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Worldclass Healthcare In Your Own Backyard

As I wound my way through the picturesque streets of Hinsdale, IL, my thought was that a more idyllic setting for a facility dedicated to healing the body and spirit could not be found. I was on my way to meet Mr. Reynaldo Tuazon, Manager of Plant Operations for Adventist Hospitals, and Mr. Frank Lacny, owner of American Combustion Service, Inc., to talk about an exciting, new project that had recently been completed at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital.

Adventist Hinsdale Hospital has its roots as far back as 1904 when the Hinsdale Sanitarium opened its doors. While working with the poor in the tenements of Chicago, Drs. David and Mary Paulson had the dream of opening a medical facility in the country where fresh air, fresh water, lots of sunshine and a peaceful surrounding would provide the background for healing both the physical and spiritual body. Today, Adventist Midwest Health incorporates four such facilities: Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital, Adventist GlenOaks Hospital, Adventist Hinsdale Hospital, and the newest facility, Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital. They have become one of the largest, faith-based, not-for-profit health systems in the area. Adventist Hinsdale Hospital is licensed for 354 beds and provides comprehensive care utilizing the most up-to-date medical and technological methods available.

While the most prominent part of a working medical facility that is seen each and every day is the direct patient care, there is an equally important section functioning behind the scenes. The Facilities Administration Department, headed by Mr. Jim Today, incorporates construction, biomed, maintenance, engineering, environmental services and security into one central location in order to efficiently service the facility.

Starting as a hospital engineer around 1980, Rey is a licensed professional engineer with the State of Illinois and holds special certification as a Certified Healthcare Facility Manager from the American Hospital Association. In addition to overseeing Adventist Hinsdale Hospital, he is responsible for managing the energy needs for all four of the regional Adventist Health hospitals.

Rey is proud of the fact that he has always been proactive in the running of his facilities. As early as 1978, just a little before Rey began working there, Adventist Hinsdale Hospital began tracking their energy usage. Around 1984, after Rey arrived, the department began purchasing natural gas energy and eventually started buying electricity when the market was deregulated. Rey follows the market closely and had a lot of success in his energy buying which resulted in a huge amount of savings for the hospitals. His due diligence has enabled him to achieve significant energy savings for the Hinsdale facility. “Our energy usage in 1978 with a smaller facility was higher than it is today, even after several expansions to the building,” Rey told us. “That means we are being very proactive in our energy consumption.”

Always on the lookout for ways to save money, obtain energy efficiency and keep in step with the new “green” initiative, Rey’s thoughts turned to his boilers.

Steam absorbers, used in the past for cooling purposes, had been replaced by electric centrifugal chillers. This proved to be a more energy efficiency process than the natural gas steam absorbers that had been used. In the process, however, they had cut down on the needed steam load significantly. “By converting the cooling units to electrical, we dropped the steam load by about half,” Rey told us. With two big boilers capable of running 40,000 lbs per hour each, but only producing less than half that capacity, the large boilers became a very inefficient commodity.

The next question was this: What needs to be done to rectify the situation in the most cost-effective manner? Replacing the old boilers would cost a lot of money and, ideally, smaller boilers would be the answer - three smaller boilers to be exact. With redundancy built in, one boiler would be running, one boiler could be down and one boiler would be ready for backup in the event it was needed in an emergency. Rey was convinced his answer was in the boilers, and seized upon the opportunity to not only provide efficiency, reliability and redundancy, but to save on energy usage and go “green” in the process.

The two existing boilers had been manufactured around 1970, installed around 1972, and had been maintained according to a thorough and conscientious maintenance schedule. Boiler inspectors determined that the equipment had been well maintained, the tubes were clean and the boilers were in good shape. They would last a long time despite their age. Knowing the boilers were oversized, and replacing them was out of the question, Rey took a closer look at his options. What was truly old and inefficient were not the boilers themselves, but the fuel burners that fired them. Burner technology had been vastly improved upon since these boilers had been installed, and Rey began to look into replacing burners instead of boilers.

Capital expenditures in a healthcare system are routinely routed towards upgrading or installing the newest technology available for more direct patient care situations including radiology and emergency care. On a yearly basis, the CFO of Adventist Hinsdale Hospital makes available a special fund for needed capital improvements in other areas of the hospital where a good return on investment can be shown. So Rey went to work. Requests were made to the local representative of the boiler manufacturer and several local companies to provide specs and quotes for replacing the burners on the two existing boilers. Included in that list was a long-time supporter of the Chief Engineers Association, American Combustion Service, Inc. Proposals were returned. Mr. Tuazon then requested from each company a “Return on Investment” estimate. Of all the companies that had initially responded, Frank Lacny, of American Combustion Service, Inc., was the only one who provided the requested ROI.

