Trane Poland Provides Site Evaluation, Installation Expertise for Marriott Warsaw Hotel
As businesses in other nations seek to improve the building infrastructure of their prime tourist and financial centers, expertise from U.S. manufacturers has proven to be an invaluable source of expertise.
The Trane Poland team’s collaboration with the LIM Center/Warsaw Marriott Hotel teams is an excellent example of this trend. The hotel is connected to a major business center, and shines as a gem in the Marriott hotel chain. It’s become much greener, more comfortable, and 30% more energy efficient, thanks to the completed infrastructure improvements provided by Trane Poland. In addition to the energy savings, there is lower operating noise levels and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Trane Poland’s improvements to the hotel included a customized, turnkey upgrade of the building’s HVAC system. In the plant, new chilled water systems with energy saving features — such as variable frequency drives, chiller plant management systems and “free cooling” towers — were installed. Together with maintenance agreements to ensure ongoing performance, the improvements increased energy and operating efficiency, improved guest and tenant comfort, and ensured higher system reliability.
Trane reports the new systems are also enhancing the stability of operating conditions, providing continuous ice water flow feeding the air conditioning end-units, which brings stability to the indoor environment.
Energy Issues Discovered. Prior to the infrastructure improvements, the LIM Center/Warsaw Marriott Hotel building was facing rising energy costs and system reliability issues. The energy consumption of the old systems was extremely high, and any failures would affect the comfort of hotel guests and office tenants.
The infrastructure posed challenges to combining perfect indoor air quality (IAQ) and comfort conditions required by guests and tenants, while being energy efficient and environmentally responsible at the same time.
The plant’s chilled water system was reorganized, and work commenced in late December. The team was operating on a very tight deadline, with three months to complete the project.
Improvements included:
- four Trane CVGF centrifugal chillers
- a Trane Tracer Summit™ chiller plant management system variable frequency drives on chilled water system pumps
- primary constant flow chilled water pump station and
- variable flow secondary loop pump station and variable condenser water flow pump station
- power supply and manual climate control retrofit
- air handling units chilled water reconfiguration
- Baltimore AirCool cooling tower.
The efficiency of the new system allowed reducing the total chiller count from five to four, while ensuring full operational security.
Pawel Markiton, general manager for Trane Poland, was involved in developing the Marriott project, discussing objectives with the customer, explaining Trane’s service presence, and supervising project fulfillment.
“Based on our extensive experience and knowledge of providing innovative HVAC systems and services, we understood what was needed to help the Marriott reach it energy and operational efficiency goals, “Markiton says. Markiton’s team removed five, 550-ton centrifugal chillers that were running on R12 refrigerant.
In addition to wrestling the old system out of the 20-story, occupied hotel, the team had to ensure there was never a total shutdown of air conditioning and heating for hotel guests. Therefore, system removal was triaged, so the best system was running at all times, until it was also removed and the new chiller installed.
LIM Center/Marriott was provided with comprehensive maintenance and service plan to avoid unplanned and unexpected breakdowns and additional costs.
“Trane works to understand customer business needs. The idea was not to just upgrade the actual chilled water systems, but to understand how the customer’s future needs would affect the design of the retrofit,” adds Luc Onockx, Trane business leader for turnkey energy solutions.
“We had several meetings with stakeholders to clearly understand the actual challenges and define future requirements, prior to mapping out a solution that solved problems and delivered energy and operational costs savings. Every solution we put forward is unique, because it addresses each customers’ unique business needs,” Onockx says.
A video describing the installation can be found on YouTube, at http://bit.ly/tranewarsawhotel
Uponor Gives Students a Day of Radiant, Plumbing Training
Engineering students in Minnesota are much more informed about radiant systems, thanks to recent efforts by Uponor.
More than 60 pre-engineering students from Henry Sibley High School, Mendota Heights, MN, visited the Uponor North American headquarters in Apple Valley, MN recently, to learn about new innovations in radiant heating and cooling, plumbing and fire sprinkler systems, using crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) tubing.
The students’ visit was in conjunction with a push to encourage more science and technology education in Minnesota schools. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) who visited Uponor in January to promote business innovation, also spoke in an online column about the importance of technical schools and the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) network in Minnesota.
In other news, Uponor has named Bill Gray president of Uponor North America, effective Feb. 15, 2012. He is also a member of the Uponor Group executive committee.
Gray served as the vice president for UNA Sales since June 2011, where he was responsible for the leadership of all Uponor North American sales efforts in the U.S. and Canada.
