by
Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | November 24, 2014
From the November 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
The story differs when it comes to mobile units. “Depending on where they’re situated, they’re going to have different requirements,” says Bachman. “Everything we build is built to go into any climate.” And Bachman does mean any climate. “We’re 95 percent domestic, but we’ve exported units to Israel, Korea and Canada,” he says.
Other environmental hazards
Even if a facility can benefit from running glycol-free, it should be done with caution. Glycol doesn’t just protect against freezing. It also acts as a bacteria and algae inhibitor. In the South for instance, humidity can be pretty oppressive during the warmer months. With high temperatures, and high humidity, an ideal situation is created for opportunistic algae to flourish. If there’s not something to keep it in check, it can gunk up the system. And it’s more common than you might think.
Dimplex’s Bernard recalls one service call where the customer mentioned that they didn’t put any glycol in the system since they were in a zone that doesn’t freeze. “When the chiller was inspected, water was leaking out and there was algal growth in the system. It looked like the Okefenokee Swamp,” she says. There are alternatives to glycol for preventing the growth of algae and bacteria. “We sell an anti-bacterial additive not for the cooler climates so much, but down south where relative humidity is much higher than normal,” says KR Products’ Smith.
Dimplex’s Bernard also warns that coastal regions can be a problem. “We sell a coastal package — what some call a saltwater package. If you don’t have protection on your chiller, you can literally rust away the entire frame. Bigger than that, the condenser coil can be affected. All our coastal units are made of stainless steel and we do an electronic coating.”
Earth is another potential problem — or the excessive movement of earth to be more precise. Accompanying the increase in temperature deviations off the norm, there has also been increased seismic activities with scientists predicting big events in the near future for areas of the country not prone to earthquakes. So considering units with OSHPD seismic ratings might not be too extreme an idea even\ for East Coast hospitals.
Standalone versus central systems
Many hospitals already have a good HVAC system in place and it may make sense to have the medical equipment chiller run off of it. But that’s not necessarily the best course of action. “It can save money when it comes to putting in piping and things like that, but if it’s old piping for example, and your filtration doesn’t bring water within proper purity levels, an MR could be damaged,” says Bernard. “The other thing, you may have equipment turned on and off throughout the day that impacts water pressure.”
