Another successful retrofit! This time at a residential building at 1529 S. State Street in Chicago! The building management contracted Anchor Mechanical to replace the domestic water booster pumps in this building, with a US Pump Triplex Booster System, including multi-stage vertical pumps, that are ideal for low-flow, high-pressure conditions. 

Since this was a residential high-rise, full of tenants who wanted the water back on as soon as possible, time for removing and replacing the system was limited to a 6-hour window, which made the project even more challenging. 

Anchor Mechanical automatically called Mechanical Equipment about this project, based on our past service and expertise. We supplied them with our US Pump Booster system, as well as an expansion tank and flexible connectors, for a complete system. Our products and exceptional lead times, along with our affordable pricing and engineered solutions, make us your “go to” provider for commercial or residential, mechanical and plumbing needs.

The building manager Terry, was delighted that the project was completed on time, went smoothly and his residents were HAPPY! If you need a booster system and accessories, or any other mechanical room products, please contact Mechanical Equipment for more information on how we can help design the right system for you!

Have you heard of the Revolution Workshop? You should. They are an impressive organization making serious change creating more employment opportunities for communities of color and the acute talent shortage in the construction sector in the Chicago area. We were happy to be able to help on a project at their facility in East Garfield Park, IL.

Revolution Workshop’s is a nonprofit social enterprise that provides construction workforce development for unemployed or underemployed people in partnership with area businesses. Their mission is to deliver financial independence and careers through skills, hope, and resilience.

You can read more about Revolution Workshop below.

As part of their model, they train large groups of people on construction skills. They quickly realized that when there’s a classroom break and a large number of people, it strains the plumbing system. The facility has many bathrooms, but the system couldn’t handle the volume all at once. They needed higher pressure capabilities.

So, Ed Lichner, one of our Sales Engineers at Mechanical Equipment, was called in by Stantec Engineering, to assist them in the correct sizing of a booster system for the facility. His recommendation was for an AMT booster pump system and we also included an Elbi hydro-pneumatic tank, and Twin City Hose flex connectors. All three popular, high-quality brands that Mechanical Equipment represents. Chicago Area Plumbing was brought in as the contractors and the project was installed successfully.

For more information about these, or any of our other products, give us a call at 800-355-7061. We enjoy creating the specification for interesting projects.

More About Revolution Workshop

Revolution Workshop was inspired by a small group of skilled trades employers and workforce development leaders who were concerned by the lack of opportunity for minorities and especially the acute talent shortage in the construction sector.

Faced with a staggering 37% unemployment rate for Chicago’s black residents aged 20 to 24, they felt something needed to be done. 

In 2017, the group banded together to found Revolution Workshop, a unique incubator that would serve as a pipeline to the construction industry. Using best practices, the organization aims to uplift Chicago’s underserved communities by providing free training for jobs in the skilled construction trades.

We have another great client success story for you – this time it was with Ceroni Piping for a project at Mercy Hospital in Rockford, IL. As always, we pride ourselves on the decades of experience and knowledge our Sales Engineers have under their belt. For this project, their expertise definitely came into play.

Ceroni Piping in Cherry Valley, Illinois needed to install a hydronic, radiant fin-tube heating system in the new lobby of the hospital. The lobby was designed with custom-sized and curved fin-tube components, and the job had a very aggressive deadline. Our customer asked us for our expertise in recommending the right products and relied on us to ensure the measurements were correct for the curved window mullions in the lobby.

Dean Powrozek, one of our Sales Engineers, and a Union sheet-metal worker, excels in these situations, but this job was even more difficult than most. With most projects, we get called-in to measure once the walls are up. However, because of the aggressive schedule, and product lead-times, the contractor couldn’t wait and the materials needed to be ordered. Using his many years of experience, Dean laid-out the window mullion design in chalk on the floor, and was able to measure correctly so that every spliced connection lined up perfectly with the mullions for a more aesthetic look.

As you can see, it was tricky because we had to account for the curve of the wall in between the columns. The fin-tube needed to be designed, measured and a correct bill of materials had to arrive on time, based on chalk marks on the floor! No other company offers this level of service or expertise! Dean’s measurements were right on the money, the system was installed perfectly by the customer and the finished product, speaks for itself!

Sterling Commercial Hydronic products are the top of the line, and their engineers worked with us during the design stage, to assure a perfect fit and a fantastic looking, finished product. Ceroni Piping was able to meet their deadline in part, because of our service and expertise!

We are proud to represent Sterling, the leader in the industry with the most diverse and complete line of hydronic heating products. They are also the best choice for custom, finned tube applications, which was exactly what was needed for this project.

For more information about Sterling or any of our other products, or how our Team can help you with a custom project, give us a call at 800-355-7061.

