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CASE STUDY: CAMPUS CENTER FOR APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY IN ARCATA, CALIF.
Sustainable Building Authority Walks the Walk
When Promoting Energy-Saving Green Products
New, 97%-efficient Phoenix Solar water heater provides storage
and boiler backup for solar-driven radiant and DHW systems.
ARCATA, CALIFORNIA — ―Do what we say
and what we do!‖ might well be the
mantra for the Campus Center for
Appropriate Technology (CCAT) at
Humboldt State University in Arcata,
California. When CCAT decided to
remodel its live-in demonstration home
and educational center for technology
and resource conservation, the change
was drastic, cutting-edge and yes,
green, too. Stephen Bohner of Alchemy Construction Inc., with
the newly installed Phoenix Solar water heater.
The one-story home, called the Buck
House, was likely built in the 1920s and in recent years displaced by the HSU
Behavioral and Social Sciences Building. In the spirit of sustainability, the house was
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lifted from its site and ―recycled‖ by moving it down the road to a new foundation
that will also be used as a room for lectures and training (photo below).
CCAT, an authority on
sustainable building for
more than 30 years,
knew that the move
provided the perfect
opportunity to add new,
green amenities to the
home. Early on, the
CCAT committee decided
to use radiant in-floor
heating and took the
essential first step of
having PEX (crosslinked The front exterior of the newly renovated Buck House,
home of the Campus Center of Appropriate Technology (CCAT)
polyethylene) tubing at its new location in Arcata, California.
installed in the newly
poured basement slab. This tubing, manufactured by Uponor Inc., would eventually
carry warm water from a yet-to-be-determined heating source to warm the slab and
the people and environs above.
Once the tubing was in place, CCAT decided to call in a local expert to help decide
how to heat not only the lecture-library room in the basement, but also the upper
level, which would provide living quarters for the director of CCAT and the HSU
students who live and work there. The expert they ultimately contacted to assist with
system design and heat-source selection was contractor Stephen Bohner and his wife
Amy, who co-own Alchemy Construction Incorporated, also of Arcata. Bohner
(pronounced BAW-ner) is a Certified Green Building Professional, a member of the
Radiant Panel Association (RPA), and a recently nominated RPA All-Star. Committed
to green building practices, Alchemy Construction received Humboldt County‘s Waste
Reduction Award for 2007.
First Choice – Phoenix Solar: Shortly after his initial meeting with CCAT, Bohner
visited the manufacturing operations of Heat Transfer Products (HTP) in East
Freetown, Massachusetts. There he learned about the company‘s new Phoenix Solar
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water heater, which combines domestic hot-water storage (from a solar collector
panel) with a 97%-efficient, gas-fired backup – all in one unit. The sealed-
combustion, direct-vent Phoenix Solar delivers both high-efficiency space heating
and domestic hot water, using state-of-the-art condensing boiler technology and a
modulating, load-matching gas burner.
―I was pretty excited about it,‖ recalls Bohner, who urged approval of the Phoenix
119-gallon, 130,000 BTU unit as a perfect fit with the CCAT mission of promoting
sustainable, high-efficiency products. Working with CCAT co-directors Zachary
Mermel and Beckie Menten, Bohner finalized a design for the new heating system,
built around the Phoenix Solar, which would feed both the 1,550-square foot
basement with its radiant floor heating, as well as the radiators that would heat
another 1,550 square feet upstairs. In addition, the unit provides domestic hot water
for the entire house.
The Phoenix Solar incorporates a dedicated, high-output solar heat exchanger at the
base of the unit. Made of finned cupronickel, this exchanger can transfer up to
175,000 BTU per hour of heat energy from the solar panels to the water in its
storage tank. The solar heat exchanger and the secondary, gas-backup heat
exchanger are encased in a corrosion-resistant tank made of 316L stainless steel, so
no sacrificial anode rod is required.
