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Can somebody please assist me in coming to a conclusion on this argument between me and my new boss. Old boss left recently, new boss is young with minimal experience as a PE, and he's been fighting most of my design decisions since he started.
If you're answering this post, you already know the dangers freezing air can lead to and the damage that it can cause to an AHU. In my control sequences, I always have a unit shutdown if the freezestat is tripped. Recently, I've been developing controls with dual stage freeze protection to mitigate potential stratification in the unit. My new boss's argument was simply "what if somebody is having surgery when the freezestat is tripped? Unit cannot shutdown". I have concerns with this because I know the damage that can be caused to an AHU if freeze protection weren't utilized for the unit. If a cooling coil were to burst, it could cause millions in damage to the building, and I feel that is reason enough to shut the unit down if the freezestat is tripped. If the pumps were the point of failure, then the reheat coils wouldn't be able to operate either, which means <38 degF (freeze protection setpoint) air would be sent to the space, which I feel would be way more harmful to the patient than a shutdown.
Have any of you come across freeze protection requirements for an operating room? I have had difficulty finding any information on this. Alternatively, what measures have you taken for freeze protection in AHU's serving critical/sterile spaces? In the end, it isn't my stamp on the drawings, and if he is comfortable doing this, he can. However, I'd like to know that I'm being guided in the right direction for how to approach these situations, and don't feel that I am in this scenario.
Thank you,
If you're answering this post, you already know the dangers freezing air can lead to and the damage that it can cause to an AHU. In my control sequences, I always have a unit shutdown if the freezestat is tripped. Recently, I've been developing controls with dual stage freeze protection to mitigate potential stratification in the unit. My new boss's argument was simply "what if somebody is having surgery when the freezestat is tripped? Unit cannot shutdown". I have concerns with this because I know the damage that can be caused to an AHU if freeze protection weren't utilized for the unit. If a cooling coil were to burst, it could cause millions in damage to the building, and I feel that is reason enough to shut the unit down if the freezestat is tripped. If the pumps were the point of failure, then the reheat coils wouldn't be able to operate either, which means <38 degF (freeze protection setpoint) air would be sent to the space, which I feel would be way more harmful to the patient than a shutdown.
Have any of you come across freeze protection requirements for an operating room? I have had difficulty finding any information on this. Alternatively, what measures have you taken for freeze protection in AHU's serving critical/sterile spaces? In the end, it isn't my stamp on the drawings, and if he is comfortable doing this, he can. However, I'd like to know that I'm being guided in the right direction for how to approach these situations, and don't feel that I am in this scenario.
Thank you,