LAARS products, including the 95-plus percent thermal efficient NeoTherm boiler, are now available from Metropolitan.

 
Metropolitan Industries is pleased to announce it has reached mutual agreements with LAARS Heating Systems Company and M&G DuraVent on the representation and distribution of the LAARS and DuraVent product lines. Metropolitan will represent LAARS in northwest Indiana, northern and central Illinois, and all of Missouri.

A subsidiary of the Bradford White Corporation, LAARS specializes in high-efficiency residential and commercial boilers, combination boilers, water heaters and pool heaters. LAARS offers a full line of residential and commercial products designed to fit a variety of applications.

A member of the M&G Group, DuraVent has consistently been recognized as innovators in the venting industry. DuraVent venting products and related accessories are engineered to provide safe and high-quality performances in residential and commercial uses.

“The partnerships we have established with both LAARS Heating Systems Company and DuraVent illustrate our dedication to expanding our capabilities to serve more diverse customer needs than ever before,” said John Kochan Jr., President of Metropolitan Industries. “Both LAARS and DuraVent have displayed a strong commitment to adjusting to industry standards to ultimately provide technologically-advanced and superior equipment. We believe these partnerships with benefit all involved in the short and long-term futures.”

Our expertise in mechanical heating equipment allows us to manufacture sophisticated equipment packages including heat transfer systems.

 
At Metropolitan Industries, broadening our horizons has never been a foreign concept.

Over the past year, we’ve partnered with new businesses and added new team members to enhance our ever-growing services and capabilities.

Perhaps nothing is more reflective of our commitment to meeting the highest of industry standards and adapting to serve the most complex needs of our customers than the expansion of our commercial division.

Due in large part to the division’s expansion, Metropolitan Industries is now equipped with the sales, service, engineering and fabrication prowess to serve a wide range of mechanical heating applications.

A case study depicting one of our many new abilities can be portrayed by a project completed for a local educational institution. Faced with an aging steam bundle used to heat a domestic hot water storage tank, the customer and project contractor turned to Metropolitan for a specialized solution of engineering and supplementation of equipment.

“We were contacted by the project contractor to supply a replacement steam bundle to be used in a tank heater application, which is primarily used during the winter months and provides domestic hot water to the institution’s athletic center, and food and sciences building,” said Metropolitan mechanical salesperson Mike Temes. “Because this storage tank fed two very critical facilities, it was imperative that the replacement steam bundle be sized accordingly to meet the domestic water demand.”

In order to supply the solution most resourcefully, Metropolitan conducted a field visit to appropriately size the steam bundle to be placed in the domestic hot water storage tank. Temes said Metropolitan’s engineering expertise played a decisive role in not only supplying the correctly-sized heat exchangers, but doing so while minimizing the time associated with delivery and installation.

“During the field visit, our engineering division was able to acquire all of the information needed to properly size the steam bundle without having shut down the system, drain the domestic hot water tank, and remove the existing steam bundle,” said Temes. “This radically reduces the time typically spent with the replacement of steam bundles. This was advantageous for our customer not only because the new steam bundle was needed quickly, but also because additional funds related to the labor required to remove the existing steam bundle twice were not incurred.”

Temes said the domestic hot water storage tank required only one day of shutdown for installation and that the new steam bundle transitioned into the domestic hot water storage tank with little to no manipulation.

At Metropolitan it is always of absolute priority to provide our customers with equipment that meets all specifications and industry standards. In supplying the custom-sized steam bundle, Temes said this case was no different.

“Many times, customers seeking to replace heat exchangers that have aged 25 or 30 years may not be aware of state codes that have been implemented since the existing heat exchangers were last installed,” said Temes. “It’s not always as simple as replacing existing steam bundles with new models of the previous kind utilized. At Metropolitan, we consider it a commitment to our customers to monitor all industry standards to ensure all equipment we supply is approved by any and all engineering criteria, and delivers peak performance at a competitive price.”

