The air handling units at a medical laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida needed to be completely refurbished. “To accomplish this task, we had to take the units down for about two weeks,” explains Tim Hebert, president of Air Purification Specialists, an indoor environmental quality consulting and remediation service company with headquarters in Pavo, Georgia. “The challenge was to provide clean, 68 – 70 degree air to the lab, which operates ‘24/7’. Medical testing of human specimens performed in the lab required us to provide dependable, uninterrupted cooling to the area and stay within fairly tight temperature specs.”
To solve the problem, Hebert designed an environmental engineering control that allowed them to shift the cooling load over to auxiliary equipment during the two-week renovation of the main HVAC system. “Atlas Sales & Rentals, Inc. was able to provide a 12-ton portable air conditioning unit that met all our requirements,” reports Hebert.
As shown in the photos, Hebert used a professional window company to remove one window panel and replace it with an exact-fitting manifold equipped with two 12” supply holes with standard tab collars screwed in place and two 12” returns mounted in the same manner. Non-sweating, heavy duty flexible duct was used on the outside, and roll-out plastic duct was used indoors. The temporary ducting was suspended from the acoustical ceiling grid, and slits were cut into the ducting at appropriate locations to maintain proper airflow of conditioned air through the space.
Hebert explains: “This design allowed us to maintain security of the facility, while enabling us to bring in supply air lines and tie in the return air exhaust as well.”
He summarizes: “The design worked flawlessly, and the portable air conditioning equipment worked great and met all our requirements.” Atlas provided the required 12-ton unit and ductwork out of its Jacksonville office.
A leader in the portable cooling market for 30 years, Atlas Sales & Rentals supplies portable air conditioning equipment for primary, supplemental and emergency cooling in all types of non-residential buildings. The company is a GSA Certified MAS Contractor with a large and growing nationwide network of fully stocked, company-owned offices.
