Prevent Mechanical Ltd.

10/04/2023

Prevent Mechanical is suggesting that you verify the proper function of your in-suite heating equipment BEFORE winter hits!

Many condominiums have so much "thermal mass" that even if your own heat isn't working, the surrounding building will make it feel like your unit is cozy warm. Until the thermometer hits -20C that is; then you may suddenly discover your zone valve or thermostat are not working (at the same moment 2,000 other Calgarians are discovering the same thing).

Better to take 20 minutes this fall to check on the system. Pick a cool day and check your baseboard radiators. If they are just room temperature, go ahead and turn your thermostat all the way up. Wait 20 minutes and feel the radiators again. If everything is working as it should, they should be very warm. This tells you that the thermostat is asking the zone valve for heat, and the zone valve is opening to allow hot water through the radiators.

Then go ahead and turn your thermostat all the way down, within about 20 minutes those radiators should be back to just room temperature again. This tells you that, when the thermostat is "satisfied" with the room temperature, it is able to close the zone valve and stop the flow of hot water.

Checking your system before the first blizzard may save you the cost of an after-hours emergency call out.

You can only check this on colder days since the boilers themselves may shut off when the outdoor temperature is moderate.

05/25/2022

Since 2002, Prevent Mechanical has been providing exceptional mechanical maintenance service, primarily to the Calgary Condominium market. Our experienced technicians are among the best in Calgary for hydronic heating system maintenance, trouble-shooting and repair. We also offer friendly in-suite services to unit owners for heating and plumbing issues.

We are looking for an experienced Journeyman Service Plumber with strong technical skills to join our growing team. We offer excellent wages and benefits, a respect driven workplace, and opportunities to continue your learning and growth in the trades.

Candidates should:
- Be self-motivated
- Be detail oriented
- Have strong organization skills
- Have a Journeyman Plumbing ticket -or- be a 3rd or 4th year apprentice
- Be a team player with a positive attitude
- Hold a clean and valid Alberta Driver's license
- Enjoy satisfaction in a job well done and in helping deliver peace of mind to customers through honesty, respect and quality service!

02/17/2021

Scene from a rooftop in Calgary

12/30/2019

We all know that water can be one of the most powerful forces on earth. With time and patience, the oceans can grind mountains into sand.

What's less obvious, and harder to imagine, is that same powerful force at work within the heating and mechanical systems we rely on in our modern buildings.

The images attached are of a new brass pump impeller and a similar impeller that has been completely eroded by the forces of cavitation in turbulent water.

01/08/2019

We pull water samples like this from systems throughout Calgary. This isn't good.

This much iron oxide in a tiny little 200ml sample... imagine how much of this stuff is flowing through the pipes, pumps, valves and boilers of the building's hydronic system hour after hour, day after day... wearing out seals, gaskets, impeller, shafts, valves; clogging pipes, creating no-heat calls, leaks, failed components.

Your system's corrosion program is not working and this is not going to fix itself. The longer you wait to take action, the more difficult and expensive the problem will be to correct. Ultimately, if nothing is done, your building's pipes will corrode to the point where they're springing leaks at every threaded joint and you will have no choice but to replace them. This day may make you look back with nostalgia on the special assessments of years gone by.

Don't wait. There is much that can be done to halt the corrosion before it's too late.

03/13/2018

We replaced a failed zone valve recently and, inside it, we found a piece of wood almost an inch and a half long.
It appears that this splinter of wood had found its way into the building's hydronic piping, while it was still under construction. It may have been in there for nearly a decade before it became lodged in this zone valve.

08/07/2017

Saving Your Zone Valves

It's summer time. Most condominium residents have turned their thermostats all the way down to prevent unwanted heat from warming up their units.

But in many condominiums the boilers have been turned off to save money on energy. In other condominiums, the boilers will be switching themselves off most days as their controllers trigger a "Warm Weather Shut Down" process.

In other words... there is no hot water in those pipes. As a condominium resident, you should take advantage of that fact and "exercise" your zone valves.

Zone valves that are left closed for months on end (during the summer) can sometimes stick in the closed position. When the heating season returns, they refuse to open and that generates a service call. A call that many plumbing companies are happy to get.

At prevent mechanical, we think a little bit differently. We'd like to save you from unnecessary repair bills if we can.

The best way to avoid having your zone valve stick is to cycle it through it's opening and closing actions periodically. Once every couple of weeks or so, turn your thermostat all the way up and leave it there. Turn it off the week after.

If you live in a condominium that has to keep the boilers firing (i.e. the heating boilers also supply heat to your domestic hot water); just turn the thermostat up long enough that you can feel heat in the radiator, then turn it down again.

This will keep your zone valves opening and closing freely, it will help you avoid service calls and it may extend the life of your zone valve by years.

10/10/2016

How can we stop corrosion from eating away our hydronic heating (or cooling) system?

The short answer is, we add a chemical to the boiler water to prevent it from corroding the metallic components of the system.

Back in the day, the most common approach to corrosion treatment was to ad sodium sulfite to the system. Sulfites would seek out stray Oxygen in the system and bond with it, preventing that Oxygen from bonding with (oxidizing) the metal in the system.

While this can be effective at preventing corrosion, it comes at a cost... Sodium Sulfite combines with Oxygen to make Sodium Sulfate which contributes to the amount of dissolved solids in the system. The dissolved solids are abrasive and wear out vulnerable components (valve trim, impellers, bearings) faster. Left unchecked, they'd form a sludge which must be consistently removed from the system to prevent clogging of the boiler tubes and pipes. This is accomplished by draining off the boiler water. This means that more water must be added to the system to replenish what's been drained out.

Fresh new water brings with it more dissolved oxygen which requires the addition of more Sodium Sulfite. And repeat.

While this treatment cycle is effective it must be constantly monitored and managed, typically by a ticketed building operator employing a number of subtrades; as such it's more suitable to a very large operation with permanent custodial staff. For an 80-unit condo building it's not the best solution.

But don't despair... there are a couple of solutions that are both cost effective and require a reasonable, practical and affordable level of intervention.

We'll tell you about that next time but, if you want to speak to us about it sooner... just call 403.271.8821

08/26/2016

One of the most common methods of heating and cooling multi-unit buildings of every type, from 50-story office towers to 3-story hotels to townhouse condominiums, is by way of "hydronic" heating and cooling.

A boiler heats (or a chiller cools) water and a pump circulates it, often through iron pipe, to all of the various areas that need to be heated. The amount of water flowing through each area can be controlled by a zone valve so that individual apartment tenants or condo unit owners can control the temperature inside their area.

For the most part, this works pretty good.

But...

This system has water and iron in contact with each other so, we all know what's going to happen, right? Rust!

The problem is worse than that, however, as these systems are not just subject to metal oxidation (rust) they also experience "galvanic corrosion" (two metals of different composition, in the presence of a conductor - water, will begin to "plate" one metal to the other) and even "MIC" (micro-organism induced corrosion).

In short, left unattended, these systems will begin to destroy themselves, from their first day of operation, invisibly - from the inside out.

Don't worry! We're going to tell you what can be done about it in a later post. But if you can't wait, give us a call at 403.271.8821

An iron pipe who's walls have become clogged with layer upon layer of iron oxide corrosion. This corrosion will, ultimately, completely block the flow of water through the pipe and/or cause pipe failure and leaking inside walls or floors!