TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The lack of a controlled environment springs from many external causes. Powerful storms, building damage, and loss of electricity, however, aren’t the only reasons that buildings require temporary heating or cooling. The air-handling units at a medical laboratory in Tallahassee, Fla., for example, needed to be completely refurbished - something that couldn’t be done while the system was in operation. Unfortunately, the building functioned as a medical testing laboratory, and the facility couldn’t operate without temperature control for the two weeks that the units would be down.

“The challenge was to provide clean, 68-70°F air to the lab, which operates 24/7,” said Tim Hebert, president of Air Purification Specialists, an indoor environmental quality consulting and remediation service company with headquarters in Pavo, Ga. “Medical testing of human specimens performed in the lab required us to provide dependable, uninterrupted cooling to the area and stay within fairly tight temperature specs.”

To solve the problem, Hebert designed an environmental engineering control that allowed the company to shift the cooling load over to auxiliary equipment during the two-week renovation of the main HVAC system.

“Atlas Sales & Rentals Inc. was able to provide a 12-ton portable air conditioning unit that met all our requirements,” noted Hebert.

Using a professional window company, Hebert had one windowpane removed and then replaced it with an exact fitting manifold equipped with two 12-inch supply holes. The supply holes came complete with standard tab collars screwed in place and two 12-inch returns mounted in the same manner. Non-sweating, heavy-duty flexible duct was used on the outside, and rollout plastic duct was used indoors. The temporary ducting was suspended from the acoustical ceiling grid, and slits were cut into the ducting at appropriate locations to maintain proper airflow of conditioned air through the space. “This design allowed us to maintain security of the facility, while enabling us to bring in supply air lines and tie in the return air exhaust as well,” said Hebert. “It worked flawlessly, and the portable air conditioning equipment worked great, meeting all our requirements.”

For more information, visit www.atlassales.com.

Publication date: 06/30/2008