Metropolitan provides shell and tube heat exchangers that can be customized for a number of applications including domestic hot water, process heating and cooling, condensers, heat recovery, steam to water, water to water, and more. Single and double wall configurations are available in materials including copper, 90/10 cupro-nickel, 304/316SS, carbon steel and specialty metals.

An additional related offering is our plate and frame heat exchangers, which can be designed in multiple configurations for applications including HVAC, domestic hot water, chillers, milk processing pasteurization, domestic heating, brewing, heat recovery, and more. Single and double wall configurations, wide-gap plate designs, and brazed and welded plates are available.

Customized shell and tube heat exchangers are now available from Metropolitan Industries.

 
In conjunction with our engineering, service and fabrication departments, Temes said the mechanical heating proficiency Metropolitan has acquired will allow us to design, manufacture, and provide innovative and multifaceted mechanical heating equipment to new bases of customers.

“Because we have so many exceptional capacities under one roof, the amount and type of intricate mechanical equipment we can now produce as single-source suppliers is nearly limitless,” said Temes. “From heat transfer systems to boiler feed systems, we guarantee our customers will receive the very most out of their mechanical heating systems.”

For more information, please contact Mike Temes at 815-886-9200, ext. 252 or sales@metropolitanind.com.

Various examples of our patented load sharing technology being used in complex pumping situations.

 
Metropolitan Industries Inc. is proud to announce that the company has been issued a system and method patent by the U. S. Patent Office (No. US 8,180,496 B2) which will allow dissimilar variable speed pumps to be controlled in a way never before possible. We have elected to market our programmable logic control systems utilizing this technology by using the term “load sharing.”

The development of load sharing should be very welcome news to anyone attempting to operate any liquid transfer or pressurization system through the use of dissimilar pumps or other challenging hydraulic scenarios. The load sharing process allows Metropolitan to manufacture specialized variable speed control systems for pumping applications which have multiple dissimilar pumps or pumps which need to operate together under varying hydraulic conditions.

Load sharing will eliminate conditions during which one or more pumps operate under high or extremely high energy load conditions, while other pumps within the system are extremely under loaded electrically. These operating conditions are undesirable because they typically cause the pumps to operate well outside of their zone of peak hydraulic efficiency. Load sharing, in essence, is a way of ensuring that all dissimilar pumps within a system tend to operate at peak hydraulic efficiency, regardless of the hydraulic load of the process they are feeding, the hydraulic conditions under which they are operating, and the varying load profile of each pump.

Load sharing defined:

Load sharing is a dynamically-equalizing process by which two or more dissimilar pumps, with dissimilar hydraulic characteristics or operating under dissimilar hydraulic conditions, are operated in unison to accomplish a common task, while drawing a commonality of electrical energy proportional to their individual load characteristics. The process is dynamic because the electrical power load of each pump on the system is continuously compared to the maximum load of the unit. In addition, the electrical power load of each individual pump is also continuously adjusted in proportion to each of the other units, so that the percent load of each unit is proportionally matched by all other units. As such, each of the pumps on the system will very likely operate at rotating speeds which differ from one unit to the next, while attaining the exact same desired set point task.

Common task clarified:

The grouping of pumps must be programmed to accomplish the same set point task, whether the task is to maintain a common line pressure, maintain a common outlet temperature, maintain a common pumped water elevation or, in some instances, a combination of two of these tasks.

Commonality of proportional energy explored:

The load sharing program will adjust the speed of each pump individually while maintaining the common task set point(s), so that the power load (or kilowatt consumption) of each pump in the group is proportional to the load of all pumps in the group.

Example scenario: One 20 HP pump will operate at 10 BHP, while two 60 HP pumps each operate at 30 BHP. In this scenario, each pump in the system operates at 50 percent of its peak load. This process dynamically and continuously varies proportionally, as the demands of the pumped process changes.

Real world examples:

The load sharing process we’ve patented is designed to be very flexible, allowing the technology to be adapted to a variety of applications. The technology will provide us with the unique ability to tackle some of the most challenging hydraulic scenarios in the markets and industries we serve.

Our load sharing program being used in a commercial building application.

