HVAC Products Containing Mercury and Proper Disposal

by | Thermostats | 0 comments

HVAC Products Containing Mercury and Proper Disposal
HVAC Products Containing Mercury and Proper Disposal - Mercury is extremely harmful to the environment and causes severe health problems in humans and animals. For many years HVAC and HVAC Controls manufacturers have used mercury in switches.

Mercury is a liquid metal and provides a good source used in many switches because of its fluidity and conductivity. From thermostats to boiler controls the liquid metal provides a reliable and efficient switching mechanism to start and stop certain sequences in HVAC applications. (more…)

Outside Air Dampers with Energy Recovery | Energy Efficiency

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Outside Air Dampers with Energy RecoveryThe dampers straight across are outside air dampers or make-up air coming from an energy recovery unit. According to the mechanical code, commercial buildings require a certain amount of fresh air from the outside to maintain good IAQ for the occupants.

An energy recovery unit allows it to be conditioned before being introduced into the building. Other methods include using enthalpy calculations to open economizer dampers and/or CO2 control of the dampers. (more…)

Dust Smoke Filter Banks | HVAC Ventilation Systems

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Dust Smoke Filter BanksDust Smoke Filter Banks | Indoor Air Quality

Dust Smoke Filter Banks - These filter banks filter the exhaust air from a welding lab where lots of smoke, fumes and related dust ends up going through these smoke filter banks. Specialized filtering systems are commonly used in industrial areas where fumes, smoke, and dust can be hazardous to the health of people working there. (more…)

Chilled Water Storage Tank | Critical Facilities

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Chilled Water Storage TankChilled Water Storage Tank | Critical Facilities - Data centers use redundant systems for back-ups in case of an emergency. An HVAC chilled water storage tank adds an extra layer of redundancy to the process so if the chilled water plants crash the chilled water storage tank or tanks will provide a small cushion of time to allow the operating engineers time to straighten things out or in a worst-case scenario allow time for the servers in the data center to be transferred to another data center and shut down. (more…)

How Cooling Towers Work | Commercial HVAC

by | Commercial HVAC | 2 comments

How Cooling Towers Work - Cooling towers use evaporation cooling to cool condenser water from a chiller. Water is pumped to the top of the cooling tower, where the water flows down some flow plates to the cooling tower basin. As the water is flowing down the flow plates air is pulled through the plates and over the water where it releases heat through evaporation. (more…)

How Electronic Air Cleaners Work | Indoor Air Quality

by | Air Filters | 1 comment

how electronic air cleaners workHow Electronic Air Cleaners Work | Indoor Air Quality - The electronic air cleaner cleans the air electronically. Most electronic air cleaners (EACs) have two ways of filtering the air. In addition to cleaning the air electronically, electronic air cleaners have metal mesh pre-filters. Furthermore, these pre-filters catch large particles that the electronic portion of the cleaner would not be able to filter effectively. It is necessary to ensure these pre-filters receive cleaning on a regular maintenance schedule along with the electronic cells inside the electronic air cleaner. Additionally, electronic air cleaners use a minimal amount of energy and only use power when the fan is running.
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HVAC Indoor Air Quality and Pollution

by | Air Filters | 0 comments

HVAC Indoor Air Quality and Pollution HVAC Indoor Air Quality - Indoor air quality is very important to our health. There are not many people who worry about indoor air quality unless they have asthma or another respiratory problem that can easily be aggravated by indoor pollutants or bad indoor air quality. If we examine the things in our air, we are surprised by the things in the air which can have a dramatic effect on our health. People who suffer from respiratory health problems usually see increased health when they institute a good indoor air quality program that can include installing electronic air cleaners and ultra-violet air cleaners along with a good air filtration system. (more…)

Watts Backflow Preventers | Water Safety

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Watts Backflow Preventers Back Flow PreventersWatts Backflow Preventers | Water Safety - Backflow preventers are necessary on water loops where the water is used in a hydronic loop that heats or cools the water through a boiler or chiller system. This Watts backflow preventer is installed on a large boiler system that heats thousands of gallons of water. The hydronic loops are designed to be hermetic. However, there is always some loss of water somewhere in the system.

For safety purposes to prevent the boiler from losing all of its water, a make-up water loop is connected to the loop. The make-up water feed needs backflow preventers installed in the pipe to prevent any of the boiler or chilled water from getting back to a domestic water feed for the make-up water. (more…)

IAQ Ventilation Basics | HVAC Indoor Air Quality

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IAQ Ventilation Basics

Proper ventilation is necessary for good indoor air quality

IAQ Ventilation Basics - Indoor air pollution can be reduced and possibly eliminated by taking corrective action using a defined plan. The first step is called an IAQ audit and often requires the services of both an HVAC Test and Balance (TAB) Company and an industrial hygienist.

First of all, it must be determined where the source of pollution is coming from and then steps taken to eliminate it. Vapor barriers and foundation sealant can often be the source of indoor air pollution but other areas need to be studied to ensure they are not allowing pollution into the structure. (more…)