St. Paul’s United Church of Christ
The main sanctuary of St. Paul’s seats over 900 people.

Business Challenge
The compressor in the chiller had failed and would no longer function. Because St. Paul’s had maintained a preventive maintenance program over the years, the equipment had lasted over thirty years, but needed to be replaced. Due to the design and layout of the building there was very little space to maneuver any equipment. Also, it was important that the aesthetic qualities of the church remain in tact. This required creative solutions.

The Air Comfort Solution
Because Air Comfort had been servicing the church for many years, an extensive knowledge of the building and work to be done was already established. After meeting with the board of parishioners, Air Comfort provided board members with details on how a smooth replacement would be made.

Air Comfort replaced the existing chiller with two smaller chillers, as well as the cooling tower. We installed new chilled water and steam coils in two existing air handlers. All needed to be carefully maneuvered because of the tight spaces within the church. Air conditioning was added to the chapel and parlor. And a new Honeywell DDC control system was put in place to take control of new chillers, existing boilers and air handling units throughout the facility. Sound enclosures were installed on the chillers in order to reduce the noise for classrooms and services. The project was eased along by contributions from the entire Air Comfort team. Extensive sheet metal work was installed in the attic of the chapel, and piping work was also completed.

The Result
The new unit and control systems allow St. Paul’s to have greater control over the temperature of the building so that each area has much greater levels of comfort. Because of that, they are able to establish time of day scheduling in order to economize and save costs. According to Edward Puschmann, St. Paul’s building superintendent, “Things are running smoothly since the installation took place. The replacement made the whole system run much more efficiently, and we’re able to save on energy and costs.”