 
Multiple pumps with dissimilar flow capabilities:

One or more smaller jockey pumps (or lead pumps) can operate with one or more larger duty pumps (or lag pumps). Possible examples would be a water pressure booster system for a large commercial building or, potentially, a municipal water pumping station. Pumps of various rated flows can work together, each with a shared proportion of their rated horsepower.

Multiple pumps with dissimilar performance characteristics:

One or more pumps with “steep” curve characteristics can operate with one or more pumps with “flat” curve characteristics. This is the perfect process control in a scenario where one or more multi-stage pumps need to operate in conjunction with one or more single-stage pumps.

Multiple pumps, at different geographic locations, feeding a common process:

A municipal pumping station at the east end of town can operate in unison with another pump station at the west end of town. Load sharing is a great solution, especially if the pump stations are at different elevations. Managing this type of application is also enhanced if the water main friction loss profiles are also very different at each end of town.

Multiple pumps, with different suction pressures, feeding a common process:

An exceptionally difficult process-control scenario can be overcome with relative ease. A municipal pumping application, including two or more gravity tanks at varying elevations, feeding a multiple pump system, with a single set point pressure, is an excellent application for load sharing technology.

Multiple pumps with dissimilar motor sizes:

By the nature of the pumps described, many of the scenarios mentioned above will inherently include pumps with various motor sizes. Load sharing will allow all of these systems to operate at their proportionally equal power load, which in itself will tend to ensure operation within the peak efficiency range of their individual performance curves.

Make no mistake: This process program is extremely unique and will be a very valuable asset to our clients while operating their most challenging pumping applications.

For more information regarding load sharing and any potential projects which may benefit from the process, please contact Metropolitan Industries senior systems engineer Brendan Bates at 800-323-1665 or sales@metropolitanind.com.

Faced with a flooded below ground pump station, the village of Chicago Ridge, Ill. looked to Metropolitan Industries for an emergency solution.

 
Confined space entry presents significant hazards to municipalities working with below ground pump stations.

The flooding of below grade stations can lead to an emergency service call and cause catastrophic damage of system equipment, often costing owners greatly for expedited repair or even replacement.

More importantly, confined spaces present health threats to entrants. Atmospheric conditions such as lack of oxygen, dense gases and additional dangers force operators to follow stringent guidelines when entering confined spaces to ensure adverse health consequences are avoided.

At Metropolitan, we believe upgrading below ground pump stations with above grade solutions most effectively protects both the investment of systems and the lives of equipment operators.
While eliminating confined space entry entirely should be the end goal, our above grade solutions can significantly reduce the frequency workers must enter confined spaces. With a comprehensive submersible pump retrofit, the need to enter confined spaces can be completely eliminated.

An illustration of our ability to retrofit below ground pump stations can be demonstrated by the work done in the village of Chicago Ridge, Ill. Faced with severely damaged system equipment, including pumps and controls due to a below ground vault flood, the village turned to Metropolitan to provide a quick solution.

“During a heavy rain event, a sump pump situated in the pump station’s dry pit malfunctioned allowing sewage to flow from the wet well to the dry well, causing the dry well to flood,” said Metropolitan municipal salesperson Keith Girup. “Unfortunately, due to the dry well flooding, the customer’s investment, including pumps, controls and power distribution equipment, was completely submerged underwater and caused irreparable damage. An immediate emergency retrofit solution was required.”

In order to get the pump station up and running in an accelerated fashion, the village elected to bake dry the pump motors, which were eventually placed back into the below ground station. To reduce the occurrence of entering the below ground confined space and protect the investment of system controls, Metropolitan supplied the village with an above grade control traffic box.

Included with the traffic box package was Metropolitan’s new LMS II level management system. Completely off the shelf and designed to provide customers with vital SCADA features at a cost-effective price, the LMS II control package played a key role in supplying the village with a prompt solution.

Developed by Metropolitan’s research and development team, the LMS II is a menu-configurable, constant speed pump down level controller, allowing one to three pumps, single/dual level transducers, 0-20 mA flow meter input, and a completely redundant float backup controller. Seal fails and thermal inputs are available by default.

