HVAC Upgrade

The HVAC Upgrade project, completed on schedule in early March of 2020, involved the removal and replacement of three existing end of life 170-ton scroll chillers from the roof of a multi-story collocate data center in downtown Miami, FL. The sequencing for the replacement of the chillers required one chiller to be removed, replaced and validated before proceeding to the next chiller to maintain acceptable temperatures to the equipment rooms of the active mission critical facility.  The existing gear mounted starter buckets were removed and replaced with wall mounted VFD’s for the 9-fan AHU serving the space.  Complexities of the project included the necessity of all hoisting operations to be performed at night as mandated by the city to obtain the required street closures.  Although the chilled water system was a closed loop system for the customer, crews were working in close contact with other tenant equipment as well as common electrical systems that could not be impacted to affect operations of the other tenants in the building.  The emphasis of on-time completion, including resolving punch list items, became increasingly important with the impending COVID-19 pandemic prior to mandatory shelter-in-place orders.