Goal of the project
The project decarbonized the building’s heating system and, for the first time, introduced cooling. All existing classroom and office reheat coils were replaced with multi-row low-temperature coils designed to operate on heating water produced by an air-source heat pump, with the same system providing cooling that the previous installation could not. A new condensing boiler plant was added for supplemental and backup heat, and the scope included a DDC system upgrade with new control sequences to optimize energy performance. The goal was to verify that this hybrid system delivered comfortable, reliable conditions across both heating and cooling modes while achieving the intended efficiency gains.
How did KCx achieve goal
KCx Engineering delivered commissioning, testing, adjusting and balancing, and O&M documentation across the project. Central to the work was effective flow control — a recurring requirement on hybrid heating systems, where heat pump and boiler heat sources must be coordinated so the heat pump carries as much of the load as possible before the boiler is called on.
Because the low-temperature coils depend on correct water flow to deliver adequate heat at reduced supply temperatures, KCx performed extensive testing to verify low-temperature heating performance under real conditions, along with the system’s switchover to cooling under summer conditions — confirming that the new DDC sequences transitioned the building correctly between modes.
The result is a decarbonized school that now delivers both heating and cooling, with control sequences verified to operate as designed across the full seasonal range.