Metropolitan’s new LMS II level management system contains a standard program to cover nearly all lift station applications.

 
The LMS II can be accessed directly at a lift station on its easy-to-use color touch screen interface or controlled remotely via a laptop. With the inclusion of an internet connection or cell modem, and Metropolitan’s MetroMail™ alarm-dialing system, users can receive alarm notification via any SMS text or email compatible device.

“In developing the LMS II, our goal was to create a standard program with options that covered 90 percent of all lift station applications,” said Metropolitan research and development manager Wayne Barkley. “This program gives us a systematic solution to designing lift station controls, eliminating much of the excessive labor associated with the design, engineering and programming of controls. Right out of the box, this system can serve many stormwater and sanitary stations with one program.”

Girup said the LMS II can fit a variety of lift station uses and is especially advantageous for consumers who seek to one day implement a master SCADA or building automation system. The LMS II can also be used in commercial applications.

“Each LMS II unit can be defined as a distributed SCADA system, providing substantial benefits to owners who may have plans to one day build a centralized SCADA system with master computer,” said Girup. “The LMS II has the capability to communicate with owners via email and/or text message, and can also be viewed via the internet for current system information, as well as historical data trends. The LMS II allows for a phased distributed SCADA approach, which can ultimately be tied into a more sophisticated centralized SCADA system at a future date.”

Due to a below ground vault flood, the pump station’s vital equipment, including pumps and controls, sustained significant damage.

 
In addition to the traffic box package, Metropolitan also included a flood switch for installation into the dry well to notify operators via their SCADA system in the event of another dry well flood. This allows for a rapid response in the effort to prevent further flooding of the pump station’s dry pit.

Girup said this project is likely to serve as phase one of an extensive retrofit of the entire pump station. Phase two would be the installation of submersible pumps into the existing wet well, which would allow for the complete elimination of the confined space.

“Metropolitan is typically able to provide customers with an à la carte solution,” said Girup. “When the resources to fund a complete retrofit upgrade of a pump station are not feasible, we have the ability to work with the customer’s budget to supply the equipment and services that are most practical for the owner and application at a given time.”

This, combined with our 24/7/365 emergency service assistance, led to the successful, expedited upgrade solution for the village of Chicago Ridge.

“This project is a perfect example of why municipalities should start budgeting to upgrade existing dry pit pump stations of this type,” said Girup. “Fortunately, we were able to respond to the customer very quickly. In the coming years, I anticipate that many municipalities will continue to call on Metropolitan for a phased retrofit upgrade solution to eliminate confined space, below ground pump stations in the effort to avoid emergency circumstances.”

For more information, please contact Keith Girup at 815-886-9200, ext. 264 or sales@metropolitanind.com.

Metropolitan housed the simplex pump system in a clamshell structure for convenience.

 
At Metropolitan Industries, we take great pride in our ability to design retrofit solutions to meet your needs.  Our engineering expertise and dedicated sales and service staffs can design custom solutions best suited to solve your water and wastewater challenges.

As case study illustrating our dedication to being problem solvers can be demonstrated by the work done in a village located in DuPage County, Ill.   At the request of the owner, the location of the project will remain confidential.

“The customer needed to deliver water pressure to a small housed concession stand located at an outdoor sports complex,” said Metropolitan commercial sales manager Mike Ponx.  “They required a simplex system housed in compact fashion, so we contained the system in a small clamshell structure.  With this solution, the final product isn’t an eye-catcher and still delivers the water pressure needed for the concession stand to function properly.”

Ponx said the system needed to provide enough water pressure to deliver flow to sinks, lavatories, water closets and hoses within the concession stand.  In order to accommodate, Metropolitan supplied a simplex system with a designed flow rate of 59 GPM at a discharge pressure of 90 PSI.

Ponx said the application of the clamshell structure was ideal for the customer due to its cost-effective price.

