AIRSIDE / APPLIED / CONTROLS / SERVICE / SPECIAL SOLUTION / TOTAL SYSTEM / UNITARY

Case Study Mark Twain House Museum

EDUCATION / HEALTH CARE / LODGING / MANUFACTURING / OFFICE BUILDING / RETAIL / SPECIAL

Mark Twain House Museum

Project Objectives
The Mark Twain House museum and educational facility in Hartford, Connecticut, is one of the top tourist destinations in the state. In 2003, a 30,000 square foot museum facility was added to the original 1874 home and carriage house. As a historical facility that houses and exhibits numerous and priceless items from the life of author Samuel Clemens, it was critical that the Mark Twain House have the capability to precisely monitor and control the air quality in each room of the facility. Since school groups use the educational rooms in the museum wing frequently, indoor air quality was crucial in those rooms as well.

Ideal Relative Humidity (RH) Range

Competitor +/- 5% Carrier +/- 3%

Setpoint

Solution
The Mark Twain House had Carrier air handlers in place in the home and carriage house at the time of the construction of the new museum facility. The facilities staff expressed a preference for Carrier air handlers in the new wing because of their longstanding satisfaction with the performance and reliability of the existing units. Therefore, Carrier 39M AERO central station air handlers were installed in the new museum wing, and Carrier Comfort Network (CCN) controls with the ComfortVIEW operator interface were installed to operate both the existing and new air handlers in the museum wing, main home, and carriage house. The PC-based CCN controls enable the facilitys staff to monitor and adjust the temperature and humidity conditions in each separate area of the facility, a must for the preservation of invaluable artifacts as well as for the comfort of the fluctuating numbers of visitors.

Carrier 39M AERO central station air handlers maintain ideal humidity levels to preserve historic artifacts and keep visitors comfortable.

AIRSIDE / APPLIED / CONTROLS / SERVICE / SPECIAL SOLUTION / TOTAL SYSTEM / UNITARY

Case Study Mark Twain House Museum

Project Synopsis

continued

EDUCATION / HEALTH CARE / LODGING / MANUFACTURING / OFFICE BUILDING / RETAIL / SPECIAL

As a non-profit organization, we have to make every dollar count, so we appreciate the reliability of the air handlers and the ability to monitor them accurately with the ComfortVIEW interface."
Charles Orcutt, Deputy Director for Facilities at Mark Twain House

The Mark Twain House museum and educational facility in Hartford, Connecticut, is one of the top tourist destinations in the state, attracting 60,000 visitors a year, including families, scholars and school groups. The historic home is open for tours all year round, and the staff runs numerous educational programs on Twains writing, family life and literary circle. In 2003, a new wing, including a classroom and auditorium, was added to the original 1874 home and carriage house. The new premises were designed by AltieriSeborWieber of Norwalk, CT, to enable the museum to attain LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The Mark Twain House is the first LEED-certified museum in the nation. The LEED initiative was supported in part by a donation of funds and engineering expertise by United Technologies Corporation, Carriers parent company. AltieriSeborWieber specified five Carrier 39M AERO central station air handlers for the new museum wing, thanks in part to input from museum staff members on their satisfaction with the reliability and efficiency of existing Carrier air handlers in the home and carriage house. The 39M AERO central station air handler provides customizable advanced technology in an easy to install and maintain package. The systems humidifiers were a field-installed custom option, which provided advanced control of indoor air quality, a critical issue for a setting in which historic artifacts are preserved. With the installation of the new equipment, the museum took the opportunity to replace existing controls with Carrier Comfort Network controls. The Carrier Comfort Network ComfortVIEW software, with its easy to use operator interface, enabled the staff to keep humidity and temperature at desired levels in all regions of the house and museum wing, regardless of fluctuations in visitor traffic. The ComfortVIEW interface, by running simultaneously with other Windows-based applications, eliminates the need for a dedicated PC to monitor and adjust the air handlers. ComfortVIEW displays dynamic data and trend plotting, and allows users to create custom screens comprised of digital photos, 3-D equipment graphics and tables. These custom screens are troubleshooting time-savers that permit users to adjust operation of one unit and observe on the same screen how it affects the rest of the system. ComfortVIEW also enables the staff to configure operating parameters such as time schedules and set points, and to generate reports of operational data. Charles Orcutt, Deputy Director for Facilities at Mark Twain House commented, As a non-profit organization, we have to make every dollar count, so we appreciate the reliability of the air handlers and the ability to monitor them accurately with the ComfortVIEW interface. We can control humidity precisely, which is very important in the context of caring for valuable historic artifacts. The diagnostics allow me to see maintenance needs coming and address them before they can become a problem.

Project Summary
Location: Hartford, CT Building Age: 1874, 2003 Project Type: New Construction Building Type/Size: Historic Home and Museum Wing, 13,000 sq. ft. and 30,000 sq. ft. respectively Major Decision Drivers: Carrier air handlers chosen because of previous experience with reliable, high-performing Carrier units. Carrier Comfort Network controls used to replace competitors controls because of superior ease of use and ability to monitor and correct conditions in each area of the facility complex. Building Usage: Museum and educational facility HVAC Equipment: Carrier 39M AERO central station air handlers, Carrier Comfort Network controls Unique Features: Air handlers and controls together allow for detailed IAQ (indoor air quality) control in different parts of the museum and educational facility. Installation Date: 2003

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2008 Carrier Corporation 02/08 04-811-10211