The Challenge:

CGH Medical Center’s existing hot water system consisted of a leaking 2,000-gallon hot water tank, which was tasked with providing domestic hot water to the hospital’s laundry facility. Part of the hospital’s capital plan was to replace and expand their laundry machines, but they needed a dependable hot water solution to satisfy the newly added capacity, that more machines would offer them. Mechanical Equipment gave them the solution they needed!

The Solution:

We worked closely with our Patterson-Kelley engineers to provide a model “PK Compact” instantaneous, double-walled, steam-to-hot water generator.  Our P-K Compact eliminated the need for wasting money in a “Band-Aid approach”, trying to fix the old and leaking equipment. The additional benefit was the new P-K Compact hot water heater saved the hospital considerable space in the boiler room, allowing them to easily increase the needed capacity with additional washing machines. 

This small, Compact heater produces high hot water output at a closely controlled temperature, making it the ideal water heater for new or existing installations.

The Advantages:

The advantages of the P-K Compact system include:

• Saves valuable floor space
• No overhead room required for service
• Meets hot water requirements in most buildings without the need for additional hot water storage
• Performs equally well with steam, boiler water or high temperature hot water
• Improved valve performance and capacities, configurable to suit customer requirements

These Patterson Kelley instantaneous hot water heaters have a long history of successful use throughout Illinois and the rest of the country and are ideal for hospital applications that have existing steam heating systems. 

As with all Patterson Kelley products this compact heater is constructed to have a long life. The shell is constructed of solid 90-10 copper nickel, the premium corrosion-resistant material for potable water service, eliminating potable water contamination.

If you have an application where this product could improve service AND save money, contact Mechanical Equipment for more information regarding these steam-to-hot water instantaneous heaters, or any of our other Patterson Kelley boilers and equipment. See how we can help you successfully solve your hot water challenges. 

We love saving our customers money in addition to keeping their facilities operating! We recently helped Rivian Automotive, Inc., the electric vehicle manufacturer, with two new pumps that were critical to their manufacturing line.

Mechanical Equipment’s involvement started when an engineer from IMEG Corp. contacted us for help with sizing and pricing of an inline pump. After discussing the parameters of the system, we suggested another option.

An inline pump would have worked for the application however it would have required a 600 horse power motor. By offering an alternative solution, our Taco TA series, horizontal split case pump with a 400 horse power motor, we could save Rivian money with the initial cost as well as by operating a pump needing less horse power. The TA Model offers a double-suction design and the impeller assures minimum NPSH requirement.

You don’t often see 400 horsepower pumps because they’re only needed with high water-flow requirements, and that’s exactly what Rivian needed. The application was to provide cooling for the machines that perform spot welding on body parts. It’s essential to keeping the manufacturing line up and running.  

We worked with the engineer at IMEG as well as the Rivian project manager to draw up the plans and design the system from the ground up. The pump needed to deliver 3180 gallons of water per minute, at 305-feet of head.

We visited the Rivian manufacturing plant once the pumps were installed, to do the formal start-up of the system since it was such a unique design. Rivian manufactures and assembles everything needed for their electric vehicles – the battery, motor, and body. They even handle painting in house. It was fascinating to see the hundreds of American manufactured trucks being made and even more waiting to be shipped.

The vehicle manufacturing line that the new pump system supported was impressive.

Special thanks to IMEG Corp. and Taco for a great project design, and creating a successful pump system unique for Rivian. Thanks to Rivian for their support of Taco products. If you have a unique application for a pump or other HVAC system, or even an “everyday” project, give Mechanical Equipment a call. We understand that every client has different needs and we have the expertise to help you select the right options for a successful project.

We want to share another customer success story, that required our “above and beyond” customer service, to solve an issue that was threatening the successful completion of a major project for our customer.

The Chicago Botanic Garden needed a new radiant heat system installed in three of their existing, large Greenhouses:

• The Semi-tropical Greenhouse has average temperatures hover between 75- and 85-degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and the humidity is close to 30 percent.
• The Tropical Greenhouse has average temperatures between 85 and 95 degrees during the day and the humidity bumps up to close to 90 percent.
• The Arid Greenhouse where temperatures are hot and dry, around 80 degrees during the day, but can drop to 40 degrees at night and humidity is almost non-existent.

The Greenhouses have displayed hundreds of beautiful, fragrant and even rare plants from around the world, for more than 40 years. The Chicago Botanic Garden is also a popular attraction during the winter months, where visitors can go to continue to enjoy the greenery and dream about spring! The existing radiant heat system was old and inefficient so, it was important to get the new radiant heat system installed before the weather got cold, to keep the plants heated and healthy in their appropriate environment.

