Hotel Intercontinental, Chicago, Illinois
Hotel InterContinental Case Study
Improving room comfort with Griswold Controls' Automizer® combination control valves and Coil Piping Packages
Project Overview
The Hotel Inter-Continental was built in 1929 as the Medinah Athletic Club. The contemporary North Tower was added later.
Cramped Spaces Prompt Ingenuity
During the renovation, more than 500 fan coils were replaced in North Tower guest rooms. Units were installed above the ceiling in the entry vestibule of the rooms, leaving only 12" of vertical space for the manual balancing system. Tobin Stanley of Bovis Lend Lease contacted Griswold Controls to provide pre-assembled coil piping packages with Automizer® combination control valves, saving space and labor during installation.
"This gave the client the opportunity to purchase prefab equipment and just put (it) in. This also meant that installers would spend minimal time on the site, so only two floors would have to be closed at a time."
— Bill Toth, Griswold Controls Sales RepresentativeCoil Piping Packages Provide Numerous Benefits
The balancing cartridge in the Automizer is factory preset to automatically limit the flow for each room or zone, eliminating the need for startup balancing and any subsequent rebalancing. The automatic balancing packages saved the hotel approximately $35,000 in start-up labor alone.
For this project, the standard coil package included the flow limiting cartridge of the Automizer combined with a low-torque, equal-percentage actuated ball valve and factory mounted Siemens actuators. The entire piping package takes up roughly one-fourth the space of a typical manual piping configuration.
Trouble-Free Balancing, Increased Comfort
With the renovation complete and the North Tower in full operation, Kees Guijt, regional director of engineering, reports there has been a significant drop in guest complaints regarding room comfort.
Automizer® & Coil Piping Packages
Automizer® combination control valves
Automizer® Next Generation valves feature Griswold Controls' field repairable stem design and allow for field servicing without removal. These all-in-one valves combine an actuated temperature control valve with an automatic flow limiting cartridge, making them ideal for schools, office buildings, VAV boxes, fan coil units, heat pumps, and terminal boxes.
Coil Piping Packages & Hose Kits
Griswold Controls offers over 900 standard packages, pre-assembled for easy installation and timely delivery. Options like hoses and extension kits are also available.
- Wide selection of pre-assembled, easy-to-order configurations
- Easy ordering: order by specific part numbers
- Timely delivery of standard packages
- Variety of options: downsized automatic temperature control, extra ports, inclusion of Automizer or Unimizer valves
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