Kootenai Medical Center was having serious issues with their MRI Air Handling Unit. Due to the ductwork configuration for the outdoor air and return air, the air streams were becoming stratified and thus causing the pre-heat coil to freeze up during extreme weather conditions during the heating season. On top of the ductwork issue, the air handler had experienced catastrophic failure in the past when the supply fan and return fan motor had catastrophic failures.
Apollo Solutions Group was able to offer KMC a turnkey solution that addressed how the ductwork was configured. Apollo was also able to address catastrophic failures that had occurred with the supply fan and return fan motors. Apollo reconfigured the ductwork in a way that allowed the return air and outdoor air to properly mix in order to prevent the stratification of the really cold outdoor air and the warm return air before the pre-heat coil.
Apollo also addressed the catastrophic failures of the supply fan and return fan motors by recommending and installing fan wall systems for both the supply and return fans. The fan walls would offer a level of redundancy that the hospital just didn’t have with their current configuration. If one fan cell were to fail, the other fan cells would ramp up and still be able to deliver the code required volume of air which was critical to the areas served by this air handling unit.
Apollo was able to implement the ductwork reconfiguration and fan wall retrofits over two weekend. The work was begun on a Friday afternoon for the Supply Fan Wall and was up and operational by Sunday of that same weekend. The ductwork reconfiguration and the return fan wall were successfully installed over another weekend, and like the first retrofit, was up and operational by late Sunday.
