Sometimes, you can be too close to a maintenance problem — getting caught up in an endless cycle of servicing, repairing, and rebuilding the same piece of equipment. It can happen over and over again until an outsider with a broader perspective sees a different and more effective solution.
Case in point: two aging water heaters and a 1,000-gallon storage tank serving a potable water system at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Michigan.
Over the last several years, the maintenance team at the facility rebuilt these units several times. At $13,000 a unit, the cost didn’t sit well with the hospital’s annual budgets.
When the time to rebuild rolled around again recently, The Macomb Group’s Dan Rajewski floated an alternative solution — replacing the system with a more reliable one that would end up saving them money as well as serving the center’s users more safely and effectively.
Safely? Yes. The replacements — Spirax Sarco’s innovative, ‘plug-and-play’ EasiHeat packaged heat exchanger system — would effectively remove the risk of deadly Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia.
Tankless Solution
Dan explains: “Legionnaires’ disease can be caused by several factors but the main cause is water storage temperature. The bacteria’s food source — algae, lime scale, and rust — are optimal in water temperatures between 68 to 113 F and are typical in a water storage tank setup.
“The optimal water temperature to prevent Legionnaires’ disease is approximately 140 F and because the EasiHeat is an instantaneous hot water system with no storage tank, it virtually eliminates the potential for the deadly disease, with water temperatures usually around 55 F when entering the unit.”
Dan suggested the EasiHeat solution to the Hurley team, pointing out that Macomb had installed it across town at the University of Michigan, Flint campus — five units already in and two more budgeted this year.
Hurley’s positive response was strengthened when Dan introduced Spirax Sarco’s local product line expert, Kerry Hamilton of Michigan Steam, to outline the system and its benefits.
“Because it’s standard procedure for hospitals to have redundancy when it comes to utilities, they ended up replacing a couple existing units, saving both energy and storage space with a smaller footprint of the EasiHeat units,” says Dan.
“They are ecstatic about the potential for these units and are currently looking at other potential areas of the hospital because of the ease of operation and maintenance with the units.”
Have you been dealing with a persistent maintenance problem? Maybe a fresh perspective would help. Contact the experts at The Macomb Group by email atinfo@macombgroup.com or by phone at 888-756-4110. For a complete list of Macomb Group Locations and Numbers, visit our website.
