Maxson Admin building furnace room
When the new Maxson admin building was built in 2024, there was a problem with the design of the heating system. Historically, electric heaters had been used, and no natural gas lines came to the site. It was intended that the new design use electric heaters as well. However, a stock building design was used, which specified a natural gas furnace room. Through a lack of oversight, this component of the design was erroneously approved. Now, natural gas lines have been run to the new admin building, to feed the natural gas furnaces.
The key issue is that natural gas furnaces require airflow. To allow for airflow, there is a west-facing window, with a louver and mesh screen, open to the atmosphere. This window allows for ingress of Hydrogen sulfide gas, which causes corrosion of the copper pipes in the furnace room. Once the gas is in the furnace room, it is also able to travel into areas such as the operations control room and the PLC rack room. The PLC rack room is full of fine electronic components, for sensing and controlling the plant, as a part of the Emerson Ovation system.
We do not want this corrosion to cause expensive damage to any components within the admin building. Ergo, it would be prudent to
If we do not filter the furnace room window, the equipment within the furnace room is likely to fail within 36 months. Sources: Gary Garrison, Mike Brower, Henry Nakayama.
Solutions:
On 2025 01-January 27, Mike Brower suggested that I circle back to Gary Garrison about choosing and ordering a equipment/Purafil unit. Typically this would be handled through the maintenance manager Mars, who is currently on vacation.
To mitigate the Hydrogen sulfide issue after the building was build, Manufacturers/Allen Air air filtration units were distributed throughout the building, within proximity to key components of the Emerson Ovation system.
Photo of the window, one of the Lenox furnaces, and a Powerex unit. Notice the black corrosion on the copper pipes above the Powerex unit. 
