Solving Commercial Heating Challenges in Healthcare

Healthcare facilities often need to employ complex mechanical systems, whether to achieve sustainability goals, meet code or licensing agreements, or both. These standards often dictate healthcare facilities’ air flow rates, temperature, and humidity specifications, and require sophisticated mechanical systems. Commercial propane systems such as furnaces, boilers, and appliances can help solve these operational challenges for construction and design professionals, especially when natural gas isn’t available. As demand for buildable land continues to grow and utility-ready inventory dwindles, propane provides viable options for complex mechanical designs in critical facilities like hospitals.

Lakeway Regional Medical Center in Lakeway, Texas, opened in 2012 with 106 beds and quickly became a go-to healthcare destination for Hill Country communities. But the facility has always had growth in mind and was designed to scale. “When it was laid out, the footprint was set up so it can expand to 300 beds with the addition of a north tower onto our existing facility,” says Silas Powell, Lakeway Regional’s director of support services. But the foundation for a mechanical system that could support this vision needed to be put in place from the beginning.

The hospital’s primary space heating, water heating, and cooling are provided by three chillers (along with three cooling towers) and two Templifiers, which are essentially large heat pump water heaters. Lakeway Regional also required a backup boiler system for when one of the Templifiers was down for service or when the weather was particularly cold. The hospital’s location in Texas Hill Country made it in accessible to the natural gas grid, so propane was an ideal fit to fuel the boiler. “To me, it’s more cost-effective, and it’s a very reliable system to have in place,” Powell says. This system will also be easy and cost-effective to scale as the hospital expands.

Propane also fuels cooking equipment such as stoves and ovens in Lakeway Regional’s large commercial kitchen. “In a commercial kitchen, gas is the preferred method of cooking,” Powell says, “I don’t know any commercial kitchens I’ve been in that tried doing it on electric.”

The efficient use of propane powered systems helped Lakeway Regional earn LEED Silver certification and a challenging 3-star rating in the Austin Green Building program. And although the natural gas grid is getting closer to the hospital’s location, Powell says he isn’t likely to make the switch. “Honestly, we’re satisfied enough with using propane that I don’t know if it would be worth the hassle of piping and bringing that in,” he says.