• Original Equipment: Domestic hot water
  • Original Equipment: Kitchen hot water
  • Original Equipment: Old style thermostatic mixing valves
  • Design Phase: Domestic hot water with integral digital mixing valve
  • Design Phase: Kitchen hot water with integral digital mixing valve
  • Phase 1: First set of heat exchangers
  • Phase 2: 100% redundant kitchen system.
  • Phase 2: Steam specialties included in package.
  • Phase 2: Redundant domestic hot water systems.

In 2019 Warden was called in by a healthcare facility to review a mechanical room that the facility team felt was not performing up to design standards. It had only been 7-8 years since this hospital opened its doors. Upon initial review of the equipment and the original design plans, the domestic water heat exchangers were undersized from the very beginning. The heat exchangers that fed the kitchen were in a poor state with the control valves reacting slow and condensate pumps not returning condensate. In addition, this system was designed using thermostatic mixing valves, older technology that was never designed to see recirculation flow, which leads to over-temping or stagnant water, which leads to patient scalding and water-borne pathogen issues respectively.

The largest hurdles went hand-in-hand for this project.

  • Keeping the hospital and up running without downtime
  • Creating a solution to fit in the existing physical space
  • Bringing the facility up to the latest standards for health and safety of patients
  • Implementing a solution before catastrophic failure of original equipment

As this was a healthcare facility, it fell under HCIA (formerly OSHPD) and needed to go through an MEP firm. Armstrong International was pulled into the project as they provide best-in-class heat exchange packages with integrated Brain digital mixing valves, the industry standard for patient health and safety. In addition Armstrong provides steam specialty equipment: PRVs, controls valves, steam traps, condensate pumps, giving a single-source solution to the end user, guaranteeing the system works.

Packages were sized to ensure the equipment would fit into existing space in the mechanical room so the first set of heat exchangers could be installed and brought online before removal of original equipment to ensure no downtime for the facility. After a successful startup and commissioning of phase 1, the original equipment was removed so redundant heat exchange packages could be installed. The project was completed in 2022.

Equipment Used: