Case Study
Sutter Solano Medical Center
Project Overview
Location
Vallejo, California
Building
Sutter Solano Medical Center
Aeroseal Contractors
Air Seal Solutions Corp.
Contract Engineer
Superior Mechanical Services Inc.
Goal
OSHPD compliance via reducing duct leakage
Before Aeroseal
653.3 CFM leakage
After Aeroseal
0 CFM leakage
Results
OSHPD compliant. $1,438/year cost savings
Type: Corporate
Sutter Solano Medical Center Meets Codes Using Aeroseal
It was late on a Friday afternoon when Mark Avila, president of Air Seal Solutions, got a call from a distraught mechanical contractor. After working for weeks on a new ventilation system at Sutter Solano Medical Center, its ducts weren’t sealed tight enough to draw sufficient air through the system or to pass local OSHPD code. And now, with walls hiding the ductwork and limited space between the newly installed duct and the ceiling, several subsequent efforts at re-sealing the ductwork proved increasingly futile. Worst of all, final inspection was scheduled for the following Monday so the contractor had to have the system up and running properly by the end of the weekend.
The technology is really quite amazing. Because of how the existing duct was sandwiched into the ceiling, along with pipes and electric conduits, there was simply no room to manually seal. But the hospital didn’t want to hear that there was a problem – they wanted results; results we couldn’t achieve. Then with Aeroseal, the problem simply went away. It really saved our backside. Aeroseal was able to do in a single afternoon what we couldn’t accomplish in weeks of manual sealing and resealing.
Ron Lynch
Project Manager -
Superior Mechanical Services
“I fight leakage every workday. It’s the worst enemy I have and I find it in virtually every commercial building I test. I was amazed at how fast and effective Aeroseal was at getting the ductwork tight. After the ducts were sealed, I measured the airflow at the top floor and then the bottom, and for the first time in my professional career, I got virtually the same number. That has never happened before. Never. I simply don’t understand why every sheet metal shop isn’t using Aeroseal.”
Sean MacBride
Owner
Rymac Inc.
Results
Avila explained the Aeroseal process to the contractor and arrangements were made for the Air Seal Solutions team to begin work the following day. They arrived at 8:00 am Saturday morning and went to work. First they temporarily blocked the effected registers and the ductwork just short of the autoclave connected the Aeroseal equipment to the top of the exhaust duct. With a flip of a switch on their computerized duct sealing system, they were able to measure the leakage rate; a substantial 650 CFM – about 50% of the total system output. With another flip of the switch, Avila’s team began the sealing process – blowing microscopic particles of sealant into the interior of the ductwork where they automatically sought out and sealed the tiny holes that riddled the system. By 3:00 pm that afternoon, the ductwork was completely sealed. Readings showed that there was now less than 1% of leakage.
