These fabricated metal enclosures are important for both concealing and protecting exposed piping or electrical conduit.

Conceal

Not all pipes in a building can be enclosed within walls, ceilings, or floors. Maintenance may need access to the pipes periodically or the pipes may be necessary to emit the desired heat or water into the room. But many times, these pipes aren’t aesthetically pleasing. So, concealing them in an attractive way becomes a value to the building owner, facility managers, and most importantly occupants.

Protect

Metal enclosures are also important to protect the pipes or wiring from damage and extending their peak working condition. But it also protects people from accidental contact. Safety in schools, hospitals, industrial complexes, commercial buildings, and public housing is critical.

Types of Pipes to Enclose

The types of pipes that the building maintenance supervisors want to conceal and protect could include:

• Hot and cold water pipes
• Steam pipes for heating
• Refrigerant pipes
• Sprinkler pipes
• Electrical conduit

Types of Custom Metal Enclosures

Our custom enclosures are fabricated by a local Union sheet metal shop, instead of being manufacturing in another state, which allows us to offer our customers a quick turnaround. It also saves you money on shipping from out of state.

We offer galvannealed painted and unpainted enclosures, as well as stainless and aluminum, so you have options for the building aesthetics. Galvannealed sheet is carbon steel dipped and coated with zinc on both sides. The metal is then heated turning the coating into a zinc iron alloy, giving the sheet an improved or smoother surface finish, so it can be painted to match the room.

If you want to paint the enclosure, we offer colors from a standard RAL color chart or can even provide custom colors if required.

Our Process

When possible, to ensure quality and make it easier for our customers, a Mechanical Equipment sales engineer will meet with the installing contractor on the project and field measure together. This helps the project go more smoothly and avoid any costly measurement mistakes.

If you are a mechanical engineer, building facility manager, or contractor looking for custom metal HVAC pipe enclosure options or solutions for commercial or institutional building, give us a call at 800-355-7061. We have an enviable amount of experience in the industry and are happy to share our expertise on what is possible.

We want to let you know about something that you should take advantage of, while we’re all working from home. It’s called TACO TUESDAY!

What is Taco Tuesday? Every Tuesday, Taco Comfort Solutions hosts a fun, free, fact-filled one-hour training webinar that will keep you up-to-date on the latest HVAC systems, tools, and technologies. Every week they switch up between a Commercial and Residential focused topic.

These are great educational sessions, and we guarantee that you’ll learn something new each time, even if you feel like you know everything you need to know already. What’s better is that you will receive Professional Development Hour (PDH) credits for each class you attend. That’s right, each class offers 1 PDH for either a Residential or Commercial class! Don’t miss out on this opportunity to get your education credits.

These classes are free of charge, but you must register.

Here’s a list of Upcoming Topics and Dates
(C = Commercial Focus – R = Residential Focus)

May 26 – C -TACO HSS Software – Hydronic Heat Pump Focus!

June 2 – R – Combustion Analysis

June 9 – C – Manual Pressure Drop Calculation for Hydronic Systems

June 16 – R – Piping/Pumping Mod-Con Boilers

June 23 – C – Chiller Plant Concept Focus

Get more details on each of these classes and the link to register here.

Taco Comfort Solutions also offers a library of previously recorded trainings. You can check those out here.

If not, you should. Boilers, like cars or any other mechanical devices, are subject to wear and tear. They need adequate maintenance, to ensure that they don’t break down because if they do, it’s guaranteed NOT to be at a convenient time to repair it. Waiting until something breaks down before repairing and maintaining it, always ends up costing you far more money, unhappy residents, higher labor rates, etc. because it’s usually during peak service demand, or in the middle of the night, or on a weekend. Usually, you end up in scramble mode trying to fix a problem that could have been avoided with regular care.

Providing regular maintenance programs to your customers, is also a good way to build long-lasting customer relationships and add a consistent revenue stream for your business.

Annual maintenance and monthly water quality checks can prevent premature malfunctions and potential boiler breakdowns caused by poor water quality, leaks or water pressure. Any boiler’s functionality can be easily compromised and impact energy efficiency which creates a large bill for your customers.

So, what are some best practices to keep boilers operating in peak condition? Here are 8 annual maintenance steps from Patterson-Kelley to help maintain energy efficiency and extend the life of your customers’ boilers.

1. Replace all parts affected by wear and tear, every year!

Your annual maintenance kit should include all parts that need to be replaced, including gaskets to re-seal the combustion inspection covers that were removed to clean the fireside. We offer a P-K annual maintenance kit that includes all parts you need for this. Give us a call for information and pricing to get yours.

