HVAC Solutions | Metropolitan Industries

December 20, 2012

Nicor Rebate Program helping businesses save

From left to right: DRF’s Scott Schnurr, Dominican University president Donna M. Carroll, and Nicor Gas president Beth Reese pose with the check Dominican University received through participating in the Nicor Gas Business Custom Incentive Program.

Through participating in the Nicor Gas Energy Efficiency Program, Dominican University was given the opportunity to upgrade existing heating equipment in its facilities, and save significantly in the process.

Developed to offer large businesses the opportunities to improve the energy efficiency of their facilities and save money, Dominican participated in the Nicor Gas Business Custom Incentive Program, which provides financial incentives for the installation of high-efficiency equipment not covered by the Nicor Gas Energy Efficiency Program’s Business Rebate Program. Through the program, businesses can receive up to $500,000 on their gas-savings projects per year.

According to Nicor, incentives are paid based on energy savings beyond baseline energy performances, such as state or federal codes and standards, industry-accepted performance standards, or other baseline energy performance standards as determined by the Nicor Business Custom Incentive Program.

The current cycle of the program is available for projects installed from June 1, 2012 through May 31, 2014, or until funds are depleted. Per Nicor requirements, post-installation inspections must be conducted and final applications must be submitted to the program by June 30, 2014. Businesses seeking to participate in the program must attain pre-approval in order to become eligible.

Detailed information regarding the program can be found in the Nicor Gas Business Custom Incentive Program handbook.

Dominican began working with DRF Trusted Property Solutions of Plainfield, Ill. in 2010 when DRF observed a large amount of gas being used during the summer months. After developing an initial project design that did not qualify for the Nicor Gas Business Custom Incentive Program, nor provide the desired financial benefits, DRF turned to Metropolitan Industries to help provide a custom solution.

The final project design included three individual point of use systems customized to handle specified heating demands.

Metropolitan HVAC salesperson Matt Brickey praised the program’s ability to assist businesses seeking to conduct retro-fit upgrades progress in an expedited fashion.

“In the case of Dominican University, this program not only helped cover some of the costs of the custom equipment and installation, the gas savings realized will continue to give back for years to come,” said Brickey. “Because of the financial benefits the rebate program offers, it can help prospective customers who may be facing budget constraints get projects moving in the right direction.”

For complete information regarding this project, please visit The Chief Engineer, which profiled the project in its December issue.

For information regarding our custom HVAC solutions and how you may be eligible to save through the Nicor Gas Business Custom Incentive Program, please contact a Metropolitan representative at (800) 323-1665 or visit www.metropolitanind.com.

October 5, 2012

Metropolitan expands HVAC division

Mike Temes (left) and Neil Vogel (right) bring new offerings to Metropolitan’s HVAC division.

In an effort to expand the capabilities of its HVAC division, Metropolitan is proud to announce the additions of Mike Temes and Neil Vogel. Mike and Neil bring over 15 years of industry experience to Metropolitan and both are experts in the heat transfer and industrial process businesses.

Metropolitan’s HVAC division specializes in products including gas-condensing boilers, high-efficiency heating systems, gas-fired boilers, modular condensing hot water systems, high-efficiency air and dirt separators, hydronic pumps and more. The additions of Temes and Vogel will help expand our product line and further enhance our HVAC offerings.

“One of our goals is to simply enrich what is already a unique and diverse HVAC division at Metropolitan,” said Temes. “Neil and I bring expertise in the applications of steam, hot water and heat transfer to further expand the division’s capabilities.”

Many products including boiler feed packages, heat transfer packages, customized heat exchangers, condensate return units specifically for steam applications, prefabricated boiler skids (hot water and steam), pre-piped PRV stations and pre-piped control valve stations are now included in Metropolitan’s HVAC product index with the additions of Vogel and Temes.

Part of our commitment at Metropolitan is providing equipment to best suit our customer’s particular applications. Customer specifications are of paramount priority and the knowledge Temes and Vogel bring to Metropolitan further extends our commitment to providing products tailored to meet customer’s needs.

“One characteristic Metropolitan is known for is providing the most practical equipment to customers designed to fulfill their needs,” said Vogel. “Mike and I are fully committed to not just supplying customers with equipment, but breaking down the project, determining what the customer is trying to accomplish and getting the right piece of equipment for the applications, whether it’s in or outside of the box.”

Adding Vogel and Temes gives Metropolitan the design skill set it can now combine with its fabrication and manufacturing capabilities, truly making it a one stop shop for your HVAC needs.

