Rancho San Diego, CA

Cuyamaca Community College

To help a community college meet increasing campus water demands, we upgraded their central utility plant.

Equipment room view of a central utility plant upgrade

Value Delivered

To help upgrade Cuyamaca Community College’s central utility plant, University Mechanical & Engineering Contractors, Inc. (UMEC–CA) replaced chillers, towers, boilers, and piping. 

We were able to apply our engineering expertise to provide a seamless switchover of utilities among the original, temporary, and final central plant once the renovation was complete.

Client Objectives

The client needed to upgrade their central utility plant to support increasing campus demand for chilled water and heating hot water.

Solutions

Our solutions included replacing two 350-ton chillers, two 350-ton cooling towers, and three 3,000-MBH heating hot water boilers with:

  • One 500-ton high-efficiency chiller
  • Two 500-ton cooling towers
  • Three high-efficiency boilers

Additionally, we:

  • Provided refrigeration of chilled water distribution to accommodate the new equipment arrangement
  • Upgraded their 10-inch-diameter underground main chilled water piping header at the central plant to 14-inch diameter pipe
  • Installed booster pumps and control valves at air handling units throughout their campus

Client Background

Cuyamaca College is a public community college in Rancho San Diego, California. It is part of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District and the California Community Colleges System.