Retrofitting Brings Energy-Efficient HVAC to Robert D. Campbell Junior High

October 26, 2016December 9, 2016 Green Building 1694 Views

The rooftop dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) at Robert D. Campbell Junior High School in Winchester, Ky., delivers dehumidified outdoor air below dew point to the active chilled beams throughout the school’s classrooms to prevent condensation. Photo Credit: JPF Communications

WINCHESTER, Ky. — Before Robert D. Campbell Junior High School’s HVAC system was retrofitted with controllable chilled beam pump modules (CCBPM) in late 2015, the Winchester school used ventilators to cool the facility and waited long periods of time for the building’s temperature to change.

Now, one year later, the school is using CCBPMs and dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS), installed by Indianapolis-based Performance Services Inc. (PSI) and manufactured by Port Huron, Mich.-based SEMCO, to cool and heat the building while saving $33,000 annually as a result.

Donahue Mechanical, based in Morehead, Ky., the project’s sheet metal and piping contractor, executed PSI’s design of reusing all hydronic trunk lines and the former unit ventilator taps for the first floor, but needed to extend the second floor unit ventilator taps to the ceiling for CCBPM and chilled beam connection, according to a statement from Robert D. Campbell Junior High.

“Our project is best described as a three-loop system–the original pipe loop from the central plant, the takeoff loop to-and-from each CCBPM, and the loop that connects a series of four to eight chilled beams to its respective CCBPM,” said Sprague, who has managed several previous chilled beam projects, in a statement.

Robert D. Campbell Junior High is the world’s first building to use controllable chilled beam pump modules (CCBPM), according to a statement from SEMCO.

CCBPMs are designed to shorten the time it takes to heat or cool the building because its control is based on outdoor dew point, not temperature, according to a statement. It also has three times the life expectancy of traditional HVAC technology.

The switch from traditional HVAC technology to CCBPM and DOAS saved the school district $147,000 in labor installation costs. Overtime, the energy savings will lower capital dollars spent on the project by $500,000, which is guaranteed by a performance contract with the Lexington, Ky., branch of PSI, according to a statement.

The project cost Clark County Public Schools $599,000, however, working with PSI allowed Robert D. Campbell Junior High to reuse of all of the existing two-pipe loops piping, the pumps and the relatively new replacement chiller and boiler installed in 1990.

“The two-pipe conventional unit ventilators that preceded the retrofit were noticeably loud and distracting, whereas now I walk into classrooms with the chilled beams and I can’t hear any sound from the HVAC system,” said Clark County School District Superintendent Paul Christy in a statement.