Veterans Administration San Francisco

VA San Francisco was an energy upgrade project funded by PG&E. The entire PG&E project included five Veterans Medical Centers in Northern California. HVAC Controls did the energy upgrades on VA San Francisco and VA Martinez.
We installed a Siemens control system on both campuses.

VA San Francisco consisted of retrofitting major portions of two buildings and the entire retrofit of a third building. There were also four additional buildings where pneumatic actuators were replaced with 24 volt DDC actuators in anticipation of future upgrades.
The one complete retrofit was in building 208 which is an acute care facility. The two air handlers and the 160 zones were retrofitted during the day to limit any inconvenience or disruption to the patients or facility staff.

The second building (building 200) that was partially retrofitted was the Medical Office / Outpatient Building. This building contained different control systems which needed to be integrated into an existing Johnson Controls system or migrated over to the new Siemens system. This work was done after hours so that the staff and patients were not disturbed during normal hours.

The third building (building 203) was partially retrofitted also. It is a four story working Hospital. HVAC Controls retrofitted the zonework (approximately 80 zones) on isolated air handling systems throughout the building. We incorporated newly installed VFD’s into the control scheme and provided conduit and wire so that migration and integration of system points could be accomplished. This work was done during off hours to keep the disruption to a minimum.

All of this work was done under “Infection Control Risk Assessment” (ICRA) conditions. This means that as we entered the ceiling space we were required to isolate our entry point into the ceiling from the room below. This requires portable tents that have retractable upper portions that can be raised against the ceiling when stationary and lowered when moving around and to fit through doorways. There is also a HEPA filter and exhaust fan exhausting the tent so that any foreign material that falls out of the ceiling is caught before it can escape and expose anyone to any contaminants. This is a very time consuming tedious way to do an above ceiling install. However, HVAC Controls brought this project in on time and on budget.