HVAC News, March 2020

Australia’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning manufacturer, Seeley International calls on the Federal and State Governments to confirm that it will be recognized as an Essential Service provider, should wider geographic and industry lockdowns come into force as part of escalating COVID-19 response measures.  Seeley International Group Managing Director, Mr. Jon Seeley, said, “Good heating and fresh air ventilation are essential to good health, and must be maintained, es...

HVAC industry employees are included among “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During the COVID-19 Response” as designated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The guidance memorandum states: “If you work in a critical infrastructure industry, as defined by the Department of Homeland Security … you have a special responsibility to maintain your normal work schedule.” The edict comes from the DHS Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agen...

COVID-19 is a human tragedy for thousands and is having a profound impact on the world economy, including the HVAC market. Many businesses are scrambling to survive even as they address the intense human element of the crisis. A survey by the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) gathered insights on the effect the coronavirus pandemic is having on the HVAC industry. More than 70% of survey respondents expect the medical implications of the pandemic to last up to three months. (The sur...

Refrigerants used in cooling systems for homes and businesses are being replaced with alternatives that have less potential for global warming. But the transition comes at a risk: Some of the new refrigerants are flammable.  Although less flammable than gases such as propane, for example, new refrigerants can still ignite and burn with a high intensity under ideal circumstances. The new materials have low-flame velocity and are less easily ignited; however, one byproduct of combustion is t...

Eurovent Middle East, as the region´s industry association for Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVACR) equipment manufacturers, is calling on building owners, operators and facility management providers as well as healthcare facilities to carefully observe the following recommendations by the industry to minimize risks related to the transmission of airborne viruses through ventilation and air-conditioning systems and support the government in its efforts to contai...

Good news for building owners, engineers/architects, and HVAC contractors who can now save energy, construction costs, and space in commercial facilities with this latest approved code addition. Doorway air curtains were approved June 25, 2019 as alternatives to vestibules on most commercial building entries in the upcoming ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2019 “Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low Rise Residential Buildings.” The professional association’s approved addition requires...

An innovative, efficient air conditioning system has been chosen to provide cooling and comfort to guests at the Strand Palace Hotel in the heart of London.  The hotel, which is walking distance from some of London’s most famous theatres and has been welcoming guests since 1909, needed to modernize its heating and cooling systems to ensure a quality experience for guests. High levels of energy efficiency and minimal disruption to the hotel’s operation during installation were a...

Hi-line Industries, a supplier to the compressed air sector, has a solution for all companies seeking a temporary way of delivering high-quality, dry compressed air. An affordable and responsive rental scheme is now in place at the company, covering Hi-line’s comprehensive range of compressed air dryers. Although hiring a compressor is easy enough for short-batch emergency runs or exceptionally busy periods, finding specialist drying equipment is not so straightforward. And yet air qualit...

There is currently no evidence that Coronavirus (COVID-19) is airborne, the virus appears to spread via droplets and direct contact with contaminated surfaces and objects. However, as with any air conditioning system, the design and maintenance is key to its performance and the health and wellbeing of the building occupants. Research suggests that increased humidification has a large impact on reducing the transmission of some airborne virus, as will the level of filtration within a ventilatio...

Trade associations and membership societies representing North America's Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration industry requested that federal, state, and local authorities grant "essential business" status to those technicians and engineers who are tasked with keeping the American people productive, healthy, and comfortable in these trying times. The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) joined with nine other organizations, representing the HVACR an...

The spread of COVID-19, commonly known as the coronavirus, continues to pick up pace globally and is increasingly a key priority and in view of the growing concern Daikin Applied (UK) Ltd and Daikin Applied Service would like to reassure the customers that they have adopted a risk-minimization approach to ensure minimum disruption to business.   Unfortunately, the onset of the Coronavirus has caused many industry implications, this is a brief update on Daikins supply chain,...

Amid concerns about the increasing scope of the coronavirus (COVID 19), International Institute of Ammonia Refrigeration (IIAR) has announced the cancellation of its 2020 IIAR Natural Refrigeration Conference & Heavy Equipment Expo, a major industry event focused on natural refrigerants in the industrial and commercial sectors. IIAR Conference cancelled IIAR joins a growing list of HVAC&R organizations worldwide that have cancelled trade gatherings over the coronavirus. The IIAR Confer...

Armstrong Fluid Technology announces new versions of the design envelope 6800 vertical multistage booster with design envelope permanent magnet motors for increased energy efficiency. The new Design Envelope 6800 boosters also offer booster manager, an innovative cloud-based performance management service. Booster manager delivers analytics and performance insights including profiles of energy and water consumption. Sustaining Optimal Performance Through continuous performance management, rep...

Data is playing an increasingly important role in smart buildings. Analysis of building system data is guiding an expansion of capabilities in the smart building environment, making building systems – including HVAC – more efficient and effective. The convergence of multiple building management systems is inevitable -- it's just a matter of time and it’s already happening. The data collected from the various systems make up a data profile that can be put to work to create new o...

Small airborne particles contribute to the spread of infectious diseases of all sorts, and current concerns about the novel coronavirus COVID-19 are highlighting the role of HVAC systems to minimize airborne disease transmission and to ensure better indoor air quality in general. Because small particles can remain airborne for some period of time, HVAC systems can play a positive role in minimizing disease transmission, specifically by: Supplying clean air to susceptible occupants. Containi...

The Built In America television show is taking viewers deep inside one of the nation’s massive, new industrial facilities to witness how a $417 million investment in United States manufacturing is creating Goodman brand air conditioners and furnaces, along with up to 7,000 jobs. Within the doors of the world’s largest tilt wall building at the Texas Technology Park, the Built In America documentary, led by host John McCalmont, demonstrates the manufacturing magic of morphing hefty 15...

