Problems Multiple sprinkler lines froze and exploded, flooding a 40,000 sq. ft. vacant retail space located in northern Wisconsin, about 150 miles south of the Canadian Border. There was an inch of standing water throughout the shopping center, much of it frozen because only two of ten HVAC units in the facility were working. Initial readings showed 99% relative humidity (RH) with inside air temperatures hovering at the freezing mark. Concrete floors, carpeting, drywall, and block walls were all saturated. The outside air temperature of -20°F presented a special challenge for this water restoration project.
Solution Seven trucks, two generators (200 kW and 100kW), two 5000 CFM desiccant dehumidifiers, extraction equipment, air movers and two 1.2 million Btu RX15 Heaters were dispatched to the jobsite. The two high performance RxHeat units were immediately used to provide a total 12,000 CFM of warm dry air to heat and help dryout the 500,000 cubic foot area. Air movers were placed to maximize evaporative drying and desiccant dehumidifiers also removed moisture from the structure. Humid air was exhausted through outlets on the second floor to ventilate the building and speed up the drying process.
Results
The heating and drying capacity of the RX15 heater was really put to the test in this application. The overall drying efficiency of the unique Blow-Thru® technology was proven by the fact that the entire structure was dried to standard conditions within only five days despite the frigid weather and size of this facility.
Customer Comments ”The bitter cold outside temperature presented special considerations for drying this large structure. I don’t know how we would have done it so fast without the RX15 heaters”
Multiple sprinkler lines froze and exploded, flooding a 40,000 sq. ft. vacant retail space located in northern Wisconsin, about 150 miles south of the Canadian Border. There was an inch of standing water throughout the shopping center, much of it frozen because only two of ten HVAC units in the facility were working. Initial readings showed 99% relative humidity (RH) with inside air temperatures hovering at the freezing mark. Concrete floors, carpeting, drywall, and block walls were all saturated. The outside air temperature of -20°F presented a special challenge for this water restoration project.