Commercial Facilities
Corporate offices, apartment buildings, manufacturing facilities, lab facilities and schools are not exempt from the new emission regulations on their equipment. The case studies here examine customer applications and key challenges.
Yahoo Campus
Boiler Low NOx Upgrade
Sunnyvale, CA
Boiler upgrade from low-efficiency boilers to high-efficiency boilers.
The R.F. MacDonald Co. boiler sales and engineering team supplied 17 hydronic and 2 DHW boilers, totaling 19 boilers on 8 skids. The project required engineering, fabrication and calculated instrumentation. After discussing Yahoo’s requirements, RFM began the CAD and permitting process. With a tight timeline, RFM successfully developed each skid and assisted Yahoo with a complete campus upgrade in less than 4 months.
Yahoo replaced 18 of its low-efficiency boilers with high-efficiency ClearFire-CE boilers, which meet air quality emissions requirements. The BAAQMD requires sub 30PPM NOx for boilers above 2,000 MBH to 5,000 MBH. The CFC-E meets 20PPM and is available at 9PPM. By choosing the CFC-E, Yahoo also upgraded from an average 65 percent efficiency to an average 90 percent efficiency based on Yahoo’s output set points. The CFC-E offers up to 99 percent efficiency at its peak. The CFC-E comes with complete integrated controls for lead/lag staging, building management connectivity and outdoor-rated protection.
Keywords: commercial boilers, high-efficiency condensing boilers, AQMD Requirements, BAAQMD requirements, bay area, boiler case studies, boiler projects
St. Paul’s Towers
Burner RetrofitOakland, CA
Burner retrofit on existing boilers to achieve emission requirements.
St. Paul’s Towers, one location in the Episcopal Senior Community network, is a nonprofit senior living community that provides complete continuing care while encouraging intellectual, physical, and social activities. With beautiful views of Lake Merritt and the East Bay, the 23-story St. Paul’s Towers community offers 215 rooms, 43 skilled nursing beds, and 35 assisted living beds.
But the fragile nature of the residents requires reliable heating and hot water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To accommodate this need, St. Paul’s Towers was using two Cleaver-Brooks hot water heating boilers, each with inputs of 6 million BTU per hour. When new state regulations mandated that the boilers be brought into NOx emission compliance of less than 15ppm, St. Paul’s Towers was forced to look for a cost efficient solution to seamlessly upgrade their equipment. Read more
Keywords: burner retrofit, CB profire MTH series burners, boiler case studies, boiler projects, commercial boilers, BAAQMD requirements, boiler installation services
Equity Office
New Boiler SystemSan Jose, CA
Dual boiler installation atop a highrise urban building.
Equity Office owns and manages a portfolio of more than 59 million square feet of office space, with a high percentage of signature properties in leading gateway markets throughout the United States. Many of their properties contain boilers under 5 and 10 million BTUs. These relatively small commercial use boilers were previously not regulated by the air district, but with the new and tougher air quality control standards smaller boiler systems must now meet certain levels of emissions as well as operating and maintenance standards.
R.F. MacDonald Co. was approached by Equity Office regarding several specific building systems that did not meet the BAAQMD requirements. In many cases like this one, the process begins with a detailed site survey to assess the existing equipment, the anticipated needs, the surrounding environment and the options available for each specific site to comply with the current district regulations. Read more
Keywords: BAAQMD requirements, boiler case studies, boiler projects, commercial boilers, new boiler system, hydronic boilers, boiler installation
Teva Parenteral Medicines
Boiler RetrofitIrvine, CA
Retrofit existing boilers to meet low NOx emissions requirements.
Teva Parenteral Medicines has been operating with a C-B firetube boiler since its installation in 1989. This unit operates 24/7 and is responsible for sterilizing products, producing water used for medications and all of their HVAC needs.
R.F. MacDonald Co. has been responsible for maintaining this boiler through their “Annual Efficiency Program” (AEP) for the past 20 years allowing for the facility to retrofit versus the more time consuming and costly option of replacing the boiler. When Teva approached R.F. MacDonald Co., the boiler was operating at a 35/40% firing rate and at 50% capacity, while running off of an obsolete CB Hawk Controller. Read more
Keywords: boiler feedwater system, SCAQMD requirements, boiler case studies, commercial boilers, boiler projects, Cleaver Brooks exhaust economizer, boiler retrofit, boiler gas train
