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Daily
Herald
May 21
"Buildings tailored to Chicago's weather" |
Few
things are as unpredictable as springtime in Chicago.
For example, a 70-degree stretch in late March was followed
by a snow shower in early April on the Cubs' opening
day. For high-rise dwellers, Chicago's capricious climate
is a case in point for four-pipe heating and cooling
systems, which have the ability to run heat and air
conditioning simultaneously.
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However,
most of Chicago's residential high-rises don't have
four-pipe systems. Most are set up with less advanced
two-pipe systems, which deliver either heat or air-conditioning,
but not both. And in Chicago's schizophrenic months
of March, April and May and October thorough December,
that makes getting comfortable in your home a challenging
proposition.
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"Chicago is tailor-made for four-pipe heating and
cooling systems. The weather goes from one extreme to
the next and changes without notice," said Bob Horner,
co-principal of Winthrop Properties, which is currently
building two-condominium high-rises. "Unfortunately,
you don't see a lot of four-pipe systems in Chicago. It's
a cost issue for developers."
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But
for Horner, comfort is more important than cost, which
is why Winthrop Properties is including four-pipe heating
and cooling in both its Printers Corner development
in Printers Corner development in Printers Row and Winthrop
Club in downtown Evanston.
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Located
on the northeast corner of Polk and Wells streets, Printers
Corner includes 88 condominiums, all of which are corners
units. Floor plans offer one-, tow-, and three-plus
bedrooms with one to three baths, and range from 743
to 2,290 square feet. Base prices are from the $270,000s
to the $800,000s and deeded parking spaces are available
from $36,000.
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Winthrop
Club, located at 1567 Maple St., just south of David
Street, will offer 99 condominium residences with one
to three bedrooms and one to 3 1/2 baths, plus balconies
or oversized terraces. Homes are base-prices from $329,000
to $1,859,000 with parking included.
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The whole two-pipe/four-pipe debate is probably news to
a lot of Chicagoans who don't give much thought to how
their homes are heated and cooled. "With all of the
trendy features in today's condos, mechanical systems
often take a back seat in people's purchase decision,"
said Mike DeRouin, AIA CSI, associate principal of Fitzgerald
Associates Architects in Chicago, the architect for both
buildings. "But in Chicago especially, heating, venting
and air conditioning is something that affects you every
single day."
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While
most single-family residences and smaller condo buildings
use individual furnaces and A/C units to heat and cool
the home, larger buildings such as high-rise use water-based
central heating and cooling systems that fall into two
categories: two-pipe and four-pipe. The pies carry water
from the central boiler or chiller to fan coil units
inside each residence. The fan blows air across the
hot or cold water delivering heat or air conditioning
to the home.
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In two-pipe systems, there is one supply pie and one return
pipe to carry the water to and from the fan coil units.
Therefore, this system can only deliver either hot water
or cold water, and, as a result, on only heat or air conditioning.
But it can't delivery both at the same time. In these buildings,
the boiler usually operates from mid October to April or
May when it's shut down and the chiller takes over. |
With a four-pipe system, there are two supply pipes and
two return pipes. So the system can deliver both hot and
cold water on demand. Ant these buildings, the boiler and
the chiller usually run simultaneously when the seasons
are transitioning from fall to winter and from spring to
summer. |
Why would anyone need heat and air-conditioning simultaneously?
Think about the month of April, for example, when the mercy
can reach at least 65 degrees. The building engineer is
the two-pipe building may not have turned on the chiller.
If your live in a south-facing one-bedroom with a wall of
floor-to-ceiling windows, 65 degrees can easily feel like
75 or 80. |
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Copyright Daily Herald, Paddock Publications, Inc. |
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