indoor air quality (IAQ) series as we discuss why IAQ will be a huge concern in New York and New Jersey this spring and summer. In our next post, we’ll share our tips for ways to prepare for extreme conditions.

As we end the series, we’ll offer our infographic about IAQ and Hurricane Sandy.

In our post Hurricane Sandy and IAQ Series: Top Hurricane Sandy Effects on IAQ this Spring, we talked about how the colder weather hitting the areas affected by the hurricane halted some of the IAQ problems people were experiencing.

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HVAC, Building Energy Efficiency: Sometimes it’s the People

We’ve previously talked about building performance in other blog posts, discussing such concepts as smart buildings, data loggers and energy benchmarking.

But it’s also important to spend some time focusing on occupant engagement.

The reason: “[E]ven in the most advanced, forward thought, state-of-the-art green building initiatives, occupants account for up to 50 percent of consumption rates,” according to an article in EDC Magazine.

Despite our highly intelligent building automation systems and all the other innovations, occupants still control half of a building’s energy usage. So the goal is not only building these sophisticated systems, but engaging occupants so they change their behaviors to align with the systems’ performance goals.

YR&G Sustainability’s Principal, Josh Radoff, says it’s critical to lay a groundwork of transparency. He says occupants must understand performance goals and their importance or they won’t be invested in meeting these goals.

Paula Melton tells an interesting story in Environmental Building News.

It seems small indicator lights are used above windows in a LEED Platinum test-bed facility that’s owned by the Syracuse Center of Excellence – small green and red lights far above eye level.

The lights are part of a building maintenance system that provides the information needed to maximize energy efficiencies and optimize indoor air quality to let building occupants know when outside conditions are favorable for natural ventilation, controlling the amount of artificial lighting, and managing the blind controls to reduce glare and heat.

The green lights glow on warm days – days when opening a window or two would increase the comfort level in the facility.

But when the sun goes down and the temperature drops, the red lights burn brightly, indicating that opening the windows really isn’t a good idea.

The red and green lights alert the occupants when it’s best to open windows based on measurements of outdoor temperature, humidity, air quality, and wind speeds.

Like everyone else, though, when building scientists get hot, they open windows. And they keep them open to let in the cool evening air.

The problem is that most of the people in the building – researchers conducting energy and indoor environmental quality experiments – either don’t notice the lights turning red or they don’t understand why they keep changing.

And they don’t understand that if they open windows when the lights turn red, the HVAC system automatically shuts down.

But this story has a happy ending, the author notes.

The building manager and information coordinator, Tim Benson, tells the building’s occupants what the lights are and why they’re important for meeting the building’s performance goals. Now, the occupants understand that when the red lights glow, they aren’t to open the windows.

This case demonstrates the importance of occupant engagement.

“The lights didn’t serve their original purpose until building occupants learned how to interpret and respond to them – that is, until occupants were engaged,” Melton says.

Radoff gives us more insight into the subject of occupant engagement in the white paper, Engaging Building Occupants to Improve Sustainability Performance.

Radoff contends that intentions don’t always equate to results.

If a building owner invests in an energy-efficient, LEED-certified building, he most likely expects the building to use a certain amount of energy.

However, the actual performance data might not live up to the building owner’s expectations, especially once there are people living or working in the building.

Occupant behavior has a greater effect on the building’s performance than people might think. A building performance program is only effective if it’s used properly and takes the building’s occupants into consideration.

In an upcoming post, we’ll tell you more about how to overcome the hurdles to successful occupant engagement.

Next Steps:

• Subscribe to our blog to receive the full blog series via email and stay informed about the latest HVAC news and insight.
• Stay up to date on facility maintenance tools such as chiller tube cleaners, boiler tube cleaners, hose/pipe cleaners, descaler systems, industrial vacuums, commercial pressure washers, and drain cleaners.

Mold Control for HVAC and Facilities: A Follow-Up

In early November we began our Post-Hurricane Sandy Series discussing mold control for HVAC and facilities.

Mold control is not an issue to be taken lightly, as we’ve told you previously. There are adverse health effects to mold exposure. And some people are more sensitive than others, particularly if they already have allergies, asthma or chronic lung diseases.

There’s also a financial component to mold since its growth can ruin business assets in your building. Mold can grow on floors, walls and other surfaces, as well as within an HVAC system.

Drips pans, pipes and anywhere else the system provides a reservoir for moisture is susceptible to mold growth. If mold exists within the system, the spores can be dispersed when the system is turned on.

But mold is an ongoing issue and prevention is the key. While we may need to address it immediately after a business has been flooded, or otherwise exposed to massive amounts of water, mold is always found within our buildings.

In fact, OSHA says mold is “part of the natural environment.” It’s found anywhere, both inside and outside. There are 1,000 species of mold in the United States and more then 100,000 species worldwide.