“From a financial standpoint, this made the most sense for the customer because they did not have the space or housing already in place for the system,” said Ponx.  “An alternative solution, such as a prefabricated housed structure, would have been much more costly.”

Ponx said a number of amenities were included within the housed structure to ensure routine maintenance and checkup would be hassle-free.

“We included a heating system and a drop light for times when service is being conducted,” said Ponx.  “The structure itself comes with a large enough power supply to run not only the pump, but an electric heater as well.  It also runs a convenience outlet that provides the customer with power when needed.  Everything was supplied as a prefabricated packaged system.”

Overall, Ponx said the project depicts Metropolitan’s vast and unique capabilities, particularly within its commercial division.

“This project demonstrates how diverse we are and our ability to solve problems, small or large,” said Ponx.  “Our commercial division has the ability to service high-rise buildings or, in this case, small structures that do not require very large systems.  In any case, we can provide customers with a number of options and custom solutions applicable to their needs.”

For more information, please contact Mike Ponx at 815-886-9200 or sales@metropolitanind.com.

At Metropolitan Industries, the month of March signals the start of our trade show season.

As leaders in the residential, municipal, commercial and mechanical water and wastewater industries, we attend a number of trade shows covering these sectors throughout the year.

March is our busiest month, as we attend three major conferences.

Throughout the time leading up to these shows, we have been actively developing and preparing new products and displays to showcase to attendees.

As is always the case with our new product offerings, they are designed to incorporate the latest technologies to help make heating, treating and moving water easier and more efficient than ever before.

We will exhibit at the following shows in March:

Illinois Section AWWA WATERCON
Monday, March 18 to Thursday, March 21
Crowne Plaza Hotel – Springfield, Ill.

WATERCON is the Midwest’s largest water and wastewater conference. We will be exhibiting at booth 503, presenting our newest water and wastewater products.

Illinois PHCC Expo
Friday, March 22
12:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Drury Lane Conference Center – Oakbrook Terrance, Ill.

The Illinois PHCC Expo is Illinois’ premier trade show for plumbing, heating and cooling contractors. Representatives from Metropolitan’s commercial and mechanical divisions will be exhibiting the many new products and capabilities they have added since last year at booths 96, 97 and 98. Also present will be our Ion|StormPro® display trailer, complete with many new additions made to the product line.

SMACNA Chicago Trade Show
Monday, March 26
1:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Drury Lane Conference Center – Oakbrook Terrance, Ill.

The SMACNA Chicago Trade Show will feature the finest vendors in the industrial, commercial, institutional and residential markets specializing in heating, ventilating and air conditioning, manufacturing, energy management and maintenance, and more. Metropolitan recently made a concentrated effort to expand its mechanical heating expertise and our new skills will be presented at booths 85, 86 and 87.

For more information regarding these shows, please contact a Metropolitan representative at 800-323-1665 or sales@metropolitanind.com.

One of the primary ways Metropolitan has been able to raise Navien brand awareness is by hosting educational seminars.

 
As official representatives of Navien America in the territories of Illinois, northwest Indiana and eastern Missouri, Metropolitan supports a network of distributors within the Midwest in providing homeowners with the highest-quality tankless water heating equipment and related accessories.

Our wholesale division was recently awarded the distinction of selling over $2 million in Navien inventory, joining Navien’s exclusive “$2 Million Club.”

Metropolitan’s Navien wholesale manager Mark Brickey attributed a number of factors to Metropolitan’s success, the first being the quality of Navien heaters and combination units.

“One of the reasons our sales team has had such success with Navien is because Navien sets the standard in the tankless industry,” said Brickey.  “Navien heaters and combination units are efficient and perform very well for end users, but what’s equally important is that Navien is committed to enhancing already great products whenever possible.”

One way in which Navien has improved its strong product base was the creation of the new NPE series heater.  With features such as the ability to utilize half-inch existing gas lines and two-inch venting, and the inclusion of an operator interface to view set points and essential system information, and run diagnostics, Navien’s new NPE series heater has garnered much popularity.

