It’s a hospital facility engineer’s nightmare: All of the patient rooms and many key surgical suites of a health care building are served by a single vaneaxial fan. That fan and its drive motor are in a penthouse structure. Consulting engineers estimate it would take up to a week or more to remove and replace them in the event of a motor failure. Such an event would shut down the medical center.
That’s what worried Rick Barney, project supervisor, Sutter Roseville Medical Center in Roseville, Calif. What happened next is a blueprint for vastly improving airside plant reliability, while keeping the required air handler in service. The Sutter Roseville Medical Center is a modern, 350,000-square-foot facility that provides a wide range of medical and surgical services to the Roseville area, northeast of Sacramento.
