Overview

Moravian College selected Entech to provide a feasibility study to address the heating system needs for Comenius Quad Boilers. The Comenius Quad encompasses five buildings totaling approximately 76,000 square feet, which is served by two circa 1969 dual fuel Weil McLean Steam Boilers which provide steam to each individual building. The failure of one of the boilers in cold weather was a major concern to the College since redundancy no longer existed with only one boiler remaining in operation. In addition, the remaining boiler could not maintain the desired 5 PSI system pressure during the winter months, dropping to as low as 3 PSI, resulting in poor heat transfer throughout the building.

Entech’s MEP team evaluated various options and their respective cost. The primary financial metric is a Life Cycle Cost (LCC) calculation using Net Present Value (NPV) to represent the costs of initial construction as well as future annual expenditures for maintenance, energy, and equipment replacement.

For the systems compared in this report, the LCC analysis is based on a 30 year NPV, which matches the life expectancy of the equipment. A lower NPV translates to a lower LCC. Entech identified five options to investigate further (see chart above).

Moravian selected Option 0.1 due to the lower Adjusted 30 year NPV. This option also enabled the College to move forward with design and construction due to the limited time before the next heating season, while also allowing the College to make future phased improvements to the underground distribution piping as not to disturb the quad while students were coming back to campus in August.

Entech’s feasibility study enabled the College to make a more informed decision on what options existed and the pros and cons of each option. Entech was then selected to complete to design of the project. Moravian received bids from contractors that were either on or under budget from Entech’s cost estimates.