A Town Hall for Tomorrow

Challenge:

The town hall, located in Montgomery, N.Y., is considered to be the focal point of this small town and houses the police station and courtroom and hosts all town meetings.

With the existing HVAC system in desperate need of replacement, the town toyed with the idea of replacing the roof HVAC units, but upon closer look, found that the existing fiberglass duct liner was failing, not only clogging the existing VAV valves and control devices, but also allowing small fiberglass particles to become airborne, causing poor indoor air quality for the employees.

The town hall needed an HVAC solution that was immediately available and would eliminate the need to replace the ductwork. They also required a system that could be quickly installed while employees continued to work.

Solution:

Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) zoning systems from Mitsubishi Electric Cooling and Heating Solutions, Suwanee, Ga., provided the town hall with the perfect solution. Rather than removing the existing ductwork, Clean Air Quality Service, Inc. (CAQS), led by project manager Lou Dero, vice president of CAQS, used the salvageable sections of the ductwork as well as the town hall’s existing air distribution system in conjunction with Mitsubishi Electric’s VRF system to provide simultaneous cooling and heating to each designated area. Because VRF zoning installations are minimally invasive, CAQS accomplished the switch out while the employees continued to work.

CAQS installed four Mitsubishi Electric R2-Series PURY outdoor units, connected to 25 indoor units controlled by four Branch Controllers, part of Mitsubishi Electric’s advanced controls network. They incorporated Lossnay^® ERVs into the system to redistribute air, allowing for all areas to have cleaned, ventilated air introduced and conditioned into the building through the energy core.

Since areas of the town hall were in use at different times, VRF zoning systems allowed the air to be distributed evenly throughout, depending on the spaces that were occupied. This process required less energy to be used, resulting in cost and energy savings.

“Due to the fact that the town hall employees were still working and summer was rapidly approaching when we started this project, a Mitsubishi Electric VRF zoning system was our best option for this job,” said Russell Seacor, CEO of CAQS. “ABCO Refrigeration Supply Corp., the distributor of Mitsubishi Electric VRF systems, located in Long Island City, N.Y., supplied the equipment we needed and the installation was completed by September, just in time for the fall.”