American Combustion Service, Inc. had done work for Rey in the past. Rey was confident they could provide him with the needed savings. His doubt revolved around how much savings could actually be accomplished. Frank assured him that experience proved they could achieve the necessary goal, but Rey wanted hard, fast numbers. He provided preliminary figures to Frank, including a 12-month history of natural gas usage and what he was paying per kilowatt hour for electricity.

Frank crunched the numbers and returned with a conservative estimate of 6.2% savings on natural gas. Frank stated, “I would rather provide a very conservative number than give an estimate that I might have trouble meeting and making the customer unhappy”. Based on the numbers provided, Rey submitted the necessary Capital Expenditure Request and the job was awarded to American Combustion Service, Inc. Now it was time for Frank and his staff to get to work.

Several meetings between Frank and Rey ironed out the details on fueling processes and draft controls, etc. The installation of variable frequency drives on the motors let them run at half speed, producing a much-anticipated electrical energy savings. When the conversation turned to the actual burners, Frank asked Rey to take a leap of faith.

American Combustion Service, Inc. is one of only a handful of companies currently using a new boiler burner technology, and they have had great results with it. Prior to acquiring the Hinsdale project, Frank was working in a prominent building in downtown Chicago, installing new boilers and burners.

Prior to starting that job, the building owners had been on a business trip in Canada to inspect the manufacturing of the boilers that they just purchased. While on that trip, they were introduced to a burner company named Weishaupt. After touring their facility and observing a demonstration of the burner’s firing capabilities, they were sold on its performance! They informed Frank that this was the burner that they wanted installed on their new burners. Not familiar with this particular burner, but complying with what the customer wanted, Frank hid his trepidation and installed the burners.

“ It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Frank told me. “With the name of our company...AMERICAN Combustion Service, Inc., we have never endorsed or recommended any foreign products to our clients...until we came across the Weishaupt burner.” American Combustion Service, Inc. has been installing these burners for the last four years with proven success.

The high pressure boilers at Hinsdale Hospital are of two different kinds. The smaller of the two is a fire tube Scotch Marine boiler rated at 350 HP. The larger boiler is a “D” type water tube boiler, rated at 40,000 lb./hr steaming capacity. Each burner needed to be fitted for the type of boiler it was being used in.

One of the unique aspects of the Weishaupt burner is that it is built for each individual application. Each burner is developed specifically for the boiler it is being used in. For the larger boiler, a special firing head was engineered so that the flame fits that particular firebox. Each Weishaupt burner utilizes an internal movable firing head, in relation to the firing rate demand of the boiler. This movable firing head allows for exceptional fuel/air mixing and higher “turn down” capabilities.

In addition, Rey saw other benefits with this burner technology. The new burners give off a low NOx level, which also fits in well with the new “green” movement going on.

The duel fuel firing capabilities can switch the boiler from natural gas to a No. 2 fuel oil for emergency backups. This is accomplished with the simple flip of a switch, unlike the old procedure which took as long as 30 minutes to get up and running.

The total project time from start to finish was six months. Rey could not be happier with the results. His calculation for actual energy savings runs around 9.3%, much higher than the 6.2% quoted by Frank.

I remembered that Rey had told us that the water tubes in the boiler were in good condition for the age of the boilers and inquired as to how this was accomplished. He told us that another long-time supporter of the Chief Engineers, Nalco Chemical, has helped considerably in their water treatment plan. Savings have been seen in several areas. By utilizing a total control package, Nalco has been able to increase the reliability and efficiency of the system while reducing the number of man-hours necessary for chemical handling, testing and maintenance. This has allowed for significant savings in many areas.

So what does the future hold for Reynaldo and the Facilities Department at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital? “Boiler number 3,” answered Rey. “That’s the next project in our ongoing effort for maximum energy conservation.” And I have no doubt that Frank Lacny and the staff at American Combustion Service, Inc., will be right beside him as the project continues.

Any inquiries to potential energy savings for an existing boiler and burner combination can be addressed to Frank M. Lacny at American Combustion Service, Inc. He can be contacted at 773.737.9200 or email flacny@ACSIgroup.com. You can also visit the company website at www.ACSIgroup.com.

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