Custom HVAC Radio

This week I spoke with Pete Korzeniewski from Grundfos about distributed pumping. I'm seeing some huge advantages to this setup but you'll have to listen to the episode to hear what they are. I don't want to spoil the surprise and try to summarize here, listen and enjoy. . . . If you want to get started with distributed pumping, get a hold of me. vpriolo@airtreatment.com or 949-698-3014

This week I have Sarah Dunlop from Bosch (Florida Heat Pump) to talk about where sound comes from on WSHP's and how to mitigate them. Sarah explains each solution and give a priority list of which options to go with first when you need to reduce the sound of the unit. She also explains the Bosch and Florida Heat Pump partnership. If you want to know more, email me at vpriolo@airtreatment.com. Enjoy!

The sound levels inside occupied space is always a concern and VAW has been extremely helpful in meeting the required sound levels set by the acoustical engineer and fixing issues in the field. Whether the solution is simply aerodynamics or sound traps, Emanuel from VAW breaks it down in this podcast. Emanuel even discusses ultra low static pressure loss solutions! I hope you enjoy!!!

I seem to be talking about heat recovery almost daily so I had to do a follow up podcast with Multistack to add to the modular chiller podcast (Episode #24). I had Ed Watson define heat recovery and go through the 3 heat recovery options they have. We talked about the water to water heat recovery, 4-pipe air source heat recovery and their VME 6-pipe heat recovery system. We also talked about water temperature which always seems to catch engineers off guard so it was essential we went through it. If you want to see pictures of these systems, go to Multistack.com or email me and I'll walk you through them. vpriolo@airtreatment.com or 949-698-3014

This week I had Michael Jandrt from Multistack on the podcast to talk about modular chillers. I have learned a lot from Michael so I wanted to share some of the things I have learned. We talk about what a modular chiller is, the versatility, flexibility, what does N+1 look like with modular chillers, how to properly control modular chillers and the piping options (variable primary, primary secondary or constant flow). I'll be doing a follow up next week on dedicated heat recovery with Ed at Multistack but until then, enjoy this weeks episode on modular chillers.

This week I have Dan Jones from UV Resources on the podcast. Dan is the President of UV Resources and has seen his industry change drastically with COVID-19 so I had him talk about pre and post COVID. UV Lights have become a household name since the media has told everyone that it can kill viruses so I had Dan explain what it actually does to the virus and how we can design HVAC systems with effective "kill on the fly" UV lights. Enjoy and if you have an application that you'd like to learn more about, email/call me at vpriolo@airtreatment.com or 949-698-3014

This episode I talked to Kurt Krawczyk from The Whalen Company, a family owned company from Eastern Maryland. We go through footprint, riser piping, removable chassis/coil pack, sound testing and a few more items that are unique to Whalen. I screwed this podcast up twice before we got it right. Third times a charm and this is a great discussion on vertical stack units vs. closet style.

This week I have Kenton Hawkins from Eviro-tec to talk about fan coils. We had a discussion a few weeks ago while going through some book specifications about what makes a fan coil or blower coil more efficient than another and so we decided to record a podcast about the items we came up with. We talk about coil tube diameter, fin spacing, casing leakage and motor types/controls. Kenton also gives a little teaser at the end about Enviro-Tec's 6-way valve. We'll do another podcast on this soon. I hope you enjoy and get something usefull from this podcast! If you want more info . . . vpriolo@airtreatment.com

This week I got with Robert Boozer from Semco and we discussed chilled beams. We went through the basics and talked about some of the design mistakes that we see. I let Robert do a explanation on how Semco is different from other chilled beams. This is important since it can save energy, simplify design and speed up installation during construction. Contact me if you want to learn more and discuss chilled beams. vpriolo@airtreatment.com

I have been wanting to discuss humidifiers for a while. We don't use them often here in California so they don't get the attention they deserve. They can really cause some issues if applied incorrectly, which we go over in this podcast. Janelle from Pure has been with Pure for 19 years and has seen it all. She is a great resource when designing jobs and it shows in this podcast. Enjoy!!!

This week I got Chris from Economic Alternatives Inc. (EAI) to talk a little on condenser water treatment. EAI isn't affiliated with Air Treatment but Chris and I have worked together on a few jobs over the past year. Chris has come up with some great design ideas to make the condenser water systems safer, more efficient, better for equipment and reduce water. blowdown. We discuss why we need water treatment, chemical vs. non chemical and some design considerations. Enjoy! If you'd like to talk more to Chris, just let me know vpriolo@airtreatment.com

I'm switching it up a little bit this week by going to the plumbing side, which many of us mechanicals do often. Tim Totten from PVI and I discuss instant vs. storage, sizing, tank construction, water treatments, legionella and their electric water heater that I'm using more of with the electrification of California. I highly suggest looking into the PVI Durawatt and the Aquaplex construction. It blows me away how short of a life span tanks actually have and how PVI will offer up to a 25 year, yes 25 year warranty.

We have learned so much about how the COVID-19 virus is spreading through the air that I had to get Andy Weiller from Aerisa on the Podcast. Ionizers were typically only used in hospitals, airports, wastewater facilities etc. but I feel that they are going to become more main stream in our typical residential & commercial buildings as learn more about getting everyone back into offices safely. We did our best to keep it short so we hit the major points and called it good. We can set up more personal discussions over TEAMS/Skype/Zoom etc. if you want to learn more. Hit me up at vpriolo@airtreatment.com

This weeks I talked to Mike Chilingerian from Paragon Controls about air flow measuring. We touched on the 3 primary ways out industry measures airflow, calibration, system accuracy, AMCA testing and some design tips. It was another quick one around 20 minutes. I hope you enjoy it! Vince - vpriolo@airtreatment.com

Another short episode with Brian from Valent. We discuss a few topics that I get questions on such as difference of a dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) unit vs. typical recirculation unit, digital vs variable speed scroll compressors, backup vs. supplementary heat and a few more. If you want more info email me at vpriolo@airtreatment.com. Enjoy!!!

