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View Full Version : School Pride: Ferris Granger Center



gschra11
09-19-2003, 05:54 PM
These pictures bring a whole new meaning to the phrase, "School Pride."

Pictured below is the brand new, state-of-the-art Granger Center for HVACR and Construction Engineering Technology at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, MI where I am going to school. The facility was expanded and renovated at the humble price tag of $18 million. The building features a number of different commercial and residential systems built right in so that students can study and work on several varieties of equipment that they will encounter in the field. As you will be able to see in the pics, much of the building is glass so that anybody who walks in can clearly see all of the plumbing, electrical, communication, and mechanical systems. All plumbing and ductwork is painted with color codes so that you can tell what does what. I'll give a description of each picture.

The first picture is one of the top-down views of the atrium. The main entryway into the building goes into the floor level down there. As you can see from this pic, everything that would normally be above ceiling tile is completely exposed and color-coded to show students what does what. Pipe labels, which are code, are clearly shown so that you can tell they need to be on there. Also, the architectural students can learn why they need 5 ft. of space above ceiling tiles.
http://www.imagewiz.net/images/hvactalk/176611_atrium1.jpg

This is another pic of the attrium. The four rooms pictured there are small labs. They have two climate-control systems. One of them was setup by teachers and the other, students. Teachers simulate a heating and cooling load, and students must use their DDC system to create an algorithim for the water valve on their system to stabilize the temperature in the room and keep it comfortable.
http://www.imagewiz.net/images/hvactalk/176612_atrium2.jpg

This shot is from the bottom of the atrium looking at the mechanical rooms. The wall is complely glass so that you can clearly see the chiller, steam-to-water heat exchanger, other systems, and how they are plumbed/connected. Kinda hard to tell through the glass, but all of the pipes are still color-coded in there to easily see how things are hooked up. The top mechanical room is the air handler room with VAV freq. drive systems.
http://www.imagewiz.net/images/hvactalk/176613_atrium3.jpg

This is a pic of one of four computer labs... in this instance, the controls lab. DDC control boxes are mounted on the wall all over the room (even on the other wall not pictured behind) for students in Controls class to learn how to connect, operate, and repair them. They are hard to see, but pnumatic air lines are right next to the boxes so small pnumatic labs can be setup here as well. It should be mentioned that all 4 labs have brand new Dell computers /w 17 in. flat panels and enough space for a single student to have his/her keyboard, architectual papers, and textbooks so that they can be working on engineering projects with enough space.
http://www.imagewiz.net/images/hvactalk/176614_controlslab.jpg

Looks like the thread is too big and some people can't read it so I'll split it up. See my second post. Hope this is ok Boss.

[Edited by gschra11 on 09-19-2003 at 11:48 PM]

Green Mountain
09-19-2003, 10:15 PM
Hey gs. I'm just trouble shooting here but I think you tried to post too much information on one post.

It was very interesting and I am firmilar with Ferris State's program. Try breaking up your post into several and we will be able to see it all. Good job on the report.

swat
09-19-2003, 11:47 PM
I wish there was a program like that here in Dallas. Man you guys up north in that area are so lucky. Take an advantage of it. :)

gschra11
09-19-2003, 11:50 PM
Originally posted by benncool
Hey gs. I'm just trouble shooting here but I think you tried to post too much information on one post.

[snip]

benncool... is that better?

sysint
09-20-2003, 08:27 AM
Originally posted by Bredain
I wish there was a program like that here in Dallas. Man you guys up north in that area are so lucky. Take an advantage of it. :) No offense, but it seems alot of your contractors don't really give a damn down there judging by the installs... If you guys get serious down there you will build it.

thero
09-22-2003, 01:16 PM
Originally posted by Bredain
I wish there was a program like that here in Dallas. Man you guys up north in that area are so lucky. Take an advantage of it. :)

Funny you should say that, I always thought that Doolins
Trade School was a main stay in HVAC there in Texas.

When I was going to school we were encouraged to buy Doolins Trouble Shooting Bible for reference.

Life is funny.

swat
09-22-2003, 11:03 PM
There is no levels of certification other than EPA and contractors so that is a large part of the problem here. If there were more education or field experience requirements then we might be able to finally get with the prgram.

And yes I jsut recently came across the Doolins bible. Great book and I am currently looking into their other materials and so forth. Never knew he had a tech school though. Would have been there already if I did.

aircooled53
09-23-2003, 08:47 PM
If you build it ,they will come to learn...........

timmay
09-24-2003, 02:27 PM
My school does't look that cool.

troyacguy
10-08-2003, 12:10 PM
only problem is there not going to run into a buch of brand new stuff on the job the school i went to we got contracts and did the work in the feild. new old you name we saw most of it.

gschra11
10-08-2003, 01:07 PM
We got old stuff too. Most of it is in the labs downstairs, which I didn't photograph because I was up to 8 pics already. The energy lab is new except for the dual-duct system so that we can perform energy-related calculations on it. It wasn't primarily made for service work like the units in the downstair's lab are setup for.