3 City Center

The initial project request was replacing (2) existing, indoor 1987 BAC closed circuit cooling towers.  Replacing indoor units often poses a challenge for contractors (in this case, Leo J. Roth) for several reasons, but mostly because there’s such a limited space to work and little room for error.  For example, the new towers need to fit in the existing space and line up reasonably well with the existing piping and electrical supply.  Additionally, we need to be able to physically get the units into the building, hopefully without tearing down walls or doorways.  Other challenges with this project were that we needed to adjust to a changing building load as well as make a few upgrades to other outdated components, one of which was 2-speed motors.

The challenge of space and sizing was handled through multiple site visits along with the contractor, making sure we had the correct measurements and took into account all the needs of the contractor and the building owner.  This also helped us strategize rigging the new units in, to ensure there was no damage to the building.  With a lot of work and care, we not only were able to size the new units to fit into the limited existing space, but we were able to secure a smaller footprint, freeing up valuable space for servicing the equipment.  With the units sized properly, we were also able to rig the new towers into place through existing roof openings, ensuring no damage to the building or extra work for the contractor.  As a bonus, we were still able to line up the existing piping and electrical connections to the new units, which greatly limited costly piping and electrical changes.  Finally, we replaced the outdated 2-speed motors with custom Motor Control Centers with VFDs to increase efficiency.

With this being a design-build project we were also able to assist the contractor in replacing the building’s water source heat pumps and a roof mounted condensing unit. The contractor had an immediate need to replace (21) existing WSHPs, which we were quickly able to source from our ample stock in Rochester. This enabled the contractor to complete the water-source heat pump replacements while waiting for the longer lead times on the manufactured equipment, helping them condense the project’s timeline and save costs.

When all was said and done, we were able to upgrade 30-year old equipment with the latest and greatest from BAC while minimizing cost and extra work for our contractor as well as minimizing downtime and interruptions for the building owner.  There’s no doubt that these new towers will last another 30 years!

–Phil Randall, Rochester Sales Engineer