April Main Meeting Information

1&3

Karine’s French Quarter

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LEED User Group/Long Beach

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Award Recipient: Tatsuo George

Hayakawa

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March Meeting Recap 4-5

ASHRAE SoCal Spring Golf Tournament

6-7

Inaugural Dinner Registration Form

9

Mike’s Monthly Maintenance

12-13

Supermarket Refrigeration Tour

13

Increase your Service Potential in a Down

Economy

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Letter from the Editor 16

Save the Date: Inaugural Dinner

8

Spring Seminar 10-11

Sol*Air Supporters 15

Inside this issue:

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Tuesday, April 6, 2010 Theme: LEED Night

5:30: Social Hour & Hors d’oeuvres 6:20: CFD for HVAC Applications— George Lei, PhD

7:00: Dinner & Raffle Online Reservations: www.ashrae-socal.org or call

Monique Kinney at (310) 888-8692

George Hayakawa, P.E., Special Recognition

7:45: Who Sabotaged My High-Performance Building? Todd L. Rindlisbaker, P.E., Vice President, Total

Building Commissioning Location: Taix French Restaurant,

11911 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026

Main Speaker

Todd L. Rindlisbaker, Vice President of Total Building Commissioning, Inc. is a principal commissioning authority. He is currently serving on the Utah ASHRAE Chapter Board of Governors and as the ASHRAE liaison to the Utah Engineers Council. He received his degree in Mechanical Engineering from Utah State University 1993, and is a registered professional engineer in 2 states. He is a member of the Board of Directors and treasurer for the Southwest chapter of the Building Commissioning Association. He also serves on the Building Commissioning Association's Best Practices for Commissioning of New Buildings.

Todd has worked in as a mechanical

HVAC and Plumbing design engineer specializing in large hydronic systems, central plants and building management control systems. He was worked for over 5 years commissioning new and existing buildings. He consults with building owners, design teams, and contractors to build sustainable, energy efficient, functional buildings that cost less to build and operate so they attract more business, make more profits and have buildings that will last a lifetime.

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Bonjour everyone! I hope you were able to make it to our March

meeting at the Proud Bird Restaurant. We had over 80 people attending the Woman Engineering Night. It was certainly a great success! It is always good to go to different location in order to try to accommodate a larger demographic. We had the pleasure of honoring Mr. Ken Simon along with his family and aids. The event was also attended by Tiffany Bates, Research Promotion Vice Chair for Region X who flew in from Arizona and also Marites Calub, Membership Promotion Vice Chair for Region X who flew in from Hawaii. They both gave us an update on the Region X Research Promotion and Membership Promotion and it looks like our chapter is doing very well in both membership and research. Good job everyone! ☺ If you would like to see how our chapter is doing in Research and also who are the contributors, don’t hesitate to go on our chapter website http://www.ashrae-socal.org/ResourcePromotion.asp April will be a busy month for our chapter. We are having several events and working hard for the golf tournament which will be on May 7th. The first event in April is the refrigeration tour of a Fresh and Easy store in Hollywood on April 8th with our host, Doug Scott from SCE. That same night, a small group will be cheering for the L.A. Kings hockey game at the Staples Center. Arup engineering firm donated their box at the Staples Center to our chapter and the proceeds from ticket sales will go directly to the research promotion fund. A big thank you to Arup for their generous contribution!

Last but not least, our Spring Seminar is on April 22nd at the ERC in Downey. We have already received several applications from engineering firms, manufacturers and contractor. We have two very special

speakers, Chris Miller, PE, CxA, expert in chiller optimization from P2S Engineering and also Steve Taylor, PE, FASHRAE from Taylor Engineering, expert in advanced VAV system design. For more information and reservations, please visit our website. http://www.ashrae-socal.org/SS10Flyer.pdf Don’t forget that the Society will be hosting a webcast on Right from the Start – Commissioning for High Performing Buildings on April 21, 2010 from 1:00 – 4:00 P.M. EDT. Follow this link for more information. http://www.ashrae.org/education/page/557 Please come see us at the April 6th dinner meeting at the Taix French restaurant near downtown L.A. We will be honoring Mr. George Hayakawa and will have two great speakers on CFD and Commissioning. Don’t forget to reserve online at www.ashrae-socal.org Happy Easter! ☺ Karine

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Dr. George Lei is the President of Fluid Dynamics Solutions, Inc., a CFD/Airflow Modeling consulting company supporting clients in analyzing and resolving HVAC/Cleanroom design problems. Prior to his current position, Dr. Lei served as the Director of Research

and Development at PACE Cleanpak International. In his earlier engineering career, Dr. Lei worked as Building Energy Efficiency Engineer and HVAC Design Engineer. Dr, Lei also taught as a part-time faculty at the University of California at Davis and Oregon State University. Dr. Lei received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Davis in 1993, his M.S. in mechanical engineering from Oklahoma State University and his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Taiwan.

