Industry News
We would like to take this opportunity to give a special thanks to this month's sponsor -- Matco-Norca. For more than 55 years, Matco-Norca has been the leader in the importing and distribution of various plumbing products throughout the U.S. Whether it's soil pipe and fittings, valves, malleable fittings, faucets, or any of the more than 15,000 products stocked in Matco-Norca's four distribution centers, and six regional warehouses, you can be assured you have purchased product from a company committed to quality, conformance, inventory and service. Learn more at www.matco-norca.com.
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Outdoor Air Cleaning Proposed as Requirement for ASHRAE 62.1
In some areas of the U.S., indoor air quality (IAQ) would improve under a proposed change to ASHRAE’s ventilation standard.
ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, sets minimum ventilation rates and other requirements for commercial and institutional buildings. Five proposed addenda to the standard are open for public review until April 30.
Proposed addendum 62.1c would add air-cleaning requirements to section 6 of the standard. If approved, systems in nonattainment areas for particulate matter with diameter 2.5 microns (PM2.5) would need to use intake air filters with minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) 11.
According to Dennis Stanke, chair of the Standard 62.1 committee, the use of better filtration would improve IAQ. In addition, systems in areas designated by EPA as serious, severe or extreme nonattainment areas for ozone would require ozone air cleaners with at least 40% efficiency.
“The standard has required 40% efficient ozone air cleaning for some of these high-ozone areas since 2004, but designers have had difficulty determining when this requirement applies,” says Stanke. “If more designers understood which geographical areas require ozone air cleaning and used 40% ozone air cleaners in those areas, indoor air quality would be improved for many people.”
Also open for public comment is addendum 62.i, which would change minimum outdoor airflow requirements for zones with environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) as described in section 6.2.9. “This issue attracted significant interest during its first public review period, resulting in many comments,” says Stanke.
Based on public input, the current addendum was revised and now requires that ETS be supplied with more outdoor air than areas with the same occupancy category, but without ETS (i.e., ETS-free areas). The outdoor airflow rate would be determined using “engineered methods with the approval of the authority having jurisdiction.”
“Some committee members feel that including a requirement for increased outdoor air flow would imply that dilution ventilation can be used to achieve acceptable IAQ in the presence of ETS, and that the ‘engineered methods’ requirement places an undue burden on local authorities,” says Stanke. “The majority, however, feels that removing all reference to outdoor airflow in ETS would mean that any outdoor airflow rate -- even a rate below that required for ETS-free areas -- would comply with the standard, and that local code authorities must always approve engineered solutions. We’ll see what the public thinks based on this second public review.”
Proposed addenda to ASHRAE standards are available during public review periods. Learn more at www www.ashrae.org/publicreviews.
Bell & Gossett Donate Pump to Support HVAC Training at University of Nebraska
There’s no substitute for hands-on experience when learning the intricacies of a pump’s critical role in a hydronic heating system. So, when the University of Nebraska at Lincoln needed a large centrifugal pump to use in its construction management classes, ITT Corporation’s Bell & Gossett unit donated a B&G Series VSC, double-suction, vertical split-case pump.
“We always try to find a good balance between book learning and hands-on applications using real-life installations,” says Tim Wentz, the department’s associate professor. “We were in need of a large centrifugal pump to demonstrate the functionality of such a piece of equipment.”
Wentz plans to use the cutaway VSC pump to teach students about the functionality and role of pumps for various applications.
Each semester, Wentz uses his construction management courses to improve community buildings in the campus area. “I incorporate a service learning component,” he says. “We find buildings with significant mechanical problems and spend the semester addressing the problems.”
Onset White Paper Provides Tips on Evaluating Data Loggers for Green Building
Onset Computer Corporation recently announced the availability of a new white paper titled, “Choosing Data Loggers for Green Building Projects: Ten Important Considerations.”
The white paper provides energy managers, performance contractors and engineers with valuable tips on evaluating data logging for green building applications. It also details a range of factors to consider during the product selection process, from measurement accuracy requirements to monitoring energy efficiency.
The white paper is available at www.onsetcomp.com/gb.
Uponor Joins Ronald McDonald House Charities
Since opening its doors in 1979, the Birmingham Ronald McDonald House has provided nearly 27,000 guest-stays to families of sick or injured children who must travel to this city, Alabama's only source of comprehensive pediatric specialty services. This spring, the charity will replace its outdated 1920s facility with a new $7 million, 33,000 sq. ft. home that will increase the center's capacity by more than 30% and feature many energy- and cost-efficient
technologies.
"Because we are a charity organization, we need our facilities to operate as cost-efficiently as possible," says Roberta Shapiro, project manager and former executive director of the charity.
"Unfortunately, the recent hurricane devastation and the real estate boom placed building materials in short supply, and the resulting demand put our initial project costs $1.9 million over budget."
