Going Above and Beyond for Our Customers

We want to share another customer success story, that required our “above and beyond” customer service, to solve an issue that was threatening the successful completion of a major project for our customer.

The Chicago Botanic Garden needed a new radiant heat system installed in three of their existing, large Greenhouses:

• The Semi-tropical Greenhouse has average temperatures hover between 75- and 85-degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and the humidity is close to 30 percent.
• The Tropical Greenhouse has average temperatures between 85 and 95 degrees during the day and the humidity bumps up to close to 90 percent.
• The Arid Greenhouse where temperatures are hot and dry, around 80 degrees during the day, but can drop to 40 degrees at night and humidity is almost non-existent.

The Greenhouses have displayed hundreds of beautiful, fragrant and even rare plants from around the world, for more than 40 years. The Chicago Botanic Garden is also a popular attraction during the winter months, where visitors can go to continue to enjoy the greenery and dream about spring! The existing radiant heat system was old and inefficient so, it was important to get the new radiant heat system installed before the weather got cold, to keep the plants heated and healthy in their appropriate environment.

Radiant heat works great in a Greenhouse environment by supplying warm air to cold spaces, and distributing the heat evenly to keep the temperature levels stable for the plants.

Mechanical Equipment supplied our Sterling fin-tube product, model JVB S-24 for the project to our customer F.E. Moran, the installing contractor. The project was unique not only because of the sheer size of the space and amount of element and enclosure, but more so because per the design requirements, the aluminum enclosure was required to be anodized!

Sterling offers the industry’s most complete line of finned tube element and enclosure options whether for baseboard location or mounted anywhere else on a wall or ceiling.

Unexpected supply issues became a major concern, when the anodizing contractor, could not keep pace with the installation and the order was in jeopardy of not making the Garden’s deadline.

Our General Manager of Operations, Dean Powrozek jumped in to solve the issue and meet the customer’s deadline. We had Sterling bypass their anodizing contractor, and ship all of the enclosure to us. We sourced a local company to complete the anodizing in record time, and made deliveries as needed while storing the rest so it wouldn’t be damaged at the jobsite. We want to give a “shout-out” to Spectrum Aluminum Finishing. The job turned out beautifully. You should make a visit and enjoy the day at the Garden.

This job was a great example of having an issue arise from a place you least expect it. More importantly, it shows how the Mechanical Equipment team and Sterling, rises to the occasion and finds a way to solve problems and meet our customer’s needs.

If you have questions about finned tube enclosure or any other radiant heating systems, or if you have a challenging issue you need help with, give us a call. We are happy to utilize our decades of experience with customer service, to answer your questions and successfully complete your projects.