Dr. Lei has more than 25 years experiences in HVAC design and trouble-shooting. He is an active member in ASHRAE, ASME, IEST and SEMI and has published many technical papers in various international journals, conferences and magazines. Presentation Description This presentation illustrates how Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), or so called airflow modeling, is applied to effectively solve HVAC/Natural Ventilation design problems. In augmenting common HVAC design methods, CFD provides an effective tool in predicting and examining the airflow/air quality in a more detailed and precise scale. Over the past few years, the significant progress in computer technology has made CFD more and more practical and affordable in the HVAC design field. This presentation will introduce CFD principles and illustrate some recent projects of the CFD applications in the fields of HVAC system and Natural Ventilation designs.

The USGBC LA Chapter are holding a LEED User Group meeting on LEED Platinum Data Centers on Tuesday 13th April at Long Beach City College Pacific Coast Campus Building 0 Room 204 @ 4900 E. Conant St., Long Beach, CA 90808 (second building in from the street) from 6-8pm. A synopsis of the meeting is below: LEED PLATINUM RATING FOR A LARGE DATA CENTER Carlson, a recognized Design/Build firm, will present a case study of a Data Center project recently completed that has received LEED Platinum certification. The project located in Santa Clara, CA is one of only 4 Data Centers in the world to receive the Platinum rating. Carlson Design Team members will highlight the differences in Data Center vs Commercial Facility LEED certification. This discussion will cover the is-sue of the process energy dedicated to the server farm and its impact on the pre-requisite energy and atmosphere credit for the LEED NC application process.

Discussion will include recycling of materials, the participation of a dedicated LEED consultant and Rebates from the local Power Utility. Additionally the team will discuss LEED submittal classifications “CI” (Commercial Interiors) vs “NC” (New Construction), and how the present USGBC LEED guideline requirements may affect which classification under which data center type facilities are more affectively processed. Presenters: Kiko Smith RA, Design Manager – Carl-son, Denis Larkan, PE, Sr. Mechanical Engineer – Carlson, John Fithian, Project Manager - Carlson The event costs $25 for USGBC LA Chapter members and $35 for non-members. Details of how to register for the event are in the following link: https://usgbcla.ejoinme.org/MyPages/LALUG/tabid/197772/Default.aspx

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After more than 60 years, former Pasadena City College student and World War II internment evacuee, Tatsuo George Hayakawa, was awarded his high school diploma by the Pasadena Area Community

College District (PACCD). Hayakawa, who was a high school student enrolled at Pasadena Junior High/Pasadena Junior College (PJC)

from 1939 to 1942, received his diploma from the PACCD Board of Trustees at a ceremony at PCC on Aug. 16, 2006. “It was important for me to get this diploma 60 years later,” Hayakawa said, “but I had no idea that this was going to be such a big thing.” In 2003, state legislation added provisions to the Education Code that allowed schools to award honorary diplomas to students interned during World War II. Hayakawa had fulfilled all requirements for a high school graduation, but did not receive his diploma. Hayakawa, a South Pasadena resident, had just begun his college career at the University of Wyoming when he was drafted in June of 1944 into the United States Army. He served in the South Pacific until 1946.

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Thanks again to all attendees of the ASHRAE Chapter West L.A. Meeting at the Proud Bird Restaurant. March was our chapter Women Engineering Night and, we were fortunate to have Caecilia Gotama, founder and principal of Gotama Building Engineers, and Martha Brook, representing the California Energy Commission Office, share their expertise and present some great information for our Technical and Main Sessions. The technical session was base on sustaining sustainability and what happens after building handover to the owner and building operator.

• Have a good plan and follow through maintaining building operation.

• Building occupants, owner and managers, all

need to develop strategies to attain building’s sustainability goals.

• Design team shall be in direct

communication with the building occupants and operators to assure that the building concept is operating accurately to maintain sustainability.

• Creating a handbook for maintaining

sustainability as follows:

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◊ Document proper replacement materials from light bulbs to paint, office furniture and even papers. ◊ Document all maintenance procedures. ◊ Develop a master

calendar to link sustainability efforts to routine business activities.

◊ Encourage accountability. ◊ Develop feedback systems to harvest

comments and ideas on how to maintain and sustain operation.

◊ Educate and train building managers and operating staff.