In an effort to lower both construction and operating costs, AIA award-winning Williams Blackstock Architects, contractor Brice Building, and HVAC/plumbing contractor Brown Mechanical Contractors Inc. used a myriad of efficient technologies to design the new 41-room facility, including crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) for the home's plumbing and hydronic heating systems.
"Selecting hydronic heating for this project over more conventional HVAC systems will provide residents with more even temperatures throughout the home as well as offer guests the ability to tailor individual room climates," explains Uponor’s Jeff Wiedemann. "Unlike traditional rigid plumbing, PEX tubing costs about one-third the price of copper, and the flexible nature of the material significantly reduces installation time and costs."
For this project, Uponor donated roughly 9,000 ft. of PEX tubing, which will provide domestic water service as well as supply the facility's 63 ceiling-mounted, water-source heat pump units that will heat and cool the home. The decision to use this relatively new method of extracting latent heat from water came after more than a year of cost-benefit analyses designed to configure HVAC and plumbing systems that would be cost-efficient to purchase and install as well as energy-efficient to operate, according to Leigh Ann Speake, vice president with Brown Mechanical.
"Our overriding interest in evaluating each system was the long-term energy cost, while ensuring that the upfront cost was also feasible," says Speake. "We considered everything from individual through-the-wall units and traditional split-systems to air handlers and fan-coil units. In the end, the water-source heat pumps proved ideal for this application and our moderate climate."
Speake notes that each unit responds only to the heating or cooling load of the individual guest room, so that west-facing rooms, for example, could be cooled in the afternoon sun, while east-facing rooms could be warmed.
While the HVAC system is relatively new, PEX tubing has been used successfully around the world for more than 30 years: first in radiant floor heating systems and later for plumbing lines. Still, with the complex HVAC design, American Pipe & Supply provided classroom training and onsite installation assistance. The distributor also plans to donate 5% of its project cost to the Birmingham Ronald McDonald House.
In addition to the front-end savings and streamlined installation afforded through the Uponor PEX, Shapiro estimates that the design of the plumbing, insulation and HVAC systems combined will save roughly $7,000 to $10,000 in annual operating costs for this project.
"Thanks to the generosity of Uponor and other leading manufacturers, we've secured more than $1 million in donations to help meet our goal of opening our doors debt-free," says Shapiro.
New Products
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No-Hub Pipe Matco-Norca’s hubless cast-iron pipe and fittings are rigorously tested by accredited third party testing laboratories and conform to the requirements contained in ASTM A888, a requirement contained in both the International Plumbing Code and the Uniform Plumbing Code. No-hub pipes are clean, both in the way it cuts and in how it handles. Pipe and fittings are available up to 15-in. diameter. |
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Bubbler Line Chicago Faucets has redesigned their bubblers to incorporate a clean, sleek appearance with enhanced safety and durability. The line includes new models with flexible heads that help to protect against injury by flexing on impact. Bubblers also feature antimicrobial properties that inhibit disease-causing organisms, and antirotation, vandal-resistant pins that fasten the bubbler securely to the mounting deck to discourage tampering. |
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Closet Flange Brochure Sioux Chief has published its new closet flange brochure. Eight-page brochure highlights the most-innovative, complete line of closet flanges on the market. Sixteen new styles are available, including nine new TKO models. Brochure contains buying information for the entire closet flange line including TKO, Full Flush, Drop-Kick, and Push-Tite models as well as rings and spacers. |
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Residential Boiler The DV-8, from Smith Cast Iron Boilers, is a residential, direct vent, sealed combustion cast iron boiler for water- and steam-based heating systems. Boiler is available with an optional hot-water coil that can produce up to 3.5 gallons of domestic hot water per minute, eliminating the need for a separate hot-water tank. Unit is small and compact -- ideal for use in retrofit applications -- particularly in older homes where the chimney is unusable -- or homes being converted from electric heating. |
Movers & Shakers
A.O. Smith Water Products Co. has named M. Jay Harms vice president-service operations and customer satisfaction. In this newly created position, Harms will be responsible for driving the service levels of the customer satisfaction groups throughout the company's global organization. Harms rejoined A.O. Smith in 2006 after nearly 10 years as executive vice president of sales and marketing with American Water Heater. He is a graduate of North Park University, Chicago, and earned a Master's degree from Indiana Northern University in Gas City, IN. |
Leonard Valve Co. has appointed Peter Gobis III as national sales manager, responsible for all sales in the U.S. and Canada. Gobis will be responsible for Leonard's sales growth and for solidifying the company's position as the leading manufacturer of water temperature control valves and systems. Gobis was previously employed as sales manager for Senior Aerospace, a supplier of engineered products for aircraft and weapons systems. He is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and has earned an M.B.A. from Providence College. |