Thanks to breakthroughs in Internet-of-Things technology, facilities managers can monitor boiler equipment operation from virtually anywhere. Picture a typical boiler installation at a large facility like a hospital or university. Manually monitoring a system like that could involve many operators spread over several buildings, each responsible for checking system consoles and monitors. Tracking down a failure might take hours—and that’s after they find out there IS a failure. Troubl...

Air conditioning professionals attending this year's AHR Expo had the opportunity to preview Danfoss' extensive portfolio of rooftop components that unite to help OEMs tackle seasonal efficiency and refrigerant changes—including innovations like the Interlaced Micro Channel Heat Exchanger (iMCHE). Designers of rooftop units are facing a pair of environmental challenges: the US Department of Energy's 2023 energy efficiency standards requirement of a 15% increase in integrated energy effici...

Brivo, the global provider of cloud-based physical security, has acquired Parakeet Technologies, a provider of smart building solutions which include sensors, thermostats, wireless locks, and lighting controls. The acquisition accelerates Brivo’s ongoing push to enhance its in-building capabilities beyond its current access control, video, and security. The companies had already been working together as partners, and now plan a deeper integration between their products, including a common...

Samsung’s exclusive Wind-Free™ cooling technology provides end-users with a cool indoor climate and optimal energy efficiency without the discomfort of direct cold airflow. Samsung’s Wind-Free™ advanced cooling models offer residential, light commercial and commercial solutions. Wind-Free™ models can be configured for 2-step operation, cooling the space with the louver open until the room temperature nears set temperature. Wind-Free™ operation will start auto...

At the 2020 IIAR Natural Refrigeration Expo on March 15–18, 2020, Danfoss will introduce three new innovations: the complete integrated evaporator control panel, semi-welded plate heat exchanger, and digital gas detector. These products are the newest, most advanced components from Danfoss' industrial refrigeration solutions, which blend reliable hardware with intuitive software to create customizable intelligent, energy efficient, and cost-effective systems. These components, along with...

FabricAir® Inc., Lawrenceville, Georgia, the original manufacturer of fabric HVAC duct, is celebrating its 45th anniversary campaign ‘45 Years of Proven Track Record’ this month in North America and throughout its 10 international subsidiaries. The first modern fabric duct was developed and installed in a slaughterhouse in 1974 by FabricAir’s precursor, Denmark-based IPS Dansk Presenning A/S, a company in the Eletrolux Group. The early fabric duct model designs successfull...

HVACR is a mature industry, to be sure, but one that continues to innovate. I found an example of industry innovation at the Infinitum Electric booth at AHR Expo in Orlando. The five-year-old company offers a 15-hp motor for ventilation applications that weighs only 96 pounds and is 96% efficient. The motor is based on technology that pulls the iron and copper out of the stator and etches copper coils into a circuit board. Infinitum has filed 21 patents over the last three years to cover the tec...

SPX Cooling Technologies, Inc., a full-line, full-service designer and manufacturer of evaporative cooling towers and air-cooled heat exchangers, introduces its new Marley MH Element Fluid Cooler, an induced-draft, crossflow closed-circuit cooling tower suitable for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), industrial and process cooling applications. Because of its hybrid operation and high-efficiency components, the Marley MH Element Fluid Cooler delivers more thermal capacity with a...

RectorSeal® LLC, Houston, a manufacturer and distributor of quality HVAC/R products, and part of the CSW Industrials, Inc. group of companies, has been named an approved master distributor for K-Flex® Youngsville, North Carolina, one of the HVAC/R industry’s manufacturers of refrigerant lineset insulation and tapes for commercial and residential air conditioning and refrigeration systems. The distribution relationship will initially comprise of three top-selling product lines manu...

ASHRAE, a global society advancing human well-being through sustainable technology for the built environment, has developed proactive guidance to help address coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) concerns with respect to the operation and maintenance of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems. The ASHRAE COVID-19 Preparedness Resources webpage provides easily accessible resources from ASHRAE to building industry professionals. ASHRAE’s COVID-19 Preparedness Available on the webp...

Over the next five years, Danfoss will have 50 percent more females in leadership positions. Today, women count for well over a third of all the company’s employees, but only 20 percent of its leaders are women. Therefore, Danfoss has launched new ambitious plans to ensure that 25% of its leaders are women in 2022 and 30% in 2025. Danfoss is now embarking on an ambitious plan to ensure that the number of female leaders increases significantly over the next five years. With a number of new...

Already backing its products with some of the industry’s strongest limited warranties, Amana brand Heating & Air Conditioning has announced new limited warranty enhancements for many of its air conditioning, heat pump, gas furnace and residential packaged products. Beginning February 1, 2020, a 2-Year Unit Replacement Limited Warranty will cover numerous Amana brand indoor comfort models should the heat exchanger or compressor fail on the original homeowner – provided that system...

A new multi-million pound MRI scanner facility at NHS University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, is being cooled by high-efficiency chillers from Carrier. Carrier’s heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) business is a part of Carrier, a global provider of innovative HVAC, refrigeration, fire, security and building automation technologies.  Three Carrier AquaSnap 30 RBP air-cooled liquid chillers have been installed by mechanical and electrical contractor Whitehead Building...

Armstrong Fluid Technology has announced the launch of Design Envelope EVERCOOL, a new solution for rapid deployment in mission critical cooling applications. Design Envelope EVERCOOL is an automation platform for mission critical cooling systems. The EVERCOOL platform offers pre-engineered, feature-rich options that can be configured on-site. The platform meets the stringent requirements of the Uptime Institute for Tier III data centers, while avoiding the traditional requirements of extensive...