Infrastructure Upgrades - HCA Florida South Shore Hospital

HCA Florida South Bay Hospital is a medical facility and ER offering healthcare services including cardiology and surgery. The facility relied on Henderson Building Solutions for the replacement of the hospital’s existing steam boilers and the associated equipment in the boiler plant. This project required a phased approach to ensure steam could continuously be supplied to the hospital throughout the duration of the project.

Henderson Building recommended removing the terminal unit reheat load from the steam plant and instead connecting the reheat load to a new high efficiency hot water plant consisting of two high efficiency 2 MMBtu condensing boilers. The existing steam-to-hot water heat exchanger was decommissioned and the hot water plant supply and return lines for the new hot water boilers were tied into the existing supply and return lines in the same location.

Two 80 HP Cleaver Brooks boilers were replaced with two 60 HP vertical fire-tube boilers. By removing the reheat load from the existing steam distribution system, the steam boilers could be downsized to serve the domestic hot water loop, the kitchen, and the sterilization department. Vertical fire-tube boilers were used to take up a smaller footprint than traditional horizontal fire-tube boilers. Additionally, vertical fire-tube boilers did not require a combination deaerator tank and surge tank. Only a surge tank was needed as part of the feedwater system

The project was originally scheduled to take two years but was completed in just over six months. The hot water boilers were replaced first, taking nearly two months to complete, followed by the steam boilers which took four weeks each. Since the work was completed in the central plant and not near patient rooms or operating rooms, challenges faced during this project were minimal and the hospital was able to stay online with little interruption.