Mold can grow on just about any substance as long as moisture/water, oxygen and an organic source exist. Mold spores are always floating through the air. They usually don’t cause any problems until they land on a moist spot and begin growing.

Mold growth will occur if you don’t take care of the moisture. It’s impossible to completely eliminate all mold and mold spores, but controlling moisture does inhibit mold growth.

OSHA recommends preventing excessive moisture in your building. Potential sources of moisture include roof leaks, landscaping/gutters, which direct water into or under the building, unvented combustion appliances and inadequate building maintenance, including on the HVAC system.

OSHA offers the following mold prevention tips:

• Repair plumbing leaks and leaks within the building structure immediately
• Look for condensation and wet areas and repair sources of moisture problems immediately
• Keep HVAC drip pans clean and unobstructed so any water or moisture flows properly
• Perform regular building/HVAC maintenance, including filter changes
• Keep the indoor relative humidity below 70% (25% – 60% is ideal)
• Vent moisture-generating appliances outside
• Vent kitchens and bathrooms appropriately, following local code requirements
• Clean and dry wet/damp spots immediately, and no longer than 48 hours after you discover the moisture
• Identify the cause of leaks and take action to ensure the leak doesn’t happen again

Fortunately, Goodway has products to clean both surfaces and HVAC systems affected by mold, as well as products that inhibit mold growth.

For HVAC use, our MoldTek Mold & Mildew Cleaner & Disinfectant is a ready-to-use cleaner effective at killing mold on non-porous surfaces such as HVAC coils and ducts.

CoilShine-BC Mold and Mildew Inhibitor is a commercial grade, EPA-registered, ready-to-use treatment that inhibits mold growth. It can be applied to coils, ducts, drain pains and other components, and it’s formulated for use in sprayers.

FreshDuct Odor Eliminator controls the odor left behind by mold and mildew. It’s non-toxic and biodegradable, destroys odor molecules on contact, and leaves your ducts smelling fresh.

For floors and other surfaces, we also recommend MoldTek Mold & Mildew Cleaner & Disinfectant. In addition to HVAC components, it’s formulated for use on floors, walls, and other surfaces.

MoldTek-MT Mold Growth Control & Inhibitor, our EPA-registered mildewstat and fungistat, is specially formulated to inhibit mold and mildew growth on floors, walls and other hard surfaces. And because it’s labeled for use in occupied spaces, no evacuation is necessary during the clean-up process.

Next Steps:

• Read: HVAC Maintenance and Floods: Help With Disaster Recovery
• Read: Mold: A Common HVAC Complaint That Is Easy To Deal With
• Subscribe to our blog to receive the full blog series via email and stay informed about the latest HVAC news and insight.
• Stay up to date on facility maintenance tools such as chiller tube cleaners, boiler tube cleaners, hose/pipe cleaners, descaler systems, industrial vacuums, commercial pressure washers, and drain cleaners.

Supermarkets Sold on Ammonia as a Refrigerant

Richard Heath, a senior manager for the Supervalu/Albertsons line of grocery stores, says his company’s ammonia-based refrigeration system is “operating like a champ.”

The ammonia refrigeration system was one of the first to be installed in the United States. The grocery chain has implemented the technology in one of its stores in Caprinteria, California, Heaths says in an article in Supermarket News. “For anyone who’s concerned about ammonia, many of the hurdles we were afraid of turned out not to be hurdles at all,” he adds.

Ammonia, like other natural refrigerants (propane, carbon dioxide, and other gases), have little or no effect on global warming or the ozone, according to the Supermarket News article. Because of their “gentle touch” on the environment, they are being looked at as replacements for R-22 and HFCs – each known to have a negative impact on the ozone layer and global warming – for use in chiller tubes, air conditioner coils and cooling towers.

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Post-Hurricane Sandy Series: Mold and Mildew Management

This week we continue our Post-Hurricane Sandy Series with what you need to know about mold and mildew management after the flood waters recede.

Our next posts in the series address cooling towers and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) assistance.

As we’ve discussed in our post Post-Hurricane Sandy Series: Mold Control for HVAC and Facilities, controlling mold growth must be placed at the top of a clean-up list after a flood. Growth can occur on any number of hard surfaces, such as flooring and drywall, and also within the confines of your HVAC.

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Post-Hurricane Sandy Series: Clearing Flood Waters

This week we continue our Post-Hurricane Sandy Series with what you need to know about clearing flood waters.

Our next posts in the series address mold and mildew management, cooling towers and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) assistance.

Safety is probably the most crucial factor to consider in dealing with flooding. Flood water can contain a host of infectious organisms including E. coli, shigella, salmonella, hepatitis A virus, as well as typhoid, tetanus or paratyphoid agents, according to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA).

But it doesn’t stop there because flood waters may also become contaminated by industrial chemicals from flooded hazardous waste sites.

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