Few have done more to advance the science of drying and the restoration industry as a whole than Kurt Bolden and Hydro Lab. Even before the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning & Restoration Certification (IICRC) had a certified advanced drying course, Hydro Lab constructed two 800 ft² structures at its facility in order to train and refine the many restoration techniques used in the field by its sister restoration company, Bold Core Response. Hydro Lab and a handful of other companies were the driving force behind the IICRC developing the Applied Structural Drying (ASD) class for teaching advanced drying techniques.

Today, Hydro Lab stands as one of the country’s most influential independent training and research centers for the restoration industry. In addition to its ASD course, Hydro Lab runs a number of different IICRC-certified programs, including Water Restoration Technician, Applied Microbial Remediation Technician and Odor Control Technician training. “We train thousands of restoration contractors from around the world every year,” says Bolden.

For its ASD Course, Hydro Lab has made the task of drying the structure extremely challenging for students. Its current outdoor, 2800 ft² test building has a crawl space, suspended ceilings, and a combination of drywall, paneling and plaster. The floors are a mixture of carpet, linoleum and tile. “We did everything we could think of to make restoring the structure more difficult,” says Mike Watkins, project manager for Hydro Lab.

Hydro Lab teaches the four principles of quickly drying a structure: extraction, evaporation with fans, dehumidification and heat. The lab tries to rotate and test a different drying system for every course. “We will dry with LGRs one time, then switch to desiccant and then to an open drying system like the Dryvex™ MC5200,” explains Watkins.

MC5200 Delivers the Heat
For the course, Hydro Lab completely floods the two-story building from the top down. ASD students are divided into four teams to monitor different sections of the structure. The hands-on course allows students to try different techniques to restore the building. “Each team maps the moisture content, temperature, humidity and grains at various points inside and outside of the affected area,” mentions Bolden. This enables the students to scrutinize the drying process.

Helping to dry the structure in less than three days, the Dryvex™ MC5200 was very efficient during the course. Bolden contends that today’s restoration contractor must have a wide range of options in the tool chest to be successful, and, based on the results, Bold Core Response, Hydro Lab’s sister company, added a similar Wacker Neuson Climate Control product to its fleet.

Bolden had some keen observations as to how the open drying system works. “One huge advantage of the MC5200 is heat,” he notes. “You can dry a structure much faster at 100° F than you can at 80° F.”

Water molecules move more rapidly at higher temperatures, allowing the moisture to release from the material much faster. In the past, the low-grain refrigerant dehumidifier’s performance decreased at higher temperatures, slowing the rate of moisture removal from the structure. “The industry is moving toward high heat to increase the drying rate of a structure,” explains Bolden. “Open drying systems like the MC5200 can cut about a day off of the drying process than with LGRs alone.”

The Dryvex™ MC5200 from Wacker Neuson features up to 210° F temperature output and 380,000 BTU/hr rating. Employing exclusive Dryvection™ technology, the MC5200 uses outside air rather than recycled air. “The air is heat-conditioned to 3 to 15% relative humidity, and this extremely dry air absorbs large quantities of moisture as it circulates throughout the building,” says Ken Cannella, product manager for Wacker Neuson Climate Control equipment. The unit’s extraction blower accelerates the drying process by removing moisture-laden air at a rate of up to 4,100 CFM.

While the MC5200 is the tool of choice in a broad range of applications to quickly dry structures, Bolden sees some jobs where the open drying system works extremely well. “Units like Dryvex™ are great when there’s a contamination issue, like sewage or animal feces, and for odor control,” he says. “They work well in removing toxins from the structure.”

Bold Core Response purchased a Cub 700 air heater from Wacker Neuson shortly after the MC5200’s debut at Hydro Lab. The Cub 700’s 605,500 BTU/hr heat output and 7,700 CFM air movement were immediately put to use on a 3.4 million ft² restoration project in Indianapolis, which required 3 million BTUs of heat, 150 LGRs and 500 air movers.