The Academy of the Holy Cross, Kensington, MD

The Academy of the Holy Cross needed a solution to renovate a lower level of the school that addressed the already low ceilings. After consulting with them we decided a VRF system could be installed in an exposed ceiling and painted black. This produced a modern look and feel for the renovated space. Our design included a system that addressed both the space heating and cooling requirements as well as increased ventilation air, which is a critical design element for a healthy learning environment.

TESTIMONIAL:

Our Mechanical Division has been working closely with Holy Cross on a complete renovation of the HVAC System in the lower section of the school. Hottel is getting the area ready for a VRF system to be installed. When asked, Ed Dayhoff, Director of Facilities, said that he originally reached out through the website contact us page and was called within 24 hours.

“The biggest reason why I chose Hottel was their response time. They called and followed up with me within a day or so. Ken and Dave are the ones I have been working with throughout this project. I wish all companies were that easy to have come out.”  Our guys are working hard to stay on track with getting this system installed by the time school is back in session!

National Construction Safety Week 2022

Thank you to everyone who participated in National Construction Safety Week! Safety is 100% team effort and we couldn’t have been successful without your support. We had a lot going on throughout the week including starting the week off with a safety breakfast, where three Hottel employees were presented with Safety Awards, which also included a Kask Hard Hat Helmet with a Visor and a gift card.

The first recipient was Leo Pineda from our Plumbing Division! Leo is always concerned with the safety of his coworkers and is not afraid to stop work to mitigate a hazard or to inform a client and management of any issues of concern.

John Wilson, Parts Driver for Commercial Projects, was another recipient! Last year he drove 31,000 miles with no customer complaints, accident free, and has great hazard recognition on job sites.

Lastly, Ralph Murphy completed his OSHA 10, OSHA 30, and First Aid CPR on his own before Hottel began offering classes. Thank you Ralph for gaining the knowledge to keep yourself and other safe.

Leo, Raplh, and John have all made safety a priority be recognizing potential safety hazards, following protocols, and keeping their fellow coworkers safe. They have worked closely with Hottel’s Safety Director, Dan Batt, on creating plans for unique situations that allows maximum safety measures to completion of jobs.

Hottel would also like to give a special thanks to Dan for educating the entire company on safety protocols and practices. He put together Safety Week and organized the breakfast with help from office personnel who made this possible: Roberta Nelson, Diane Colville, Anita Barnsley, and Ryan Miller.

 DAILY TOOLBOX TALK WINNERS FOR SAFETY WEEK:

In addition to the breakfast and awards, Dan sent our daily Safety Toolbox talks followed up with a trivia question. The first person to answer correctly received a prize! Congratulations to Javier Gonzalez, Douglas Ciciliano, Josh Lindauere, and Arnold Monterossa for being the daily winners. Chad Wells of Hottel’s Custom Homes Division, was the Grand Prize Winner and receiving a Kask Hard Hat Helmet with a visor!

We look forward to National Construction Safety Week next year and to have even more activities, engagement and prizes!

Reduce What You Spend on Energy Bills

In 2019, customers turned to Hottel to install geothermal heating and cooling. However, due to setbacks and space constraints it was agreed that the next best solution would be installed, which was the Daikin Life VRV Heat Pump System. After calculating the homes heat loss/gain, Hottel determined that the existing 6-tons of equipment could be replaced with a single 5-ton Daikin Life VRV unit when paired with a gas furnace for backup heating. It’s a great alternative to Geothermal.

“We are very pleased with the system. It is super quiet and very efficient. In the summer, the system is powered entirely by our solar panel array and we don’t receive an electric bill. I have been impressed with the heating performance of the heat pump, even in sub-freezing temperatures. We have the gas furnace option for the coldest days, but the heat pump seems to cover more of the heating needs. Our gas bills in the winter are quite modest and electric bills are very reasonable.

We initially considered a geothermal system. After weighing the high initial costs and uncertainty of results for well-drilling, along with the regulatory challenges in DC, you offered the Daikin Life VRV Heat Pump System as an alternative with nearly the same efficiency as geothermal. I am pleased by our choice and with the quick and easy installation process.

I appreciated your advice about insulation. My wife, Judith and I added blown fiberglass in our attic to R-60. We are in the process of replacing some old drafty windows as part of our effort to get as close as possible to net zero.” – David Gilmore

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Increased ventilation is one of the recommended strategies during these times.

Have you benchmarked your facility’s ventilation rates?

Continue reading “”

Hottel Client Raves About Customer Service

Hottel has always strived for excellent customer service, which is accomplished through learning from our employees and clients. For the past 15 years years, our Senior Sales Associate, Mike Hollidge, has built a strong client relationship with the Chief Engineer of Rubenstein Properties, Ozzie Acosta. Ozzie, along with his coworker, Jimmy Martinez, reached out to Hottel for mechanical maintenance and replacement of cooling towers at a building they manage in Rockville, MD.  Starting the submittal process two years ago, Hottel has worked closely with Rubenstein Properties on contract changes and adjustments before kicking off this project. When interviewed, Jimmy emphasized how well our entire team (sales, mechanical, techs, and administrative) works together and communicates throughout the project process.

He stated, “Everyone at Hottel has been very prompt and really knows what they are doing. We are almost at the point where we just hand over our key and let them go take care of whatever needs to be done.”

It’s great to hear that our clients think that Hottel and its employees are trustworthy and are going above and beyond for customer satisfaction. We look forward to all future projects!

