Commercial HVAC Project Gallery for AEM Mechanical Services, Inc. Hutchinson, MN 55350

Commercial Project Gallery

New Air Conditioning for McCormick's Family Restaurant

Reliability and repair costs became an issue for the old rooftop unit.

The good folks of McCormick's Family restaurant were concerned with the reliability of their rooftop air conditioning unit that was operating past its expected useful life. Reliability was becoming questionable and repairs were expensive. It was time to replace the unit.

The two biggest benefits to the new central air conditioning unit are reliability and reduced maintenance costs while providing a small increase in efficiency. We did the change out early in the morning to minimize the affects on the operation of the restaurant and allow them to remain open for business. They were without air conditioning for about four hours.

Both the staff and loyal customers of McCormick's Family Restaurant will notice an increase in comfort as a result of continuity of operation. The old unit had experienced several breakdowns over the summer leaving everyone feeling the heat.

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Rooftop Unit Change Out

Removal of old rooftop unit and installation of new.

Often rooftop units need to be replaced in bad weather conditions. The building for this rooftop unit change out was covered with snow and had a pitched roof that wasn't safe to walk on. Operating the crane and installing the new rooftop unit wasn't an issue, the safety of our people was.

Our solution to provide for the safest working environment possible was to ferry personnel up and down with a bucket truck. This allowed our technicians to work with as little movement on the snow covered surfaces as possible.

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Injection Molding Plant

Installation of piping and equipment for a manufacturing facility.

A manufacturing facility that makes plastic parts and enclosures for the telecommunications industry needed to have some new piping and equipment installed.

The new equipment was a pump station that was replacing an old worn out unit. The pump station is an important part of the injection molding process they use to manufacture their parts. The piping and equipment provides cooling water for the injection molding machines.

As part of the project we needed to fabricate a steel mezzanine that we assembled in place to allow additional equipment to be installed above the new pump station. With the chiller, fluid filter and heat exchanger installed on the mezzanine the project was complete and production was ready to resume.

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Commercial Dust Collection System

Installation of a dust collection system for a manufacturing facility.

A solution was needed to improve air quality in part of the plant where smoke from welding and dust from grinding and polishing of metal was a problem.

A dust collection system was already in place to deal with air contamination in a bead blast booth located in another part of the plant. Taking into consideration the fact that the booth is not in continuous operation, we installed additional duct in the other part of the plant. By using an electric damper system, employees are able to switch operation of the dust collection system to the part of the plant that is operational.

The result is improved air quality for plant employees and better utilization of an existing dust collection system.

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Commercial Rooftop Unit Replacement

Scheduled replacement of three rooftop units at a manufacturing facility.

A manufacturing company that produces communications system components replaced three roof-mounted, packaged units that provide heating, cooling and fresh air for the second floor office area. This was a planned replacement due to the existing units having reached the end of their expected life. The new units are more efficient saving the company money on utilities and are less likely to break down reducing repair costs.

When this building was constructed, curbs were incorporated into the roof to support the roof-mounted HVAC equipment and to provide openings to the building interior. Although not typically done in our area, the existing units were secured by cables, as the customer had concerns about wind. Rather than disturb the structure by installing new roof curbs, curb adapters were installed to match the new equipment. This is a common practice for rooftop unit replacement that reduces cost and unnecessary alterations to the building's structure. The cables were already in place from the previous install and were used to secure the new units in place.

The triangular hoods visible on the left-hand side of the unit are part of equipment installed within each unit called economizers. The economizer provides 'free cooling' by bringing in outside air to cool the building when conditions allow. This saves electricity by reducing the need to run the air conditioning system on cooler days. They are also used to continuously introduce a small amount of fresh air into the building when it is occupied.

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Commercial New Construction

Manufacturing Facility with office area, lunchroom and bathrooms.

This new construction project required coordination with other trades.

We installed underground plumbing in various locations coordinating with the brick layers to build a wall around some of the plumbing.

Utilizing a large crain we lifted and installed the rooftop unit.

In the manufacturing area we set a 70' long, stainless steel trench drain.

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Boiler Room Upgrade

Upgrade/Installation of High Efficiency Boilers - Church

An area church had a double boiler system that was nearing the end of its useful life. They recognized the fact that the older 80% efficient system would need to be replaced.

AEM Mechanical Services was contracted to install two new 96% efficient boilers in a cascading configuration. This configuration allows one boiler to run during periods of low heat requirements and equalizes boiler run times.

We installed all new circulating pumps and boiler room piping. For several weeks before boiler room startup, we circulated the system water through a filter that has an affinity for iron corrosion particles. This helped to clean up the system increasing overall system efficiency and minimizing deleterious affects on the new boilers.

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Roof Top Unit

Upgrade/Remodel - Dairy Processing Facility

The Dairy Farmers of America, Winthrop plant contracted with AEM Mechanical Services, Inc. to install heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment and ductwork.

The large metal enclosure in the ductwork (pictured below) is a HEPA filter. Defined by the US Centers for Disease Control: a HEPA filter is an air filter that removes more than 99.97% of particles 0.3 micron or larger at a specified flow rate of air.

HEPA filtration is necessary in this project to help prevent mold spores and other contaminants from getting into dairy products that are processed for human consumption.

One particular challenge was the fact that the roof was rather small and approximately 45 feet off the ground. Fitting the equipment into available area as well as getting everything up onto the roof to meet the customers needs was rewarding!