In addition to traditional classroom learning, Buffalo Public School 305, McKinley High School, offers vocational educational opportunities to its students. The horticulture program is housed in a greenhouse that was part of the facility-wide boiler-driven hydronic heating system. Because the greenhouse was part of this shared system, it couldn't be zoned separately from the rest of the facility, which created challenges when the school required cooling at the same time the greenhouse needed to maintain warmer temperatures to prevent damage to the plants.
Trautman Associates designed a new boiler heating system dedicated to the horticulture program’s greenhouse to isolate the greenhouse as a separate heating loop using a new “pony”type boiler (725 mbh) package with valve controls. It can be used when nighttime air temperatures drop below 60°F and the greenhouse requires heat, when the school has switched over to partial cooling. At other times of the year, the valves can be opened back up, returning the greenhouse to the overall building system. Trautman Associates also designed a fire-rated enclosure that also controls access to the system.