Nordyne iQ Drive Featured on ‘Designing Spaces’ Program
Heating and cooling manufacturer Nordyne is starring in episodes of “Designing Spaces.” The company’s iQ Drive air conditioner and heat pump are being featured in the show’s “Think Green” segment due the industry-leading energy efficiency.
The iQ Drive segments aired on Lifetime Television on Thursday, March 1, and Friday, April 6. The segments can be viewed online, at YouTube.com/NORDYNEU.
iQ Drive air conditioners are rated at up to 24.5 SEER. The iQ Drive heat pump is rated at up to 22 SEER. The technology uses inverters to vary the running speed from 40%to 118%of capacity.
Contractors and distributors interested in learning more can view the show’s website, at designingspaces.tv, or the iQ Drive website: iQDrive.net.
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HTS/DXS to Improve Comfort at Hilton Garden Inn; Will Install Daikin-McQuay Products
A recent collaboration between a manufacturers’ representative, engineering firm, and HVAC contractor is on its way to bringing improved energy efficiency to the Hilton Garden Inn in Northwest Houston, TX.
HTS Texas —one of the largest independent commercial HVAC manufacturers’ representatives in North America and Direct Expansion Solutions (DXS) — a division of HTS Engineering Ltd. that specializes in variable refrigerant volume (VRV) implementation and design — are leading the project. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED project is being conducted with project partners, Mitchell Carlson Stone, Inc., TGK + Associates, EBCO General Contractor, LTD, and HVAC contractor Comfort Systems, USA.
Johnson Controls Boot Camp Provides Sales, Marketing Tools
Johnson Controls hosted 24 York territory managers during its Basic Boot Camp, held at the company’s facility in Norman, OK.
Blair Whaley, United Products Distributors, Salisbury, MD, earned the highest combined quiz and final exam scores among the managers who attended the boot camp and received a $500 Best Buy gift certificate.
The Basic Boot Camp is the first in a series of workshops designed to provide York territory managers with valuable resources to assist dealers to become successful business owners. The entry-level program covers a variety of topics, including consultative selling, marketing, and York’s Liberties program, which provides advertising and marketing materials and online e-business tools for dealers.
The classroom-style boot camp included a presentation by Gary Elekes, a professional business trainer and faculty member with Johnson Controls Unitary Products’ Business Training University.
“We strive to train our territory managers to become the most talented, dedicated and successful sales force in the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning business,” says Natalie DeRousse, senior sales training manager for Johnson Controls Unitary Products.yorkhvacdealer.com
ClimateMaster Added to Builder Group’s Product Lineup
ClimateMaster and HomeSphere Inc. have entered into a joint agreement to offer ClimateMaster Geothermal Heat Pump Systems to HomeSphere’s network of builders using HomeSphere’s technology-driven solutions.
ClimateMaster joins more than 75 manufacturing brands currently using HomeSphere’s Builder Rebate Management (BRI) lead generation and marketing program to produce new builder leads, strengthen existing business, and grow their market share through increased home builder sales.
“BRI gives ClimateMaster a unique opportunity to reach a much larger builder base,” says John Bailey Jr., ClimateMaster senior vice president, sales and marketing.
“This partnership provides us with added sales tools and contacts to supplement our sales efforts in the new residential construction market.”
BRI is a unique builder rebate management and building product manufacturer lead generation application serving the residential construction industry. Manufacturers use the BRI service to open sales channels with thousands of home builders and remodeling contractors, gaining inroads to new accounts and building recognition for their products and services. Builders gain product knowledge and manage their cash-producing rebates, helping them to improve their bottom line. climatemaster.com/homesphere.com
Cylinder Recall
Worthington Cylinders has issued a voluntary recall of its MAP-Pro, propylene and MAPP cylinders due to a potential for leakage when a torch or hose is disconnected from the cylinder. There have been no reported injuries or accidents related to this issue. For more information about the voluntary recall, and instructions on how to dispose of or return cylinders for a refund, go to http://www.MAPCylinderRecall.com.
Products affected were sold at various plumbing/HVAC distributors, home improvement, and hardware stores before January 15, 2012. The cylinders are yellow or black, including:
- 14.1 oz MAP-Pro (yellow cylinder)
- 14.1 oz Propylene (black cylinder)
- 16 oz MAPP (yellow cylinder)
- Hand Torch kits containing 14.1 oz MAP-Pro (yellow cylinder).
Other cylinders (blue, red, green) are not affected.