The clean room shutdown for HEPA filter replacement and other important work has been pushed to DECEMBER 2022. We will NOT be shutting down either the cleanroom or 2nd and 3d floors this month !!
Sorry for late notice and the prior announcements and impact on your activities, this is the result of a week of assessment between contractors, project management, stake holders, and university management to minimize overall effect on Duffield occupants.
We know that many of you have worked feverishly during the last month to meet the previously announced shutdowns. We are sorry for that disruption, but we believe that this delay to December (on or about Dec 19th) best serves all our users.
It is planned that during this December 2022 shutdown the corroded acid exhaust duct which was not part of the original project will be replaced. However, if further examination indicates that this repair cannot wait we will need to briefly shutdown the cleanroom to replace the acid exhaust duct. We will communicate the status of this as soon as we have more information.
-Ron, Lynn, and Phil
The main purpose of this “Cleanroom HVAC Rehabilitation Project” is to rebuild and renew the rusted interior of the Makeup Air Handling Unit (MAU) -1 in an effort to extend its operating life and prevent a further unexpected shutdown of the cleanroom in the future. The rust and scale build up in the fan section of the air handler is due to the humidifiers' streams not being absorbed into the airstream efficiently. The age of the system and deterioration inside the fan section has reduced the life expectancy of the unit to less than 3 years prompting the need for this urgent preventative maintenance. Unfortunately delaying is not an option and an unexpected shutdown due to a catastrophic failure would be a longer downtime than a planned one.
During this maintenance period and to prevent future extended shutdowns, Maintenance Management and Energy and Sustainability will be using this downtime to optimally replace the HEPA filters which are 10 years past their recommended life and install a heat recovery system to reduce the system’s operating cost by reducing the system's heating and cooling load that will ensure optimal room environment conditions for the cleanroom and microscopy lab.
The CNF staff will be working with the contractor and facilities management to safeguard the cleanroom equipment and provide a speedy and efficient reopening of the cleanroom. We will keep you informed if anything changes.