Comfort Link Plant IV, Baltimore, Maryland

Mechanical Construction: Centrifugal Chiller, HVAC & Piping Systems Services

The Industrial Facility Project

The District Chilled Water General Partnership d/b/a Comfort Link is a leading provider of district cooling services in downtown Baltimore. Comfort Link clients include federal, state, and Baltimore City government buildings, entertainment and retail establishments, commercial office buildings, hotels, hospitals, and religious and other non-profit facilities. This project will be the fourth district energy plant to comprise the Comfort Link distribution system in downtown Baltimore which currently provides more than 32,000 tons of cooling capacity and approximately 40 million ton-hours of low-temperature chilled water to cool over 11.5 million square feet of conditioned space. The Comfort Link system is one of the largest ice thermal storage systems in the country.

Poole & Kent Mechanical Contractor Role

Comfort Link awarded Poole and Kent the general construction contract to replace two existing 750-ton chillers with a 2,400-ton duplex centrifugal chiller to increase energy and cost efficiency. The cooling towers and ancillary piping systems were also upgraded. Comfort Link Plant IV, located in the Baltimore Convention Center, will add additional capacity to the existing district chilled water system serving downtown Baltimore.

• Below is a summary of the industrial HVAC systems that were installed on the project:
• Solids separator for condenser water system
• Makeup water piping for condenser water system
• Demolition of existing cooling tower, piping and all steel supports
• New 2,400 ton duplex centrifugal chiller
• Chilled water and condenser pumps
• Chilled water pump variable frequency drives

Poole and Kent was also responsible for overseeing all work associated with the electrical and structural components; including all new electrical feeders and structural supports.

Challenges/Achievements/Awards

Due to the physical constraints of the existing mechanical room, this project required the installation of extensive new support bracing to allow the installation of the new 2,400-ton chiller. This required us to manually place the steel bracing supports around the existing HVAC ductwork and other various components of the building’s infrastructure. Another challenge included the small entranceway for rigging into the mechanical room. It was necessary to transport the chiller mechanical assistance.

Despite the physicals challenges of the mechanical construction project, we successfully performed all work without interruption to Comfort Link’s existing which remained operational throughout the completion of the project.

Client:
The District Chilled Water General
Partnership d/b/a Comfort Link

Architect:
Ayers, Saint, Gross

Engineer:
Leach Wallace & Associates

Mechanical Contractor:
The Poole and Kent Corporation