Understanding Education Building Challenges
Transformative Power of Air…
…is what we believe in at Nortek Air Solutions. Everyday, each of us breath 23,000 times. As much as we depend on air, it is often the one most taken for granted. For the nearly 2,000 passionate entrepreneurs that fuel Nortek Air Solutions it’s at the heart of everything we do. We believe in the transformative power of air and creating a safer, healthier, and more productive world together.
At Nortek Air Solutions, we’re experts in helping you with solutions to many of the building challenges you face. Creating the comfortable, productive, energy-efficient environments you need for your K-12 or higher education facility with superior indoor air quality and low sound levels are particularly important for the students and educators who use your buildings.
Understanding Education HVAC Challenges
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Comfortable Learning Environments
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Maintenance and Upkeep
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Energy Efficiency
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Funding
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Sustainability
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Building Management Systems
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Safety and Security
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Space Utilization
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Regulatory Compliance
Comfortable Learning Environments
Designing comfortable learning environments in schools involves optimizing the key elements of comfort: Temperature Control, Air Quality including Ventilation and Humidity, and Noise Levels.
Dedicated Outdoor Systems
Our Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems (DOAS) can significantly enhance educational buildings in several ways. DOAS provides consistent and controlled ventilation, ensuring that fresh air is continuously supplied to classrooms and other indoor spaces. DOAS also aids in pollutant removal by effectively removing indoor pollutants such as carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other contaminants. DOAS helps maintain a healthier environment for students and staff. 100% outdoor air to your building spaces.
Energy Recovery
As an early pioneer of manufacturing energy recovery ventilation, Nortek Air Solutions energy recovery portfolio of products can significantly lower your life cycle costs. By recovering and reusing energy, schools can significantly reduce their utility bills. This is particularly important for educational institutions that often operate on tight budgets. Energy recovery systems can help maintain optimal indoor air quality by ensuring a constant supply of fresh air while minimizing energy loss. This can lead to a healthier learning environment for students and staff.
Assured Acoustics…
…can be achieved from innovative solutions for sound control and noise reduction to eliminate excess noise and distractions in your educational facility. Our commitment to customer satisfaction is evident at the Nortek Air Solutions Acoustics Test Lab. It is one of the largest, AMCA 310 Accredited, fully equipped, dual reverberant chamber HVAC testing facilities of its kind. We have created decades of modelling experience and have become a trusted source of sound and vibration data for our customers.
The laboratory provides a wide range of unique services to our customers including acoustical modeling, comprehensive production testing, and robust performance and diagnostic analysis. It also serves as a site for rigorous, ongoing research and development testing and modeling, as well as a showplace for customer-witnessed testing of airflow, thermal, vibration and acoustical performance of units manufactured by Nortek Air Solutions.
The lab is designed and equipped to perform simultaneous testing in accordance with AMCA Standard 300 for Sound Power Levels and AMCA Standard 210 for Airflow Performance.
Maintenance and Upkeep
Nortek Air Solutions always has maintenance on top of mind when designing equipment. The Venmar EnergyPack® and Mammoth Ultraline™ are two examples of packaged DX simplicity where everything needed to condition the air is in a single package, typically located on the roof. These units can be designed with service vestibules to provide an enclosed corridor to protect facility personnel when performing maintenance in extreme environments.
Another low maintenance example from Nortek Air Solutions is FANWALL TECHNOLOGY®. Replacing single fan systems driven by belts and requiring periodic lubrication, with a FANWALL array that uses direct drive motors and maintenance free bearings, can significantly reduce maintenance time, costs and downtime.
Reducing Maintenance & Longer Life
UV-C systems help disinfect airstreams, improve indoor air quality, and extend the life of HVAC equipment. UV-C lamps prevent the accumulation of efficiency-robbing biofilm growth on HVAC/R coils, preserving an AHU's original heat-transfer design capacity and reducing the energy required for cooling and ventilation. UV-C not only sustains cooling capacity and reduces maintenance and operating costs but also inactivates illness- and odor-causing microbial growth that can lead to stronger occupant productivity, improved morale and worker comfort, and reduced absenteeism.
Energy Efficiency
One technology that can reduce energy costs and operate fan motors closer to their peak efficiency is Nortek Air Solutions System Optimization Controls (SOC). SOC optimizes energy efficiency by adjusting the fan speeds with variable frequency drives (VFDs) and can take individual fan cells offline when reduced airflow requirements are so indicated. It easily interfaces with building management systems (BMS) for remote monitoring and control.
Maximize Uptime…
…with a FANWALL array with built-in redundancy plus these energy saving benefits:
- Unmatched system efficiency and stability for “off peak” design conditions in VAV applications
- Lower sound levels often eliminate energy-robbing attenuation devices
- Lower connected HP means smaller electrical switch gear and smaller standby generator(s)
- Low-profile feature helps in tight spaces and roof lines
- Innovative technology can aid in LEED® building designs
Funding and Sustainability
Nortek Air Solutions understands the challenges of funding much-needed improvements to heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems to improve indoor air quality, energy and water use. Local, state and federal governments and utility companies often provide funding or rebates to help improve learning environments. Nortek Air Solutions wants to be a resourceful tool in your toolbox of solutions for upgrading and improving the energy efficiency and operation of your facility. We understand it is a balance between operating a building efficiently and utilizing our natural resources responsibly.
Space Utilization
Another reason why customers enjoy working with Nortek Air Solutions is for our skills in designing air handlers in almost any dimension. Real estate inside or outside of a building can be expensive and limited. A compact air handling system provides greater flexibility in the architectural and interior design of the facility.