“Navien displayed its commitment to persistent improvement when it introduced the NPE series heater,” said Brickey.  “This new heater incorporates smart technology and comes with an abundance of new features our sales personnel can promote.  It truly is a one-of-a-kind heater.”

Brickey said Metropolitan’s sales staff has made a concentrated effort to endorse Navien units and said the training conducted both at and away from Metropolitan has significantly raised both interest in the brand and overall sales.

“Not only will we routinely hold trainings on Navien models to operators and installers at our facility, we have our sales staff conducting additional trainings behind the scenes,” said Brickey.  “Many times we’ll hold trainings after work hours at supply houses and contractor’s facilities.  We’ve made a great effort to not only raise brand awareness, but ensure operators are familiar with units, are comfortable working with them and can adequately conduct service.”

Overall Brickey credits the hard work of Metropolitan’s sales staff as the chief reason why its partnership with Navien has achieved positive results.

“Selling over $2 million in inventory is quite a feat for our sales staff and we were able to achieve this largely due to their hard work,” said Brickey.  “Particularly during this uncertain economic climate, it took a great deal of commitment and creativity on our end to create business, but we developed and executed the right strategy, and made it happen.”

For more information regarding Navien products, please contact a Metropolitan representative at 815-886-9200 or sales@metropoitanind.com.

Metropolitan’s new Metro-Tech II controller.

 
At Metropolitan Industries, customizing solutions to meet the needs and specifications of customers is one of the cornerstones to the way we conduct business.

We believe user-friendly equipment developed to meet precise requirements and suit specific applications leads to the most efficient system operation and results in optimum customer satisfaction.

Adhering to this philosophy, we recently released two new lines of innovative, menu-configurable water booster pump and boiler system controllers, designed to fit specific programs and provide operators with ease of use.

Our “Metro-Tech II” booster pump controller can be customized to meet any requirements, and provides users with the ability to change set and command points, view real-time operating conditions and alarms, and use integrated help screen through the controller’s color touch screen operator interface.

Our “ThermoTech™” cascading boiler controller also features a user-friendly, color touch screen operator interface, and provides users with the ability to set lead boilers, monitor return temperatures and flow meter inputs, track system modulation percentage, set stage delays and more. This controller can be customized to control from one and up to eight boilers.

For a more details regarding each of our new controllers, please visit The Chief Engineer, which recently profiled the Metro-Tech II and ThermoTech™ extensively in its March issue.

Construction of our warehouse doors took place in January.

 
In an effort to further accommodate our customers and streamline the production process of projects, Metropolitan recently completed the major renovations of two warehouse doors.

“Door five, located on the far south side of our warehouse, has been widened from 14 feet wide to 20 feet wide, and door two, located on the north side, has been widened from 12 feet wide to 18 feet wide,” said Metropolitan fabrication department manager Bob Svoboda. “Our belief is that this expansion will not only allow us to ship systems more efficiency, but also allow us to house and ship larger equipment than in the past.”

Svoboda said the extension of both doors will most significantly impact the production of housed structures, allowing Metropolitan’s fabrication and electrical departments to complete housed systems more proficiently.

“Typically, housed systems begin the production process near door five in the fabrication department, are then moved near door two for electrical wiring, and are moved back to door five for shipment,” said Svoboda. “With the expansion of these doors, housed systems can be shipped directly out of door two, eliminating some of the time associated with shipment.”

Svoboda said the expansions have already paid Metropolitan positive dividends, as we recently welcomed the largest housed system in our 55-year history into production.

The expansion of our warehouse doors will allow us to develop and ship larger systems than ever before.

 
“Had we not expanded our warehouse doors, we would have faced several complex challenges in developing and shipping this new housed system,” said Svoboda.  “We’re a customer-first company and when we need to adapt, we are committed to making the appropriate alterations to our facility to serve our customers.  The changes made to our warehouse doors will significantly help with the production of this system and with projects in the future.”

For more information regarding our prefabricated housed systems, including pump, boiler and mechanical rooms, please visit www.metropolitanind.com or contact sales@metropolitanind.com.