First Presbyterian Church -- Johnson City TN
S. B. White Company was selected to be the mechanical contractor for a six phase renovation to First Presbyterian Church in Johnson City, TN spanning two years with J. E. Green Company as general contractor. The existing system had to be left operational as the new water source heat pump system was installed. If that was not challenging enough, all of the new piping and ductwork had to be concealed inside the existing church walls and ceilings. The new Trane system totaled around 180 tons and included a state of the art CSI DDC electronic controls package. The system incorporated heating hot water from the existing Burnham boiler which had to be converted from steam to hot water during this project. The most interesting setup is on the cooling side of the system. The approach involved installing an open Marley cooling tower on the roof with remote sump tanks (6 total) in the basement. That allowed for the operating weight of tower to be minimized to eliminate the need for extensive steel support work. Furthermore, it allows for all of the water to drain to the boiler room tanks whenever the temperature is lower than 34 degrees to eliminate the need for glycol, heat tape, or insulation and avoids all chances of freezing on the roof.
