Client: Sambe Construction Company

MDCSystems® was retained by a school district in Pennsylvania to investigate, analyze and recommend corrective action for the high school HVAC System due to high operating costs and unacceptable temperature conditions in various rooms of the school. The high school had been recently constructed and incorporated a geothermal field for heating and cooling uses.

MDCSystems® undertook an extensive HVAC analysis and discovered that a large part of the temperature issues were due to the fact that significant heat loss and gain was occurring at the building weatherproof enclosure. Subsequent evaluations concerning the heat loss including thermal scanning and partial disassembly of the roof revealed that significant construction defects were driving the poor performance of the Geothermal source HVAC System.

In addition, MDCSystems® used an advanced HVAC model of the building operation to refine the set points for the system parameters. Subsequently, MDCSystems® was retained to provide on-site supervision and inspection of the roof removal and reinstallation, removal and replacement of major portions of the ground floor concrete slab and remedial work on foundation and under slab drainage systems.

Following the completion of the remedial work, the high school achieved an approximate 30 percent reduction in the amount of energy consumed while increasing the comfort level in the school.