[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to the Consulting Specifying Engineer podcast. I'm your host, Amara Roskas, and today we're talking about H Vac systems, specifically Hydronics and a host of other things with Haley. Mick. Thanks for joining me today. Haley, how are you?
[00:00:20] Speaker B: I am great. Thank you so much for having me.
[00:00:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. So you. Probably most people know this, but the built environment is responsible for an estimated 42% of annual global carbon dioxide emissions. So finding solutions to help support carbon neutrality efforts is paramount to future building design and construction.
So with that said, let me share a bit about Haley's background and what we'll be talking about.
Hayley Mick is an engineering business development manager and member of the sustainability core team at GF Building Flow Solutions, formerly Uponor NovAmerica. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the commercial H vac industry, with roles including engineering, applications and technical sales manager, Hydronic training manager, product engineer, and sales engineer. She is passionate about educating customers on product functionality and selection, design improvements and sustainability, while also providing guidance to help industry professionals solve problems.
So, Haley, this is a really big topic. Give me a high level overview of how these radiant heating and cooling and hydronic systems work. Tell me what that looks like.
Sure.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: So radiant and hydronic systems use water to move energy throughout a building, either to heat or or cool our spaces.
Water has a much higher capacity to carry thermal energy than air does, so these systems are inherently very efficient. And radiant systems in particular operate by transferring energy directly through surfaces like the floors, the walls, or the ceilings of our spaces, using hex tubing that we've embedded into those surfaces.
When we're in heating mode, the warm water circulates through these pipes to gently warm the space, often starting at the floors. And when we're in cooling mode, the same concept applies, but sort of in the opposite direction. So the cooler water is actually flowing through the tubes, absorbing heat from from the space, and then releasing it back to our condensing unit or whatever that piece of equipment is on the other end.
And hydronic systems, like hot water heating or chilled water systems work on the same principle, just routed through other heat terminal units like fan coils or air handlers. Or sometimes a mixture of all of these different things can be used just based on whatever you have going on in your space and what you need to accomplish the goals of that building.
But what's great is that with just a single network of piping, you can really support both heating and cooling, depending on your system design. And since you're moving energy with Water instead of large volumes of air, the system tends to be quieter, more comfortable. It gives us cleaner spaces. It's more energy efficient.
Really, all the things that you're looking for in a great space.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: So, Haley, what are the design considerations and architectural impacts of these kinds of projects?
[00:03:54] Speaker B: There are actually a lot of strong design advantages to these systems because they reduce sort of the mechanical clutter, we'll call it in your space.
Since radiant systems don't rely on ductwork to move air, architects often find more flexibility in ceiling heights and spatial layout. They're really able to use all of the floor space when they don't have to work around equipment that's there.
This can open up opportunities for things like more natural light, exposed structures, and even higher ceilings. And I think every architect out there certainly wants a higher ceiling.
From an engineering standpoint, the key considerations include thermal mass, the actual building structure itself, zoning strategy, insulation, and water temperature control. Primarily, you're designing around comfort that's being delivered through the surfaces with a radiant system. So it's really important to think holistically on how heat is actually stored and transferred, how quickly zones will respond or need to respond, and how to coordinate that with ventilation and humidity control.
In cooling mode, especially, radiant systems need to be paired with the ventilation system to remove humidity.
Cooling is absolutely possible with radiant systems without any concern of condensation being an issue.
You simply have to be aware of things like the dew point, and we keep the water temperature a few degrees above that. In the industry, I think we sometimes have this mental block, we'll say, where we believe that cooling systems need to be operated in the mid to upper 50s degrees Fahrenheit.
But when you really learn about radiant systems and how they work and the fact that they allow us to cool spaces to the same level of comfort at higher temperatures, then it all starts to make sense.
Another important note here is that because radiant systems can do both heating and cooling using the same piping network, careful attention is really needed to balance those flow rates. So you can do it in a few different ways, either adjusting the pump speed or using less than 100% of the loops in cooling mode or heating mode, depending your climate, or adjusting your supply water temperature seasonally to keep the flow consistent.
And we actually offer guidance on how to do all of this and your design in in general in our manual, which we can send you a link to. It's a free resource from us at Uponor.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: Okay, and I'm going to bring up a buzzword here. Hayley decarbonization how to support decarbonization or carbon neutrality efforts?
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Sure.
