CASE STUDY
Miami Valley Hospital South
TYPE: Healthcare
Located in Dayton, Ohio, Miami Valley Hospital South includes a 60,000 sqft medical office building (MOB), a state-of-the-art cancer center, and a main hospital unit. During routine commercial HVAC maintenance, the facility’s test and balancing (TAB) experts found that duct leakage was leading to significant HVAC performance issues. With an ongoing mandate to reduce energy use, hospital administrators knew that by fixing the leaks, they could potentially save a substantial amount of energy.
The air duct system serving the hospital’s six-story MOB presented the ideal opportunity for hospital administrators to use Aeroseal duct sealing that reduces the lengthy process involved in manually locating and sealing each individual leak by hand using mastic/tape duct sealant.
This approach offers a way to get to sections of the ductwork that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach. It can also find and seal a lot of smaller leaks – leaks you wouldn’t otherwise find. A lot of small leaks multiply to equal a BIG leak – and potentially big energy savings.
Jason Heppe, Test & Balancing Engineer, Kehoe Air Balancing Company: “Once the walls are up, it’s very difficult to get to a majority of leaks. So if you have a lot of ductwork that is hard to access, using this (Aeroseal) technology could make a lot of sense.”
David Smith, Account Executive, Siemens Industry Inc.: “I focus exclusively on healthcare facilities, and I think that any one of my clients would have an application for this technology. If this (sealing project) was done manually, it would have potentially taken weeks rather than a couple of days to complete.”
Aeroseal contractor/partner Service-Tech Corporation took only one day to seal the MOB duct system using Aeroseal technology. The facility’s TAB expert and its facility operations manager were on hand to watch the process and to view a graph depicting the leakage rate as the computer-controlled, aerosol-based duct sealant did its job.
The computer-generated Aeroseal Certificate of Completion for duct sealing project showed the leakage drop from 1,673 CFM to 576 CFM. As a result, engineers were able to reduce the fan speed, saving 57,000 kWh. The hospital estimated annual savings of more than $5,000 with a return on investment (ROI) in about three years. After receiving similar results on a second trial project, MVH hospital administrators are looking at several other HVAC systems within the facilities that could benefit from Aeroseal duct sealing.
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