During periods when solar power cannot meet demand, the Phoenix Solar uses the
latest in modulating and condensing (Mod-Con) technology to pick up the slack. Two
components are key to this secondary heat source:
Load-matching burner: This gas-fired, modulating burner assembly features a
high-grade Inconnel ―NIT‖ burner with a reliable spark ignition system, so there is no
standing pilot to waste energy. The burner assembly, located at the front-middle
exterior of the unit, is a streamlined version of the one used on Heat Transfer‘s
popular Munchkin condensing boilers. This fully modulating, ultra-low-NOx burner is
load-matching, limiting its firing to current demand and saving substantial amounts
of energy in the process. This is in sharp contrast to a conventional burner system,
which fires to the maximum – regardless of demand – thereby wasting energy.
Corrosion-resistant, combustion heat exchanger: Made of cupronickel and
stainless steel, a second heat exchanger at the top of the Phoenix Solar unit extracts
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all the latent energy from the backup combustion process, as well as from the by-
products of that process. This, in turn, is what drives the unit‘s ultra-high thermal
efficiency rating. In fact, so much latent heat is extracted, the resulting low exhaust
temperatures permit venting with plastic – rather than metal – pipe.
A number of important factors drove CCAT‘s decision to install the next Phoenix Solar
unit, according to Bohner:
– All-in-one package, solar capability, tank size: The Phoenix Solar has ―a small
footprint, offers solar thermal capabilities and combines domestic hot water and
space heating in one package,‖ says Bohner, who liked the idea of having both
applications in a single unit, rather than two standalone pieces of equipment: ―It
makes for an easier installation,‖ he says.
The old Buck House used a solar system to provide domestic hot water, so it was
paramount that the new system also incorporate solar. ―If a manufacturer could not
offer both solar thermal harvesting and a boiler backup in the same system, they
were out of the race,‖ says Bohner. ―As we evaluated different systems, the ‗all-in-
one‘ approach of the Phoenix Solar – as well as its 119-gallon tank capacity – really
shined for us.‖
– Positive track record with Heat Transfer: Another point in favor of the Phoenix
Solar was the ―great success‖ Bohner has enjoyed with HTP‘s Munchkin offering.
―I understand them very well,‖ he remarks, ―so I wasn‘t nervous about the Phoenix
Solar being a new product. I was comfortable with the Munchkin line and I knew
Heat Transfer Products‘ reputation with indirect tanks. You‘re not just buying a
boiler; you‘re buying the people and parts that fix the boiler if something should
go wrong.‖
Installation Relatively Easy: With the committee sold on the Phoenix Solar, Heat
Transfer sales representative Morgan Muir of Hydronic Specialties Company in
Oakland, Calif., arranged for one of the first units produced to be shipped to CCAT.
Installation proceeded with relative ease: When Bohner first filled the new Phoenix
Solar with cold water, the tank temperature read 64°F. Within only eight minutes, he
says, ―the Phoenix stopped humming and the tank temperature read 119°F. It‘s kind
of an amazing product – even simpler than a Munchkin to install. You plug it into the
wall and off it goes.‖
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Bohner‘s crew did encounter one minor glitch when the original rough-in work pitted
them against a poly-steel wall. ―The framing crew had built a hollow concrete wall
over the poly-steel wall to use as a chase for utilities,‖ Bohner says. ―As a result,
we were unable to fasten our controls and piping directly to the concrete wall with
concrete screws. So we hung a sheet of formaldehyde-free plywood and mounted
our controls to that.‖
Measuring only 27 inches in diameter, the one-piece Phoenix Solar commands a
relatively small footprint, as compared with a conventional sectional boiler, and its
height of 74 inches should fit through most doorways without a hitch. Bohner also
notes that, like the Munchkin, the Phoenix Solar must be piped with a minimum
¾-inch supply gas line. ―If you‘re looking to retrofit this appliance into an existing
home, make sure there is a ¾-inch gas line entering the mechanical room.‖
How the System Works: A firm believer in closed-loop systems, Bohner separated
the Phoenix Solar‘s auxiliary heating port for the domestic hot water from the space
heating system via a Taco X-Pump Block, a heat exchanger that is also an all-in-one
unit.
