Applications Radiant Heated Helipad The earliest recorded use of air transport to get trauma victims to medical treatment occurred in 1870, by means of hot air balloons. Wounded soldiers were air-lifted from the front to medical care during the siege of Paris in the Franco-Prussian War. Today, medevac helicopters have twin jet engines, terrain awareness systems, on-board weather radar, night vision technology and a plethora of life saving, high-tech medical equipment. Yet, one facet of the challenge remains the same: winter weather. For the birds WellSpan York Hospital, located in south central Pennsylvania, is one of the only Level One regional resource trauma centers in the surrounding counties. The hospital built a new, cuttingedge helipad as part of an ongoing $50 million modernization of its emergency department, improving the hospital’s ability to administer advanced, lifesaving specialty care to the region’s sickest and most seriously injured patients. Ice and snow accumulations on flat helicopter pads can pose great risk. “There’s an art to maintaining just the right degree of heat within a concrete by Rachel Ruhl, Common Ground helicopter pad to ensure that it’s free of ice and snow—which can temporarily blind pilots at a time when they’re most vulnerable,” said Dave Yates, President of York, PA-based F. W. Behler, Inc. The hospital’s elevated helicopter pad is 34 feet off the ground and measures 7,200 sq. ft.—more than 3,000 sq. ft. larger than the hospital’s old helipad. The early pad required larger “birds” to land at an alternate location where ambulances would meet them to complete the patient’s transport to the hospital. “In trauma care, every second counts and this helipad will enable us to provide care even sooner to our most seriously injured patients,” said Keith Noll, President of WellSpan York Hospital and Senior Vice President of WellSpan Health. Snow & ice? No problem Maintaining York Hospital’s new helipad in the winter months is now simple, thanks to its automatic snowmelt system with three miles of snowmelt tubing installed beneath the surface to keep snow and ice from accumulating. One of the oldest mechanical contracting firms in the area, James Craft & Son, founded in 1900, is the lead mechanical contracting firm for the ongoing HVAC and plumbing renovations at York Hospital. The company installed the steam, condensate, heat exchangers, pumps and distribution piping to all manifolds. Jeff Ream, the Project Manager, chose to subcontract the helipad project to Yates’ firm, well-recognized regionally for its hydronic, radiant heat and snowmelt expertise. F.W. Behler, Inc. is the other oldest mechanical contracting firm in the area (also founded in 1900) and under Yates’ guidance, the firm has undertaken hundreds of radiant heat and snowmelt jobs through the years. Yates feeds PEX to one Behler Crew while Behler team #2 Carl Einsig and Larry Lawrence work on other helipad PEX loops in background. At the hospital, the project called for radiant snowmelt not only under the helipad, but also for an access road that was built after the old helipad was demolished. Cold weather project “Operation Helipad” required Yates and his crew to get the new launch pad up and running in the coldest of winter months. In fact, the winter of 2014/2015—when they needed to carefully monitor post-install surface temperatures for the first time—was a record-breaking winter for low temps and snowfall. “We knew from the outset, with work that began in the fall, that the first, most important part was to have a safe place for the helicopters to land as winter approached,” said Yates. More than 16,000 lineal feet of threequarter inch Watts Radiant Radiant- Justin D. & Ricky L. installing Watts PEX tubing in the emergency room access road Justin Dedrick and the rest of the crew members fought cold temperatures through much of the installation. 16 I CM/September/October 2016
ICM September-October 2016
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