Project Files: Vanderbilt Flunks Old Air HandlerCompany: Nashville Machine Co. (Nashville, Tenn.) and Smith Seckman Reid Inc. (Nashville, Tenn.)

Customer: Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville, Tenn.)

Installation: One ClimateCraft ACCESS™ knock-down air handling system (259-ton, 100 percent outside air, 34,500 cfm)

Completion: Spring 2011

Objective: To update HVAC equipment for a 17,000-square-foot research facility within its 800,000-square-foot medical center north building on its Nashville, Tenn., campus.

Work Completed: The existing air handling unit, originally field erected inside a roof-mounted penthouse, had begun to fail and was no longer providing adequate airflow throughout the facility. Vanderbilt University’s mechanical team hoped to retrofit a system that could be assembled onsite, with parts that could be lifted via crane through a 6-foot-wide opening in the 65-by-82-foot rooftop penthouse. Working with mechanical contractor Nashville Machine Co. and mechanical engineer Smith Seckman Reid Inc. (SSR), Vanderbilt University’s internal mechanical team was encouraged by the specification of a ClimateCraft ACCESS knock-down air handling unit, engineered specifically for final assembly at the job site. The unit was installed over one weekend without any alteration to the building itself and now provides more static pressure capability than the previous air handler.

Quote: “The ClimateCraft ACCESS unit’s assembly process was well-matched to the parameters of this job, and particularly the project’s time and space constraints. Overall, the assembly and installation went smoothly, and the result was a tight, sturdy unit that was up and running ahead of schedule. We also estimate that with the way packaging was coordinated to support the staging of components, we saved an additional 10 percent on labor costs.”
-- Coy Gilland, superintendent, Nashville Machine Co.

Publication date: 6/17/2013 

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