Washington Library

The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, located at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, was built in 2010-2013 to extend education about Washington’s life, achievements and character to the whole world. The library safeguards Washington’s books, manuscripts and related papers, and provides educational outreach and scholarly residency programs. During the design process, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, a private non-profit organization that owns and operates the historic property, anticipated that the Washington Library would require a state of the art heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system in order to protect the thousands of eighteenth and nineteenth century books and papers in the collection. The Association also sought the most efficient solution that would meet the diverse needs of different areas of the new library.

Project Solution

With its specialized installation experience and technical expertise with heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) projects in historic buildings, Carrier was selected by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association to assist in the development of the HVAC system for the new library. The Washington Library system includes a Carrier AquaSnap® 30MPW heat recovery chiller and three Carrier Aero® 39MN air handlers. The AquaSnap chiller operates in conjunction with a dry cooler to capture and re-purpose heat from the refrigerant coils in order to provide economical heating during those times of year when cold weather demands heating in some areas of the building, yet occupancy produces sufficient humidity to require simultaneous cooling. The AquaSnap chiller also provides emergency backup cooling for the priceless artifacts in the Rare Books Room; and can provide efficient cooling as needed during lowload conditions, such as overnight hours. Meanwhile, two of the air handlers deliver cooling to common areas of the library, such as the classrooms and lecture hall, while the third unit is equipped with special carbon filters to protect artifacts in the special collections area by removing potentially harmful substances from the air.