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Sandy Spring Museum

One of Harvey Hottel’s top priorities is to make sure that we are doing the best we can for our customers. Part of that is tracking that we and the units installed are beneficial to your initiatives.  Air Advice allows us to just do that. Harvey W. Hottel, Inc uses high-tech sensors to track the air flow, ventilation, humidity, and carbon monoxide within our clients buildings.

We preformed a walk through of the Sandy Spring Museum using diagnostic monitoring equipment and visual inspection to identify the opportunities for improving the energy and comfort performance of the building. Our key findings highlight what we discovered in the process:

Key Findings:

1. Relative humidity in the archive room is being maintained in the acceptable range (between 30-55% relative humidity).

2. The installation of the dehumidifier is providing the ability to remove excess humidity, which the system was not capable of in the past.

Opportunities for Improvement:

1. Consider additional thermostat in archive room to provide less temperature spread across the room.

2. Continue to monitor humidity and temperature levels during the warmest months. A final Sensor Data Assessment will be provided (at no additional cost) during this period to insure system control is maintained.

Our team worked closely with Sandy Spring Museum to identify the problem areas, so we could develop solutions. They building is now running more efficiently with reduced humidity levels.

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Eliminate Air Borne Particles

We have recently had a lot of interest in and success installing UV lights to provide additional health and safety through air supply decontamination for tenants/building occupants returning to work.

Now is an excellent time to stay updated on building maintenance such as:

1. Filter Changes: Changing filters regularly to ensure air flow is kept up to acceptable levels. Upgrading your filters to a higher MERV rating can increase the amount of particles captures during circulation.
2. UV Light: When passing through UV light, viruses and other bacteria are effectively killed by the ultraviolet light.
3. Evaporator Cleaning: Utilizing an evaporator coil cleaner and disinfectant is effective against killing germs on hard, non-porous surfaces.
4. Ventilation: Completing an assessment on your current ventilation rates and possibly making improvements to your air changers per hour.
5. Humidity Control: Maintaining a humidity level of 40-60% in an indoor facility can lower the survival rate of airborne viruses up to 30%.
6. Portable Air Purifiers: We can supply air cleaners that utilize HEPA filtration and UV lights for portable disinfection. This can be used to augment systems that cannot provide adequate airflow in certain areas within your facility (CDC, 2020).

Please do not hesitate to contact our Commercial Service Department at 240-912-8900 to discuss keeping your facility at its optimal health level. We hope that you and your families are safe and healthy during these uncertain times.

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Saint Sophia’s Church Writes a Great Testimonial

Hottel is always looking forward to hearing from our clients and about the work we have done. We continuously work with Saint Sophia’s Church on maintaining their equipment and installing new equipment if needed.

“After researching and interviewing several HVAC companies in our area we decided to go with Harvey W. Hottel, because they are a reliable company and they presented us with great choices and pricing that fit our Cathedral needs. I was especially pleased by the explanation of the way the new unit would be installed and how it would work. As well as other HVAC and plumbing issues we had.

We were very pleased with the service we received from Harvey W. Hottel. Kenneth Fennell and the installers were very knowledgeable and professional. They were very attentive to our needs and answered all of our questions and concerns. Richard Hottel and crew should be very proud! 

Pete Panagiotopoulos
Saint Sophia Cathedral, WDC
Cathedral Administrator

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Strawbale House with Geothermal Heating and Cooling

Beautiful passive solar home with geothermal heating and cooling that has a net-zero footprint. This house is built from resources that we found right on the land where it’s located; strawbale walls that surround 3,500 SF of space with a mud mixture for the walls. Trees from the property, such as black walnut, cherry, locust and hickory are used throughout for ceilings, flooring, doors, and other accents. We worked closely with the owners and designer to strategize on the installation of geothermal heating and cooling, high efficiency triple pane windows, radiant flooring, tub, master bedroom and gym. We also installed a 3-ton water to water unit with a storage tank and a hot/cold water coil for the air handler. Take a look at the before and after pictures!

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Jump onto the Bandwagon with VRF’s

The FEMA National Emergency Training Center needed a partner to install 32 tons of VRF (viable refrigerant flow). FEMA quickly turned to Harvey Hottel to fulfill the task. Our Project Executive, Scot Hottel, developed a plan and executed flawlessly. He worked closely with the stakeholders to ensure success.

This project was completed with minimal disruptions to their facility members, which was a mandatory request. From maintaining the project timeline, ensuring a quality installation, to keeping the occupants informed, Scot was able to deliver another success.

VRF systems are increasingly becoming more popular especially in larger urban areas where space in premium. According to Arista.com (2017) there are 7 major benefits for installation of VRF systems:

1. Consistent Comfort – these systems can accurately identify the exact amount of refrigerant needed to each air handling unit.
2.  Quiet Operation – smaller air handlers, which means smaller noise amount.
3.  Energy Efficiency – precise amount of refrigerant needed so it can run at a lower capacity and less frequently.
4.  Installation Flexibility – VRF’s are compact systems designed to travel lightly, no ducts and are space effective.
5.  Heat and Cool Simultaneously – has the ability to capture heat recovered from the cooling process and redistributed into another area that needs it.
6.  Controls and Smart Technology – can be controlled and maintained through a mobile device.
7.  Fewer Breakdowns – less stress on the parts because VRF’s are designed to run only when necessary, which leads to fewer breakdowns.

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