Main program:

High performance, and Net Zero Energy (ZNE) Buildings Standards and Develop-ment in California. It appears that the building greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) in California will reach 160 million metric tonnes in the year 2020, averaging 40 Mtonne CO2e in 10 years. Therefore we should consider our future project design to reach the ZNE standards rating as follows: • Operational stand point

◊ Good for use in existing building energy efficiency incentive program.

◊ Good for managing building portfolios over time.

• Asset stand point:

◊ Good for valuing building performance within a financial transaction.

◊ Good for energy efficiency code compliance and beyond code new constructions incentive programs.

The outcome of side by side Operational and Asset Rating chart is illustrated at right:

Finally, a successful project’s desirable energy performance rating attributes are: 1.Operational and/or asset ratings, as appropriate. 2.Absolute and relative metrics of the Energy

Consumption. 3.Proof of GHG emission reduction. 4.Energy System Performance Indicators (Operational

and/or Asset, as appropriate.) 5.Longitudinal Performance. 6.Policy Goal Branding. 7.And last but not least, valuing the energy

performance of building property.

Question: How do we get there from here? You may contact our program speakers to find out more by emailing:

Caecilia Gotama: caeciliag@gbengineers.com Martha Brook: Mbrook@energy.state.ca.us

I look forward to seeing you at next month’s chapter meeting in April.

Andy Khechoumian, P.E. President Elect.

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Tuesday, May 4, 2010 Theme: Student & Young Engineer in ASHRAE Night Technical Session: Pumping Design, Sizing and Application

for hydronic systems with David Hernandez of Dawson Co. Main Speaker: ASHRAE Student Design

Competition with Students from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Special Recognition: Dr. Henry Lau, PhD, Southern

California Edison Location: Taix French Restaurant, 1911 W. Sunset Blvd., Los

Angeles, CA 90026

Membership Corner with Jim Toda

The Southern California chapter is beginning its fourth quarter of chapter meetings. It is never too late, however, to sign up new members.

The chapter welcomed two new members at the March meeting.

The Southern California Chapter of ASHRAE welcomes the following new members who joined last month:

Name Company Tim Allinson Murray Company Wendy Schatan Carel USA

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Pump Replacement This month, let’s talk about pump life, efficiency and rebuild vs. replacement decisions. I recently took a hard look at a couple of these opportunities and drew some conclusions based upon current economics. But first, let’s all get on the same page regarding jargon. A pump rebuild typically includes new bearings and seals, as well as a rotating balance. If a pump has a coupling between a physically separate pump and motor, I refer to it as a “flex coupled” pump. On the other hand, if the motor shaft extends into the pump and has the impeller mounted directly on the motor shaft, it is “close coupled.” For most manufacturers, either approach uses the same impeller when the pumps are of the end suction type. When a close coupled pump is being rebuilt, the rebuild also typically includes new bearings and brushes for the motor. Unless the motor is so large that it is difficult to rig & transport (usually about 30 HP and larger), I usually like to do the same in flex coupled applications (doing this to a separate motor is usually referred to as a “minor rebuild” of the motor). In general, a flex coupled pump starts to become similar in first cost to a close coupled pump at about 15 HP. Pumps from the 1990’s and earlier often are efficiency dogs relative to today’s pumps. It is not unusual to find that while an older selection might be in the low to upper 60% efficiency range, a new

pump under the same conditions would show on the pump curve to be in the mid- to upper 70% range. An efficiency difference of more than 10% is not at all unusual. The motors involved have also improved in efficiency. A 5% difference between the standard motor of 15 years ago and today’s typical motor is again not unusual. Finally, the housing and labyrinths of the pump itself wear with time and erosion. This is particularly true for open loop (condenser water) pumps. The lifetime impact of sand and debris on erosion is significant. Even closed loop applications, however, experience erosion within the pump body. The result, as you would expect, is a loss of efficiency. The net result for efficiency difference between a new, well selected pump and a 15 year old pump is typically anywhere between 15% - 25%. And that doesn’t even count the fact that the original pump was probably selected at more head than is really needed. When replacing a pump, you are in a position to actually measure the head being produced - so why would you simply select the pump at the original design condi-tions? When you add in the change in head, it is almost hard not to be in the 25% energy improvement ballpark, and sometimes quite a bit more. So what does that mean with regard to replacement vs. rebuild economics? As I said, I recently had two 10 HP applications to which I gave more than the minimum amount of consideration. Both were 24/7 applications (one was a chilled water application, the other a closed loop condenser water application). To make a long story short, both could be replaced with a simple payback of a little over 4 years. But since the pump noise made it clear in both cases that a bearing was failing, that wasn’t a fair

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comparison. Instead, we looked at the simple payback of the added cost of a replacement over a rebuild. And that payback period was in the 2 – 2.5 year range for both.