Radiant heat works great in a Greenhouse environment by supplying warm air to cold spaces, and distributing the heat evenly to keep the temperature levels stable for the plants.

Mechanical Equipment supplied our Sterling fin-tube product, model JVB S-24 for the project to our customer F.E. Moran, the installing contractor. The project was unique not only because of the sheer size of the space and amount of element and enclosure, but more so because per the design requirements, the aluminum enclosure was required to be anodized!

Sterling offers the industry’s most complete line of finned tube element and enclosure options whether for baseboard location or mounted anywhere else on a wall or ceiling.

Unexpected supply issues became a major concern, when the anodizing contractor, could not keep pace with the installation and the order was in jeopardy of not making the Garden’s deadline.

Our General Manager of Operations, Dean Powrozek jumped in to solve the issue and meet the customer’s deadline. We had Sterling bypass their anodizing contractor, and ship all of the enclosure to us. We sourced a local company to complete the anodizing in record time, and made deliveries as needed while storing the rest so it wouldn’t be damaged at the jobsite. We want to give a “shout-out” to Spectrum Aluminum Finishing. The job turned out beautifully. You should make a visit and enjoy the day at the Garden.

This job was a great example of having an issue arise from a place you least expect it. More importantly, it shows how the Mechanical Equipment team and Sterling, rises to the occasion and finds a way to solve problems and meet our customer’s needs.

If you have questions about finned tube enclosure or any other radiant heating systems, or if you have a challenging issue you need help with, give us a call. We are happy to utilize our decades of experience with customer service, to answer your questions and successfully complete your projects.

A local Chicago Public High School found themselves in a bind. They had an upcoming swim meet scheduled but their “steam to pool water” heat exchanger failed a month before the meet. They didn’t want to have to cancel the meet or find another location, so they reached out to JR Industries to find a fast solution. JR Industries reached out to Mechanical Equipment, to get the equipment.

As you can see, the old heat exchanger had corroded over time after being exposed to years of chemicals in the pool water.

We immediately contacted Taco Comfort Solutions for their recommendation for this application, and while other factories are having supply chain issues, we were able to get the correct replacement heat-exchanger quickly to save the day!

We supplied the school with a Taco Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger designed to better withstand the aggressive chemicals commonly found in pool water.

Taco Shell & Tube Heat Exchangers are available in a wide range of materials to meet your application needs. All fabrication is done in-house with only the best of quality and built to ASME Standards. This heat-exchanger features a bronze head, brass interior shell and CuproNickel tubes, to easily withstand the aggressive pool chemicals.

Features of Taco Heat-Exchangers:

• Designed, constructed and tested to ASME Section VIII, Div. 1 requirements
• NSF/ANSI 372 Certified and Listed
• High degree of flexibility in materials to meet varying application requirements
• Available in 2 or 4 pass construction
• All fabrication done in-house
• Computerized selections to ensure fast and easy design
• National Board Registration
• Computerized selections to ensure fast and easy design
• CRN registration (optional)

Working with Taco we were able to get the shell and tube heat exchanger delivered on time and installed for the swim meet. It wasn’t the photo finish timing you see in some swim meets, but it sure was a big win for everyone!

With the large Taco inventory that Mechanical Equipment carries and our suppliers’ track records on fast delivery, give us a call first, the next time you have a critical project and need equipment or parts in your hands fast.

Restaurants rely on higher pressure water. It’s critical for food preparation as well as cleaning and sanitizing restaurant equipment, utensils, and tableware.

Therefore, domestic booster pump systems play an extremely important role in the day-to-day operations of a restaurant, especially a large restaurant, serving large numbers of people.

To help a new restaurant in Oak Brook, IL, Piccolo Buco, we were contacted by BTR Engineering looking for help specifying a booster pump system. This project was a challenge because the basement area and floor space were extremely limited. However, we love challenges!

We put our heads together and came up with the perfect solution – an inline domestic booster pump system that could be mounted in the ceiling.

To meet their tight space requirements, BTR Engineering specified the Taco Vertical Inline KV Pump as the ideal solution.

We recommended the KV Series Vertical Inline Pumps because they require no isolation pads and their simple, in-line design can save the customer money / energy. The controls are self-contained in the variable frequency drive which is wall mounted at eye level.

Once the specifications were approved, we supplied the equipment for the Plumbing Contractor to install the pump system near the ceiling.

BTR Engineering was pleased to have a unique workable solution for their client. Management at Piccolo Buco was also happy with the solution, and allowed us to come in and take photos of the successful, ceiling installation.

If you are an engineer or engineering firm looking for solutions and specifications for unique client plumbing or HVAC challenges, give us a call. We have an enviable amount of experience in the industry and are happy to share our expertise.