La Vista Italian: A McCall’s Supply Case Study
La Vista Italian is a restaurant located in Spring Lake, NC, a suburb on the outskirts of Fayetteville, NC that sits on the borders of Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg).
They’re known for their delicious Italian food at an affordable price and frequently receive superb reviews for their food and service. However, there was one issue: the inside of the restaurant was plagued with hot, uncomfortable temperatures inside, especially during lunch hours.
While the current HVAC system was properly sized and installed per engineered specification, the system still ran excessively and could not adequately cool the space in the dining area. This was especially common during the midday lunch hours.
When the owner of the restaurant consulted with John Coleman of C&C Mechanical, a leading HVAC dealer in the Fayetteville, NC area, the following circumstances were noted:
- The restaurant was originally designed and built for a retail business and occupied the area of two storefronts. Although one of the previous tenants was a small sandwich shop, the equipment used would generate little additional heat. La Vista’s ovens and stoves currently generate a lot of heat.
- Approximately 40% of the dining room area has glass on the exterior wall. This factor alone can generate a significant amount of heat, and while it may be welcomed in the winter, it is undesirable in the summertime.
- The restaurant storefront faces due east, which means the sun shines directly on the glass until just after lunches are served.
The task was then to figure out how La Vista could comfortably cool the dining area without having to go through the expense of upsizing the existing HVAC units, while avoiding creating an undesirable air draft in the restaurant in the process.
Mr. Coleman consulted with Greg Smith, the territory sales manager of McCall’s Supply. Mr. Smith completed size calculations and ran specs of the building on what could be done to solve the problem.
He recommended a Samsung Free Joint Multi system consisting of 3 18k Wind-free™ 4-way cassettes paired to a 4-ton outdoor condenser. These cassettes can be installed in the ceiling inside of the space of an existing tile.
Thanks to the inverter drive and the Wind-Free™ technology, the load on the existing system was greatly reduced, air flow is automatically adjusted, and the temperature in the dining room is cool and comfortable, even in the hottest time of the day in the summer.