When every second counts, there’s no time to waste clearing snow or ice. That’s why the team at Boston MedFlight decided
to install snowmelt products at its new headquarters and operations center at Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachusetts.
Viega got the call for snowmelt and radiant heating products that are used inside the hangar and building. In fact, Viega’s Climate Mats, preconstructed rolls of radiant tubing that make large projects quicker and easier, were used – and that was a first in Massachusetts.
CSI Engineers worked on the $17 million Boston MedFlight project, which included the 20,000-square-foot hangar.
Jason Churches was the engineer for the project design and had previous experience with Viega (particularly ProPress products).
His local Viega Technical Managers suggested Climate Mat.
Because the hangar and outside area for the helipad for Boston MedFlight’s helicopters were fairly square in size, Climate Mat was simple to execute and easy to work with. Mike Bafaro, Vice President for J.J. Bafaro Mechanical Contractors, who worked on the project, said although they’d done radiant projects before, none were to this large of a scale, and they’d never used a product like Viega’s Climate Mat.
“Certainly now, watching the install and seeing the labor savings, we would definitely use the product again. It worked great, the installers loved it and we would not hesitate to use it again,” Bafaro said.
While radiant products indoors keep the temperature in the hangar comfortable for workers, the snowmelt products
outside are what really shine. For a medical nonprofit organization like Boston MedFlight, snowmelt wasn’t just a perk. It was a necessity.
“Everyone wants to do snowmelt until they often realize that it might be cost prohibitive,” said Churches. “But with this being a life safety point, it’s a no brainer. If you can’t get a plane or helicopter out because of snow, that’s a problem. And you can’t put things like rock salt on a helipad. Snowmelt just makes sense.”
Nearly 21,000 square feet of radiant was installed, including 18,000 square feet in the main hangar, done with Viega Climate Mat. There is nearly 10,000 square feet of snowmelt, most of it in front of the main hangar doors. There are nine Viega mixing stations with actuators (one for each manifold for the radiant system). Viega ProPress products were also used for plumbing within the facility.
