Cooling one of Ohio’s tallest buildings
Client: Mechanical Contractor
Location: Ohio, USA
Sectors: Contracting
The Challenge
Cooling a 32-story high-rise with limited interface points
When a chiller went down on the 29th floor of this 32-story building, management had a serious problem on their hands. Summer was just starting, making cool air essential, and an upgrade wouldn’t be possible for months.
With limited space and high pressure at ground level, installing a temporary chiller posed a huge conundrum. Interface points for piping were also only located on the 3rd floor, bringing another challenge since any equipment would need to be located at ground level.
Since this chiller helped provide comfort cooling for the entire building, the site’s mechanical contractor needed a quick solution.
Key Facts
The Solution
A unique response to a unique installation
Our cooling experts and engineers were onsite hours after the initial call from the contractor. We knew the design would need to include water-cooled chillers, a cooling tower, chilled water pumps and a generator to keep it running.
Identifying equipment needs was the easy part! The hard part was figuring out how to get cold air from this package on the third floor, 1,600ft away to where it was needed.
To do this, we developed an intricate hydraulic solution, including a hybrid system of steel piping and high pressure hose composed of nearly 1,600 feet from equipment to delivery point. This design also reduced pressure as it entered the system and raised it as it reached its destination.
The Impact
Perfect conditions, 24/7, during hot summer months
Despite the extremely complicated challenge, our specially created system went off without a hitch. The building was kept cool round-the-clock for four months, until a permanent upgrade could be lined up. Working hand-in-hand with the customer, our solution also took care of all their concerns and provided clear advantages in logistics and project costs from other proposals.