2. Inspect the fireside of the heat exchanger

After 2,500 hours of operation, or at least once a year, you should inspect the fire-side of the heat exchanger. You can access the fireside by removing the inspection covers. Any fireside fouling should be removed by using clean out tools and water washing the fireside surface. A thin coat of mineral oil can be used on an aluminum boiler to help minimize potential fouling in between annual maintenance checks. Verify that no debris came loose and fell to the bottom, potentially clogging the air path.

3. Remove the burner, thoroughly wash and clean the mesh

This should be done even if the burner appears to be clean. After washing the burner; reinstall it and use the fan test option to blow dry the burner. DO NOT fire the burner while wet.

4. Replace old igniter, flame rod and gaskets

These parts are included in your maintenance kit. It is important that you DO NOT reuse old gaskets.

5. Select the righT Water Treatment to Prevent Scale

Water side scale is equivalent to having a thin film of insulation between the furnace gases and boiler water. It can drop a boiler’s efficiency by as much as 12% – 21%.

6. Re-start the equipment and adjust combustion using a calibrated analyzer

A water tube manometer will be necessary to check for proper draft readings.

7. Inspect electrical connection for corrosion

Condensation can cause corrosion on the electrical connections of a boiler. Check for broken or cracked fusers and replace anything that looks questionable, then test the unit. It is also important to ensure that the electrical connections are tight.

8. Clean the condensate trap

Once again, the condensate produced by condensing natural gas boilers is corrosive. The condensate trap must be cleaned annually and inspected for potential leaks.

You can also download this checklist from Patterson-Kelley on how to design the system to ease annual boiler maintenance.

Mechanical Equipment is your local Patterson-Kelley representative, and you can call us anytime if you have questions, concerns or would like to order a Patterson-Kelley Boiler Annual Maintenance Kit.

Pat has a long history in the commercial HVAC business. He started with a pipefitter apprenticeship right out of high school and was able to work his way up the ranks quickly in each of his positions. He became the Piping Superintendent at Murphy & Miller in Chicago, supervising apprentices, journeymen and foremen for ten years. He was also recognized as the youngest superintendent in Local 597’s history!

He then went on to become the Piping Manager at Westside Mechanical Inc., which added more responsibility and also allowed him to use his managerial expertise. Pat’s track record of success made him a highly sought-after person, and he was soon hired as a Project Manager/General Superintendent at International Piping Systems. That’s also where Pat met his future wife, June, who is now a Vice President at F.E. Moran, and where he also met Dennis at Mechanical Equipment. Pat also began attending night school at IIT, to obtain his mechanical engineering degree.

Eventually, Pat was offered an opportunity on the supplier side of our industry, becoming a Vice President at Flomech in Downers Grove, IL. Pat was responsible for overseeing estimating, sales, design, installation and start-up for all heating and cooling projects. His experience in contracting, gives him a great perspective of our customer’s needs, helping him offer excellent customer service. Pat’s design and installation background helps assure a smooth and profitable job for our customers.

Pat shared, “Coming from the contractor side to the vendor side, I made a commitment to be the vendor that everyone wanted to deal with. I always give 100% effort. I pride myself on that and I respond to my customers as fast as I can, 24/7 no matter the size of the order or how busy I am. Business is all about relationships and I plan to continue my excellent relationships for years to come.”

Dennis O’Shaughnessy, Mechanical Equipment’s founder, said, “I was excited to bring Pat into the ME team because Pat offers our customers yet another source for our ‘best in the industry’ customer service. His knowledge and design expertise is an invaluable asset in making sure that we are performing and delivering better than anyone else. His pipefitter experience tells him that sometimes what’s shown on a drawing doesn’t necessarily work on the job site. Having known Pat for 20 years, I have seen him grow and succeed in this industry, which makes me realize how fortunate we are to have him.”

Pat said, “I’m excited about working with Dennis and his team of people. He and I have known and respected each other for over 20 years. Mechanical Equipment has a variety of top-notch product lines and more opportunities to serve mechanical contractors. I like being able to help customers from A to Z and help save them money by helping resolve any issues, make changes or assist with the design.”

Pat is an enormously proud father of three children that keep him very busy, he also collects cars for fun, (he’s had over 75 throughout his life!) and if that’s not enough, Pat loves scuba diving.

Pat is available for engineering consultations, equipment specifications or anything at all that you need help with. Feel free to give Pat a call to help make your job easier. Welcome aboard Pat!