Chiller Upgrades

From its original construction to today’s ongoing facility maintenance and HVAC building controls, Egan has been a partner to the Grand Rapids Art Museum for its mechanical systems. In 2021, Egan replaced the building's 16 existing compressors with two centrifugal magnetic chillers, switching the building from a DX system to a chilled water system for more efficient cooling. The new chillers offer 20-30% in energy savings over traditional centrifugal chillers by use of magnetically floating the shaft in place of bearings.

To make better use of the spaces where equipment is located, Egan left the housing in place when removing the DX coils and replacing with new chilled water coils. Two new air-to-air heat exchangers were also added to each location to aid in heat recovery. The changes created a more open space for serviceability, which Egan provides at regular intervals at the museum, whether in person or through remote monitoring of building controls, using the Johnson Controls platform. Also as part of this upgrade, Egan added four new cooling towers and a Rapid Water Technologies Nanobubble Generator on the cooling tower water. The Nanobubble Generator is designed to maintain cleaner water, improve heat transfer and increase chemical efficiency, among other benefits, in the system’s cooling water.