“The design experience Neil and Mike bring to our company is the perfect complement to our manufacturing and fabrication abilities,” said Metropolitan Industries President John Kochan Jr. “We’ve always prided ourselves on being a single source provider due to the fact it makes customer service easy and fosters a team environment in which all customer specifications are met.”

To learn more about our HVAC division and all of its capabilities, attend our Open House, where products will be on display and seminars, such as our “cutting thermal energy costs/Nicor Rebates,” will be held.

For further information, please contact 815-886-9200 or sales@metropolitanind.com.

November 17, 2010

Reduce Boiler Fuel Consumption by 50 Percent

HVAC Sales Engineer Matt Brickey operates the new boiler system during start-up of the system.

The life blood of any commercial building is the mechanical systems running behind the scenes that include domestic water booster systems, fire suppression pump systems and HVAC systems.

Of the three mechanical components, HVAC is by far the largest consumer of energy due to the sheer nature of how they are specified and designed. The school of thought in the HVAC community is size everything for peak demand without considering demand fluctuates, especially during warmer months when demand is at the lowest.

The biggest misconception when specifying a boiler system is, “If I specify a boiler at 90% efficiency then the plant will operate at 90% efficiency.” This is false because during light load conditions, such as during warm months, boiler efficiency becomes random which results in poor overall, “cycle” efficiency. In other words, “Seasonal Efficiency,” is only 50-80% of measured efficiency resulting in no realized energy savings during the warm months when your boiler runs less.

Metropolitan Industries, Inc., located in Romeoville, Ill., has a solution that reduces boiler fuel consumption by 20-50% using a patented procedure that addresses seasonal efficiency, which increases cycle efficiency therefore reducing fuel consumption dramatically.

Case Study – Multi Occupancy Condominium

A great example of this technology was demonstrated by the work done at a 139 unit Condominium located in Will County, Ill. At the request of the owner, the building name and location of the project is to remain confidential.

To address the leaking heating pumps located in the ceiling, Metropolitan had the contractor move them to floor level for easier inspection and service.

The existing system had two problems the first being the plant ran inefficiently due to the boilers being the sole heat source for the domestic water. Due to this, they operated all year round, even during the summer months. The inefficient design operated by pumping city water and boiler water through a shell and tube heat exchanger mounted near the ceiling. Since there was no way to prevent gravity flow of hot water through the heating system return lines, the radiation caused the building to stay warm all year, even in the dog days of summer. This resulted in increased fuel consumption and increased electrical consumption as well because air conditioners witnessed an additional load imposed by the uncontrolled flow of unwanted heat from the boiler plant and needed to run overtime.

The second problem was the existing heating pumps were leaking and had been since day one. There were eight zone pumps serving four zones. Three zones were for space heating and the other zone for domestic hot water heating. The reason why they leak was because they were mounted near the ceiling without the proper supports. This made it difficult to service the pumps given a technician need to perform the work on a ladder.

Green Performance Solution

To solve the inefficient operation of the plant, Metropolitan Industries installed a “summer boiler,” sized to the requirements of the domestic hot water heating system. This allows the owner to turn off the boiler completely when a heating load is non-existent. The result is energy savings up to 50% because the new boiler system handles the small summer loads efficiently and eliminates short cycling and cycle losses.

The summer boiler is so efficient that the owner can run it year round for more efficient domestic water heating meaning the building can now be heated with only one boiler in all but the most severe weather promotes more efficient boiler loading for improved energy performance.

Green Distribution Solution

To address the issue of the leaky heating pumps, Metropolitan moved the domestic water heat exchanger and blending valve to floor level for easier inspection and

Pictured is the variable-speed, duplex domestic water booster system with total system capacity of 220 GPM at a system pressure of 95 PSI.

service Workers no longer needed to climb on ladders when servicing the heat exchanger or blending valves. This not only improves staff and contractor safety but reduced maintenance costs overall due to the easier and less expensive service.

One of the biggest benefits is the control over domestic hot water temperatures. No longer will they have spikes or drifts of temperature irregardless of no load or light load conditions. The elimination of spikes in temperature was important given residents were at risk for being injured.

There were benefits as well with the relocation of the heat exchanger and blending valves to the floor. For one, it reduced the safety hazards associated with working on ladders when servicing the heat exchanger or blending valves improving contractor safety. Also with the new pumps, the constant leaking was eliminated.

Realized Energy Savings

With the installation of the “summer boiler”, new heat exchanger and blending valve, the building owner realizes a 20-50% reduction in fuel consumption on any given day depending on load conditions. The entire package combines indirect water heating, condensing water heating and the blending valve function all into one complete system. Metropolitan Industries is the only company currently providing this technology. For more information, contact Matt Brickey at 815-886-9200 ext. 266 for a complete analysis of your system.