Believing in the simple idea that healthy lungs equals healthy minds, Jay Castino of JJC Engineering is helping to breathe new life into the tired ventilation systems at Madras Primary School.
Based out of Bend, JJC is a mechanical engineering and consulting firm specializing in providing building systems design for commercial buildings.
His current project is with the Jefferson County School District in Madras where he’s installing an energy efficiency HVAC retrofit for the Madras Primary School. They began in March of 2012 and is expected to be completed at the end of October for an estimated $650K construction cost.
“The firm started back in 20005 when I got my professional engineering license and they were tearing up dirt everywhere in Central Oregon and decided to go out on my own,” said Castino. “I had been around the construction world all my life. My dad, Jim Castino, was an architect and a construction project manager.”
Castino grew up in Washington in the soggy southern Puget Sound area and moved out to Bend in 2001 for a job at Idatech, a product manufacturer for hydrogen fuel cell systems.
“It was very interesting work there and I really liked it,” he said. “The big market was for radiant heat systems for multi-family homes and apartment complexes in Europe, replacing the normal boiler with the fuel cell which produces electricity and useful heat as a by-product.”
From there, Castino made the transition from the industrial process arena to the construction world, getting exposure and experience assisted by his dad.
Quickly building good relationships with regional mechanical contractors doing HVAC system design, plumbing system design and fire sprinkler systems, Castino developed a solid reputation as a dependable new force in the industry and his client roster predictably grew.
“I’m the prime consultant and the mechanical engineer on the Madras school job,” he explained. “Responsible for all the design of the retrofit, project management of the design which incorporated both electrical and structural engineering disciplines and providing bidding and negotiation phase services.”
Such a smooth operation doesn’t emerge without the cooperative integration of many entities all pooling their talents and resources.
“There was the general contractor, Sunwest Builders, and the mechanical contractors was Quality Heating, both in Redmond. The electrical contractor was Elite Electric based in Bend. I also had two sub-consultants on the design end, Paradigm Engineers and LB Engineering. I also had help from my father’s company, Castino Architecture, who did the architectural scope of the design.
“The whole point of this project was to help the school district drastically cut its energy waste. We removed an ancient steam boiler system that was originally installed in 1939. It worked but it was terribly inefficient. We replaced it with unitary split system furnaces with air conditioning.”
Some of the challenges arose in the building’s HVAC retrofit design process, and one of them was that the school required an as-built survey to establish where gaps in code compliance needed to be addressed, especially with respect to HVAC related fire/life safety. The building’s steep double-pitch roof didn’t immediately lend itself as a good fit for an HVAC retrofit entirely composed of RTU’s.
JJC Engineering’s creative solution was to design the retrofit using multiple furnaces, since they could be easily placed within the existing attic space and not require any structural modifications to the roof. The modernized building environmental controls now feature Ecobee wi-fi enabled thermostats providing 90 percent of DDC system capabilities for ten percent of the cost.
“It was an old school,” he said. “Most of the hallways and exit corridors were operated with fire sprinklers and rolling fire doors but were otherwise unrated at the ceiling and walls. That means that code compliance was largely discretionary. We had to note and document everything to mitigate the potential for “unforeseen discoveries” which could occur during construction and drive up the costs.”
JJC Engineering worked proactively with the local jurisdiction, in response to this project’s special requirements, in order to establish the discretionary criteria of code requirements that the county building officials would need.
Castino cooperated constructively between all parties to keep the budget manageable without limiting the much-needed environmental comfort upgrade of the antiquated system for all 22 classrooms, kitchen, library, staff offices, gymnasium and cafeteria. He looks forward to an on time and under budget substantial completion at the end of October.
“I felt privileged to be part of the whole project and appreciated working with the general contractor and the mechanical contractors,” said Castino. “They made me look good and everything went smoothly. Thanks too to the entire Jefferson Country Building Department, those guys, Chet Singleton and Bill Watts, were great to work with and also Redmond’s Parazoo Plumbing. I’m looking forward to future projects.
“And it was also a pleasure to do business Angus Eastwood, the project manager for the school district who was hired on as a consultant by the Jefferson County School District. It was good to have his personality on the project. He’s a very direct, no bull guy and I really liked his assertive project management style. The entire team made my job so much easier.”
JJC Engineering, 70 SW Century Dr. Suite 100-156, Bend. 541-728-3624, visit www.jjceng.com.
