Category: Educational

Rader Engineering provided heating and ventilation upgrades to the Eagle County School District East Bus Barn to improve both comfort and efficiency. The existing garage exhaust fan airflow was adjusted to meet code. A standby exhaust fan was added to provide minimum ventilation when the large garage exhaust fan was not needed, which reduced energy consumption from fans and heating costs. The existing standard efficiency unit heaters were replaced with high efficiency unit heaters. Destratification fans were added to blow warm air down from the ceiling to reduce unit heater run time.

The Colorado Mountain College Vail Eagle Valley Campus renovation and large addition required full Mechanical and Plumbing Engineering services. The mechanical systems include rooftop units with chilled water cooling, economizer cooling, and variable air volume (VAV) zones for temperature control and comfort throughout the building. The design also includes kitchen exhaust and make-up air for the school’s food service needs. The plumbing system features high efficiency condensing boilers to provide domestic hot water, space heating in tandem with the VAV boxes, and approximately 1,200 SF of exterior snowmelt.

Upgrades to the mechanical system to allow for the safe operation of exiting gas fired appliances. This included the addition of new garage exhaust fan, motorized dampers and associated controls. New gas fired unit heaters were also specified to heat the garage.

Eagle County School District requested to upgrade their control systems for Eagle Valley Elementary, Meadow Mountain Elementary, Minturn Middle, and Red Sandstone Elementary.  Previously operating on all different systems, the goal of this project was to commonize the user interface and controls to simplify service and maintenance. Rader Engineering provided a Direct Digital Control (DDC) solution from design through installation for all four schools.  The new DDC system utilized an existing control platform and communicated to a central system to further reduce the school district’s complexity. The system monitored and controlled air handlers, exhaust air systems, terminal units, boiler room equipment and ancillary systems. A full plan for the controls along with mechanical drawings were provided to the schools for implementation.  The project was designed to be adaptable with changes such as energy retrofits and sequence additions or revisions in mind.

Garden City High School required the design of two large exterior snowmelt systems to service their campus. The first snowmelt system utilized an electric boiler to melt approximately 1,100 SF at the northside of the school. The second snowmelt system provided approximately 1,600 SF of snowmelt at the east side of the school using a high efficiency condensing gas boiler. Together, these systems help keep the school’s walkways free of snow and ice for the safety of their students, faculty, and other visitors.