With the Winter season fast approaching, HVAC systems require special attention to ensure they are protected throughout the bitter cold months. There are a few important considerations that should be part of the winter maintenance plan to ensure your employees, tenants and customers are provided with a comfortable environment. While winterizing HVAC systems for commercial […]

Since challenging ourselves to fund some clients’ HVAC maintenance costs through energy savings, we’re finding that operationally focused maintenance practices produce measurable outcomes. In one case, we reduced a client’s total facility energy use by 27% during the first six months of enhanced maintenance, raising their Energy Star score from 28 to 60 without the benefit […]

If the Philadelphia Energy Action Team (GPEAT) fulfills its vision of connecting the Marcellus and Utica shale gas reserves to a Philadelphia Energy Hub, the region’s healthcare, university, hospitality and industrial sectors would stand to benefit through large scale deployment of CHP clean energy plants. Combined Heat and Power (CHP) or Cogeneration is becoming the […]

Recently, I was asked at a networking event about the practice of annual coil cleanings. An owner inquired if he should be having the mechanical contractor clean the evaporator and condenser coils at his multiple office buildings every year. My inclination was to simply say yes! Of course! However, in truth, there are some factors […]

As new project delivery methods slowly get introduced to the Philadelphia region’s traditional construction market, I thought I’d share insights gleaned from a recently completed research project. Penn State and the University of Colorado Boulder recently collaborated on a two-year study of 200 capital facility projects. Sponsored by the Charles Pankow Foundation and the Construction […]

In advance of the recent Labor Day holiday, our crew rigged two major pieces of a hospital client’s Combined Heat and Power (CHP), or Cogeneration, system into place. The larger of the two packages weighed just under 100,000 pounds. The design-build project, conceptualized by Burns Mechanical engineers, will save our client nearly $700,000 in annual […]

As a result of the recent outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the South Bronx that has killed at least 12 people, New York City has enacted a new law requiring the registration of cooling towers, fluid coolers and evaporative condensers with the Department of Buildings (DOB). The City seeks to track equipment location and maintenance. […]

We’re pleased to have been chosen as the design-assist HVAC contractor for the new practice facility for the Philadelphia 76ers. Design Assist is a role in which we provide engineering, cost, and constructability expertise throughout the design process to manage cost and performance goals. After installing the systems we will assist with commissioning to ensure […]

Occasionally building system products find widespread use before testing and maintenance standards work their way into the mainstream. Such is the case with the use of Ultraviolet (UV) lights as a means of destroying airborne viral, bacterial, and fungal organisms. The healthcare industry has been quick to adopt UV lights in air handling systems as […]

A confluence of economic factors, including low natural gas prices (see chart), government and utility incentives, and low interest rates, are causing an upsurge in the use of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) / Cogeneration applications. As an outcome, facilities with a year-round continuous requirement for electricity and heat that have deployed CHP technology are […]