With so much discussion around air distribution and how to limit the spread of viruses, this is a perfect time to look at under floor air distribution (UFAD). This is another short episode at 27 minutes with Ghassan from Air Fixture. Ghassan practiced engineering and designed UFAD before joining Air Fixture and has been an essential asset for engineers not 100% confident with UFAD. If you want to learn more and discuss with Ghassan and I, email me at vpriolo@airtreatment.com or call me at 949-698-3014.

Boiler venting has been coming up more and more lately. Should we use PVC or stainless steel? How do I make sure the vent doesn't leak into the boiler room and how do I make sure we design the venting correctly? These are question I have been getting lately so we discussed these in this podcast. There is a visual component so email me if you'd like to see the webex that goes with this at vpriolo@airtreatment.com. This podcast is much shorter than the previous episodes at 22 minutes so this is a quick one!

I always have fun talking with Dick Grant. Maybe it's the Texan accent, maybe it's that he was on the original team that designed Trace 700 which was my introduction to the HVAC industry while at Trane in 2010. This episode we talked about Cannabis design since Dick is working solely with Cannabis indoor agriculture at Cultiva. As I design projects with various engineers and talk to various manufacturers, there is a lot of "learn by doing" going on and expensive lessons learned. Especially around the air conditioning and dehumidification of the grow rooms. This is what we discuss in this episode. If you are part of a Cannabis project, get a hold of me and I'll make sure you don't "learn by doing" and get bit by mistakes. Enjoy!

Ryan Brown, from Aerco, and I talked about all things boilers. Condensing vs. non-condensing, fire tube vs. water tube, primary secondary vs. variable primary, boiler controls, vetning, layout/clearance, South Coast Air Quality Management District requirements and what Aerco expects to see in the future. I even asked Ryan about Aerco's plans with electrification! Enjoy!

Dennis and I talked about mechanical separators and sand filters. These are simple products but tend to get into pretty detailed discussions late in the design process, or even worse, the submittal process. So I wanted to provide some info on what the 2 options can and can't do. We also talked about a new strategy with combining the separator and filter to clean the cooling tower basin and polish the condenser water. Enjoy!

With ABB updating their famous ACH550 to the ACH580, I felt it would be good to discuss VFD's with my ABB Specialist Wes Wilcox. Wes lives and breathes VFD's so he's a wealth of knowledge whether it's design or issues in the field. Wes is the one who trains and certifies every single contractor to do their own ABB VFD startup in SoCal. We had some fun talking about sizing VFD's (hp or amps), harmonics and distortion, the new ACH580 ULH (ultra low harmonic) VFD and how we can help with harmonic study's to determine if filters of ULH's are required, short circuit ratings, bypass/disconnect/circuit breakers, NEMA ratings and how to apply them and most importantly the benefits and drawbacks to VFD redundancy on Fan Array's. The VFD per fan vs. redundant VFD's is something that has come up a lot lately and I really wanted to understand the benefits and drawback of each so we went through them. I hope you enjoy this episode!

I always have fun with Samer so I wanted to get together to have Samer give me the story of how he grew up in the family business and his road to Petra being one of our top products. Samer has such as great story and tells it with so much passion that I had to have him on the Podcast. I know you'll enjoy this show, I had fun recording it.

This week was really fun to have Tim Quigley on the show. He's a wealth of knowledge and has helped me a ton when I came to Air Treatment. He's helped me learn many of the "rules of thumbs" that are needed in sizing/placing pumps, cooling towers, chillers, air separators, buffer tanks, expansion tanks, strainers and piping/plumbing design "rules of Thumb". I quizzed Tim for an hour and I think everyone will learn something from this episode. My intention here was to discuss the items that can cause for contractor change order and RFI's.

This week I have Ryan Hamilton, President of Nyle Water Heating Systems, on the podcast. Ryan has a crazy backstory that he tells us that has which shows why he is so passionate about getting our society off of fossil fuels. He really took a bad situation and turned it into fuel (no pun intended) to be a driver in renewable energy. We discuss the growing market for electric water heaters, government policies and how Nyle is providing solutions via air source and water source DX electric heat pumps for domestic water heaters. Ryan goes through the various ways to design DX electric heat pump water heaters (single pass and with storage). There is much more in the podcast. Enjoy!

This week I spoke to Robert Warnell at American Wheatley about all things buffer tanks, expansion tanks, air separators, suction diffusers, triple duty valves etc. He even settles the great unknown way to pronounce "Taco".

This week I spoke with Ray Markey from Dynamic Air Quality Solutions in depth about their Dynamic V8 filter setup. I was initially very interested in this product because of how low the loaded static pressure drop was (0.5"-0.7" at changeout in 5-7 years) and how much that can help us design air handlers with lower brake horsepower to make our Title 24 energy compliance easier. Owners and service tech's will love it too. We also discuss some cannabis solutions as well. Enjoy.

This episode I talked with Adrienne Stoinoff at Baltimore Air Coil (BAC) about everything cooling towers. Adrienne even told the full backstory about how BAC was started and where it is today. We also discuss design considerations such as crossflow vs. counterflow, open vs. closed systems, corrosion resistance, layout recommendations, sound, footprint and much more.

I discuss the Corona Virus and how Photo Catalytic Oxidation can be used to eliminate the spread of the virus through the HVAC system. If you would like to know more you can contact me at vpriolo@airtreatment.com or 949-698-3014