Truck hauls a heat exchanger through campus — One of three heat exchangers received from Stanford. These amalgamations of pipes and tanks will allow our campus to take advantage of our new hot-water-pipe infrastructure sooner than we otherwise could. Learn more below.

Steampunk-style Delivery from Stanford Prepares Campus for Big Shift

by Scout Mata
December 09, 2020

In mid-November a crane carried an amalgamation of pipes and tanks, approximately the size of a semi-truck, into the air then down into an unassuming, temporary building just off California Avenue. This impressive piece of machinery is a heat exchanger and a crucial piece of the Big Shift puzzle.

What is the Big Shift?

The Big Shift is a multi-year project to update the old, inefficient infrastructure that currently supports our building's heating systems, and ultimately moves our campus toward meeting the UC’s carbon neutrality initiative.

Long, story short, we currently use steam — created by heating water with natural gas — to heat our buildings. Instead, our campus chose to get away from the use of carbon-emitting natural gas and heat our buildings with hot water, created with green-energy-produced electricity. A project of this scale, which involves miles of trenches, dozens of buildings and tens of millions of dollars, can only be done in phases.

Breaking it down

“Switching the entire campus from steam to hot water at once just isn’t feasible. By dividing Big Shift construction into several parts, we can minimize the disruption to campus and align the project with available funding,” said Ardie Dehghani, campus engineer with Design and Construction Management (DCM).

Crane lifts heat Big Shift heat exchanger — A crane lifts a heat exchanger into a temporary building near the intersection of California Ave and North Quad.

Big Shift construction will take place district by district over several years as systems deteriorate and need to be replaced. The project began in the Quad District earlier this year.

Once construction in this district is complete it will be ready to switch the source of its buildings’ heat from steam to hot water, but how? We still have many buildings that require steam heat. The Central Heating and Cooling Plant can only switch from producing steam to producing hot water for the entire campus once every single district has been outfitted with the updated hot water infrastructure.

Why we need heat exchangers

This is where heat exchangers come in. Heat exchangers convert the steam generated in the central plant to hot water, which can then be used to heat completed districts.

“If we didn’t have heat exchangers, the pipes we are laying in the Quad District would go unused for years,” Dan Golde, project manager with DCM, said. “Heat exchangers are an essential part of the Big Shift construction plan.”

Our heat exchangers come from Stanford — who underwent a similar shift a few years ago. The first exchanger was installed in a temporary building near Wickson Hall. This heat exchanger, along with two others slated for installation at the Central Heating and Cooling Plant, will allow engineers to switch the Quad District (and other future districts) to hot water heating once construction is complete. During this intermediary stage, heating will still ultimately be steam-reliant, however heat exchangers allow for an immediate decrease in our natural gas use and carbon output.

“Once we’re able to heat buildings with hot water in the Quad District, we’ll be on our way to implementing a key solution in our Climate Action Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and begin a transition from natural gas use” Camille Kirk, director of UC Davis Sustainability said.

While the exchangers are important, they’re also temporary by design. Once all the districts have been updated and the Central Heating and Cooling Plant (CHCP) begins producing the hot water needed by our largest, CHCP-connected buildings, the heat exchangers will be decommissioned or kept at the CHCP as a backup. An important step toward this goal will be taken in early 2022, when the first phase of the Big Shift comes to a close and the heat exchangers are put to use.

Planning future districts

Studies are wrapping up with the university and our consulting engineering team to finalize recommendations for the next district for conversion to hot water.

“There are many factors, like need and available funding that we are currently weighing to ensure we make the best next step for the campus and the project,” Dehghani said.

To keep up with construction progress, project developments and information on subsequent Big Shift phases, visit the Big Shift website and sign up for the Big Shift newsletter.