The Delaware Tower Condominium Building is a residential high-rise built in the early 1960s. The building uses a two-pipe changeover system with multiple fan coils located in each residential unit. While various replacements and upgrades had been made to the central plant equipment over the years, the individual units and piping distribution system were largely untouched. Leaking pipes had severely compromised the integrity of the heating and cooling system, potentially threatening the integrity of the building as well.
Trautman Associates designed a major HVAC system renovation project which included a complete replacement of supply, return, and condensate piping, new fan coil units, and a new chiller and fluid cooler. The existing boilers were maintained as they were found to have several years of useful service life remaining. Several piping systems (routing and materials) were evaluated during the initial design phase. Trautman Associates engineered a solution which met budget requirements while still providing reliability and longevity.
Due to its long-term residential usage, the building had to remain occupied throughout construction. All work had to be carefully coordinated with the building management group and tenants. Trautman Associates provided full-time construction monitoring to facilitate this coordination.