The auxiliary ports of the Phoenix Solar feed domestic hot water to the X-Pump
Block. Using its internal heat exchanger, two pumps and control logic, the X-Pump
Block relies on an outdoor reset to control the amount of hot water sent to the
radiant tubing loops. Bohner explains how the system works:
―We monitor indoor temperatures by running thermostat wire to each room in the
Buck House. We monitor outdoor temperatures with an outdoor sensor on the north
side of its exterior. When there is a call for heat, the X-Pump Block mixes and
delivers the correct water temperature – based on the outside temperature – to the
radiant manifold.‖
Individual room zoning is accomplished at the radiant manifold via thermal
actuators, also made by Uponor. ―When a zone calls for heat,‖ Bohner explains,
―those actuators pop their heads and warm water flows through the corresponding
PEX loops attached to them. Again, the colder it is outside, the warmer the water
delivered to the room needing heat.‖
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Finally, Bohner chose another all-in-one unit, the Oventrop Regusol EL -130 solar
pumping station, to move water from the solar collectors to the radiant loops
whenever that water is hotter than the water inside the Phoenix Solar. ―Pairing the
Taco X-Pump Block and Oventrop EL-130 with the new Phoenix Solar was a great
way for us to easily integrate a solar thermal system into the newly remodeled
CCAT.‖
No Cold Showers: To date, the three student-residents, having never run out of hot
water, are very happy with the new system. ―Although I told the committee that
they could expect to see a savings in their energy costs, I didn‘t claim they‘d never
run out of hot water. But I knew they wouldn‘t – especially with a 119-gallon tank.
There have been no complaints.‖
CCAT offers university students and the general public tours, workshops and
opportunities for hands-on involvement. They don‘t just preach sustainable products;
they actually live with them to discover whether or not they like them. ―CCAT
provides classes on solar thermal, solar electric and now – with the move and the
renovation – radiant floor heating. ―It is like a live-in classroom for sustainability,‖
says Bohner.
Installing the Phoenix Solar water heater was a big step-up for CCAT. ―We may not
live in New England, but the temperature dropped to 34 degrees just a few days
ago,‖ says Bohner. ―CCAT is preaching sustainability, so they liked the idea of the
Phoenix Solar because it would allow them to actually ‗walk the walk, as well as talk
the talk.‘ That‘s what interested us, too. CCAT is a very influential body here – a
pillar in the community for green building, and they have quite a history, which
excited us.‖
Bohner believes that Phoenix Solar installations will grow in number as installers
discover its benefits. ―If you have either an existing radiant system, are building
new, or swapping out that old furnace for a new fan coil, the Phoenix Solar would be
a good choice with its small footprint, single-storage tank, solar thermal-readiness
and high efficiency,‖ says Bohner. ―With Heat Transfer‘s experience in not only
stainless tank manufacturing, but also Mod/Con heating appliances, we should see
the Phoenix popping up in all kinds of places.‖
###
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HEAT TRANSFER: Founded in 1974, Heat Transfer is a designer and manufacturer
of advanced heating and hot water systems. Product categories include high
efficiency boilers and advanced boiler control systems, high efficiency gas-fired water
heaters, oil-fired and electric water heaters, indirect water heaters, and marine and
pool heaters.
For more information about these products, visit Heat Transfer at
www.htproducts.com. Or call toll-free: 800-323-9651 (508-763-8071
if calling from Massachusetts).
For editorial assistance, contact John O‘Reilly c/o LNC Communications:
815-469-9100 or John@LNCmail.com
To download hi-res .tif files of images to accompany this press release,
use this link: http://www.LNCmail.com/pr/ht0803-ccat.html
[CONTRIBUTOR]
Stephen Bohner
Alchemy Construction Incorporated
P. O. Box 4154
Arcata, CA 95518
707-822-8013
info@alchemyinc.com
www.alchemyinc.com
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