Definitely a buzzword in the industry right now. And really, they support decarbonization in a few key ways.
First, because water is so efficient at moving energy, you can reduce the energy that's required to heat and cool your building, which directly lowers your operational carbon footprint.
Second, radiant and hydronic systems pair really well with low temperature heating and high temperature cooling sources like heat pumps or geothermal systems.
These low carbon sources really work best when supply temperatures are more moderate. So again, low temperatures for heating and higher temperatures for cooling.
And radiant systems are certainly ideal for that. So you're not just reducing your actual energy use, you're allowing yourself to use a cleaner energy source.
And finally, these systems offer better performance at part load condition, which is really where most of our buildings spend most of their time. So it translates to real world efficiency, not just numbers on paper pretty easily.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: Okay, okay. So how then do you specify radiant or hydronic systems? Give me like the 101 explanation of this.
[00:08:33] Speaker B: Sure.
It starts with really understanding your building's load profile and the zoning needs and the energy goals of your project. So from there you'll select the type of system that really works best for the project, whether it's embedded tubing in slabs or radiant pan or fan coils in some spark some spaces and air handlers and others, or any combination of the above from whatever is available in the industry today.
One thing that I really like to emphasize on these systems is early coordination. And we are starting to see a industry trend to this where we have more of a design design meeting in the beginning, but that's really important.
These systems are going to perform best when they're considered from the beginning of the design. And this is sort of what we call integrated design. And it's where the architect and the engineer and the owner and the interior designer, even the mechanical contractor and some industry experts come together in the beginning to really fully understand and get on the same page. What is the goal of the project and how are we going to get there most cost effectively and ultimately end up with the best building we can possibly produce. But talking to the architect specifically very early in the process is going to be critical to success.
As the design engineer, we really need to understand everything from building orientation to interior design elements. What kind of flooring is going to be used, what kind of furniture will be used, what sort of windows will be installed. All of these design elements impact the load. And we really want to work with the architect to get the load down as low as possible.
And then once it becomes time to do the actual design of the system, there are excellent tools out there. There are some softwares out there that can be used.
There are a lot of companies like our construction services team that work with engineers in the field to do the design. And then again, you have things like the design manual, which I just mentioned a bit ago, that will help guide engineers through the process of designing the pipe layout, the spacing, the flow rates, the control sequences, et cetera.
[00:11:05] Speaker A: Okay, okay. So what about codes and standards? What do mechanical engineers need to be aware of for that?
[00:11:14] Speaker B: There are several codes and guidelines that apply depending on your physical location, your climate, your building type. A few of the important ones that we want to pay attention to are ASHRAE 55 for thermal comfort and 62.1 for ventilation.
Keeping the system that monitors and adjusts thermal comfort separate to the system that is responsible for ventilation is really the most efficient design you can have.
We often, well, not often, but sometimes in the industry try to combine those two, which makes controlling it much more difficult.
But referencing those two for thermal comfort and ventilation will certainly be important if you are trying to really have a high performance building. You can reference ASHRAE 189.1 or lead guidelines.
Of course, there are radiant sections of the handbooks, which are Created by ashrae tc 6.5, and then the hydronic section by ashrae tc 6.1. So both of those technical committees are producing additional documents right now and updating their sections of the handbook.
But otherwise engineers really follow the normal codes and standards that they are already following for any building today.
[00:12:54] Speaker A: All right, awesome overview.
Let me take this to something a little bit lighter.
Summertime, doing fun stuff outside.
What's your favorite summer activity?
[00:13:08] Speaker B: In the summer, I love to be found on the water.
Everything, any water.
But I love to let lake.
Everything from kayaking, boating, fishing, just floating.
To me, I think there's just really something that's very peaceful about being on the water. Even simply just being able to see the water seems to be a nice contrast to a busy work week.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: So it sounds like you're involved in water in a lot of different ways.
What about winter also water or ice?
[00:13:46] Speaker B: Well, yeah, water in a different, in a different form. So in the winter, my family and I love to go snowboarding. It's some something that everyone in the family enjoys doing together. It's a really fun way to appreciate nature while also burning a few calories.
So I think we love it. You get to go see sites and visit places that you really only get to see if you have some kind of board strapped to your feet.
[00:14:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, I believe it. Thank you so much, Haley. Awesome information.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: You're welcome. Thank you again for having me on today.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: Yes. And this is where we have to wrap up our conversation.
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