In 2019, Precision Flow Engineering LLC was retained to perform test and balance (TAB) work on perhaps the firm’s most interesting, largest, and most unique project to date. The construction team was tasked with bringing a 190,000-square-foot, 84-bed health care facility “back to life” for a new owner. The facility had, for all intents and purposes, sat vacant for five years, even though the systems themselves were less than 10 years old.
The building was actually a campus and consisted of a central utility plant (CUP) serving two main buildings and a medical office building. The last construction phase of the original project was completed in 2010, so the age of the equipment, technology, and devices (balance valves, etc.) were all relatively modern and conducive to reuse. There were a few new components in the form of new variable air volume (VAV) boxes and laboratory-grade supply and exhaust air valves for operating rooms (ORs), but, for the most part, all equipment was existing. The building was to be retrofitted with a new building automation system (BAS).
The base mechanical system consisted of a variable primary chilled water system, heating water and boilers, central station air handlers, hot water terminal units, laboratory air valves, exhaust fans, and room pressure monitors.