There was another factor. If you wait until you can hear the bearing starting to fail, then you really don’t know for sure how long the pump/motor will last. Sometimes a loud bearing goes 4 weeks; sometimes it goes 4 months or more. This is relevant, because a pump can typically be removed, rebuilt and reinstalled within the same week. New pumps, on the other hand, often take 4 – 6 weeks to get. In short, if you wait until a bearing starts to fail in order to make a decision, then you had better make your choice quickly if you prefer to get a new pump. If you haven’t followed pump developments over the past decade, you may not be aware of the potential for savings…but the potential is big. And in any 24/7 application, it may be hard to turn down a pump replacement if the existing pumps are more than 10 years old. Questions? Please feel free to contact me at: mgallagher@wasocal.com.

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used semi-hermitic compressor at your shop, it would be beneficial to tear it down just to learn about its internal mechanical functions. Repeat this several times to get familiar with the parts, location and interaction of the different components. Having a small pocket sized service and troubleshooting manual is a necessity for learning proper servicing techniques. The best way to learn about compressors (large and small) is from manufactures, distributors, trade schools and trade organizations that cover servicing and troubleshooting compressors. Furthering your education and training is a direct way to increase you company’s earning potential. Tony Albers is a highly successful trainer who has taught heating and air conditioning classes designed specifically to meet the needs of today’s busy technicians and engineers. For the past 23 years he has worked to advance the field of heating and air conditioning by teaching classes for IHACI, RSES, Southern California Gas Company, San Diego Gas & Electric. In the last 14 years he has travel extensively throughout the North America for US Airconditioning Distributors and Venstar giving workshops and seminars for large HVAC distributors and manufacturers. Albers is currently on the Continuing Education Committee for the Institute of Heating and Air Conditioning Industries. Reprinted with permission from ICN.

through convenient oil service ports. Next, a semi-hermetic makes field repairs (on most moving components) possible. If a

tiny suction valve fails on a pot compressor, the whole compressor is replaced. If this were a semi-hermetic compressor it could be repaired and back on line within the same day. In the

same way, if an electric motor goes bad on a large open drive compressor the motor can be changed without removing the refrigerant charge from the compressor. Sometimes the physical size or amount of cylinders on a semi-hermetic compressor can be intimidating. A large open drive compressor with 12 cylinders may look like a small submarine but its basic function is the same as a small welded hermetic compressor. Remember, even though you can’t tell from the outside, you may be working on a small welded hermetic compressor that has as many as 4 cylinders. If you happen to have an old

Increase your Service Potential in a Down Economy There seems to be an invisible line that separates a residential contractor from venturing into the commercial products. The style and size of compressors can be this line. Many residential contractors stay away from compressors larger than 5 or 7 ½ tons, simply because they are unsure or possibly intimidated by older semi-hermitic compressors. In doing this they are greatly limiting they’re earning potential. Semi-hermitic compressors have been around since the 1940’s and in many ways are easier to service and diagnose than welded hermetic a.k.a. (pot compressors). One of the advantages to working on a semi-hermitic compressor is the easy to see sight glass to check on the oil. This means that you can see the proper oil level and if it’s foaming or discolored without taking a single tool out of your pouch. Small welded hermitic compressors don’t have this option. Also, the oil can be changed

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Sol*Air is published by the Southern California Chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., Los Angeles. Statements made herein are not expressions of the Society or of the Chapter. Republication of material printed herein is expressly forbidden without Chapter authorization.

Southern California Chapter 2009-2010 Board of Directors President> Karine LeBlanc: k.leblanc@us-ac.com

President-Elect> Andy Khechoumian: andykk@dfda1.com

Secretary> Jeff Landreth: Jeffrey.Landreth@arup.com

Treasurer> Aaron Deutsch: aaron@drymaxxair.com

Board of Director> Matthew Church: matt.church@dmghvac.com

Board of Director> Edwin Hornquist: Edwin.Hornquist@sce.com

Board of Director> Scott J. Neithercut: scott.neithercut@rfmacdonald.com

Board of Director> Jim Toda: todajam@yahoo.com

Sol*Air Editor> Chris Zabaneh: SolAirEditor@gmail.com

Layout/Graphic Design> Missy Goulet: solairnewsletter@yahoo.com

Happy April, everyone. I hope you didn't get too badly April Fooled. What's no joke is our great program for the April meeting. I'm especially excited for the Spring Seminar – it was very informative last year and I hope to see many of you there. Not much else to say other than check out the fantastic events Karine mentioned and as see throughout this month's SolAir. As always, we welcome your feedback, questions and articles at solair.editor@gmail.com. -Christopher Zabaneh