Since its 2001 opening in Harrisburg, Pa., the National Civil War Museum has attracted visitors from across the globe. The nonprofit corporation’s vision is to be valued as the national destination to experience and research the culture and history of the American Civil War.

The 66,000 square-foot facility features 25,000 square feet of exhibits, engaging public programs and special events dedicated to telling the entire story of the American Civil War. It’s the second largest collection of American Civil War artifacts in world, and the largest under a single roof, which includes thousands of objects, manuscripts and photographs, with more than 800 items on display at any given time and many more in its extensive archives.

“We care for and nurture the artifacts, keeping or displaying them in archival condition,” says Jeffrey Nichols, CEO of the museum. “Every improvement that we make to the facility is to further that cause. There’s a legacy to these items that lives on here at the museum, eagerly shared with the public. We had our 1 millionth visit last year, so this work to preserve the artifacts and provide comfort for visitors is fulfilling in many ways.”

However, 160-year-old metal, fabric, leather, and paper items are subject to degradation if temperature and humidity are not strictly controlled, so the museum must have uncompromising control of its indoor environment. Indoor conditions are paramount. 

The hydronic, forced-air system at the National Civil War Museum consists of three primary air handlers and 49 VAV boxes. The air handlers and VAV boxes each contain two hydronic coils: one chilled and one hot. 

Ideal Humidity

Because maintaining ideal humidity is just as important as delivering the proper indoor temperature, the VAV boxes serve both purposes. 

Ideally, relative humidity levels should remain between 45 and 55 percent with no more than a 5 percent humidity swing in any given 24-hour period. The temperature is maintained between 68 degrees and 72 degrees.

In the event the space needs dehumidification but not cooling, the hydronic coils run in re-heat mode. In this scenario, air leaving the chilled water coil is dehumidified, but is too cool to maintain proper indoor temperature, so the hot water coil is circulated to bring the supply air up to the desired temperature.

“The hot water system could be called upon at any time of year, depending on the relative humidity,” says Lee Miller, owner of Dixon AC&R Corp., Williamsport, Pa. “Regardless of the time of year, the museum relies critically on the boiler system.”

New Solution

One of the two original boilers serving the museum failed in October of 2022. On the cusp of heating season, museum management immediately began looking for a solution.

“We were aware that the two boilers were near the end of their lifecycle and operating at about 50 percent AFUE, but the unit that failed was actually the one we thought was in better condition,” Nichols says. “As a nonprofit, we have no choice, but to coax as much life out of our equipment as possible.”

Dixon AC&R has maintained and repaired the boilers for years, and they made sure that the museum understood the boilers were on their last legs.

So, after 21 years in operation, failure of one boiler came as little surprise. Cooling components at the museum had already been replaced. But the time for repairs were over when a boiler began leaking.

“I called Lee Miller as soon as we discovered the leak,” Nichols adds. “Dixon AC&R has been a trusted service provider of ours for years, and Lee is vice president on the museum’s board of directors. He also serves as our defacto service director due to his experience.”

Miller isn’t just the owner of a 20-person mechanical firm and a board member at the museum. He had ancestors on both sides of the bloody conflict, he’s a Civil War reenactor with an artillery unit, and he owns a “10-pounder” Parrott rifle (Civil War-era U.S. Army cannon). He, his cannon and its artillery crew played a role in the 2003 film “Gods and Generals.”  

To say that the boiler failure at the museum hit home for Miller was an understatement.

“Miller started looking for a replacement boiler immediately,” Nichols adds. “Keep in mind, this was while the mechanical industry was still suffering huge backlogs. Even before we found replacement boilers, he committed to performing the boiler retrofit at cost. Our ultimate goal was to replace both original boilers.”

Finding Equipment

Dixon AC&R was founded in 1946 by Miller’s grandfather, John Dixon. Today, Miller runs the firm with his son, Ryan Miller, as vice president. Their experience with industrial, commercial and residential work made the museum project simple. The difficult part was finding equipment in a timely manner.

Discussions with wholesalers all yielded the same result. Nobody could get a commercial boiler on a reasonable timeline, let alone two identical boilers.

Meanwhile, the museum ramped up its fundraising efforts. The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and The Stabler Foundation provided significant financial support, and generous individual donors including Richard Ware and Jeff Hoffman provided the additional resources needed to purchase both boilers and to install one of them. 

“It was an interesting and very fortunate turn of events that finally led to our ability to get the new boilers,” Miller says. 

He bought the units from his usual wholesaler, Don Moyer at Bi-Lo Supply in Mill Hall, Pa. But it was a personal connection that made the product available.

“At one of the museum’s quarterly meetings, we told Jeff Gelburg, the past president of the board, that I planned to install Burnham cast iron boilers,” said Miller. “It turns out, Gelburg knows Chris Drew, CEO of Burnham Holdings.” 

Gelburg spoke with Drew, who assured the museum that Burnham would provide the boilers, through wholesale channels, as soon as possible. He explained that given the existing backlogs, it simply couldn’t be done immediately, but they’d expedite delivery to whatever extent possible. Drew also committed to ensuring the right solution fit the museum’s budget. 

The boilers, an identical pair of gas-fired Burnham Commercial V9A water boilers were delivered in early 2023. Dixon passed the nine-section boilers to the museum at trade cost and began installation of the first boiler in August.

“I’d preferred to install V9 boilers, but we were at the point that we’d have installed anything just to have a new boiler online,” said Miller. “So, when Burnham offered to expedite two of them for us, it was a great relief.” 

Familiar Installation

With two Dixon technicians onsite – Mack Meyers and Tim Kelley – the first boiler was installed in two weeks, from demo to inspection.

“It could have been done in a few days, but we were also working on other projects onsite,” Miller says. “These are 1,674 MBH input boilers, so we ordered them as knock-down units. That way they fit through a 36-inch door. They fit the existing pads perfectly, and the piping connections required very little modification.”

The cast-iron V9A Series boilers are available in water or steam configurations with multiple fuel options and capacities ranging from 447 to 2,367 MBH input. Given its flexibility, it’s a boiler that Dixon has a lot of experience with. 

“We’ve installed plenty of Burnham boilers,” Miller says. “They’re a prominent name for us, on both the commercial side and residential.”  

The museum went into the 2023/24 heating season with one new boiler online and one old boiler for standby. The second V9 is still knocked down and sitting in a service hallway. The hope is that by spring, fundraising efforts will have been sufficient to replace the second boiler.

“The most important thing is that our heating system is no longer on its last leg,” Nichols says. “Even with only half the retrofit complete, we saw a 48 percent reduction in our natural gas expenses in November 2023 compared with the same period the prior year. I’ll take it!”