The problem isn’t ‘The Design’ of your systems.

Are you having issues with your building? Spaces that you can’t get under control as far as heating, cooling, and/or humidity? Have you had a few different people look at it and say they have done all they can and it must be a ‘design issue’? Maybe you have even been recommended the solution of completely replacing the system? Or other expensive upgrades?

Before you spend a lot, consider that it is fairly unlikely to have a system designed so poorly it will not function. What IS very likely is that the system has not yet met the design intent. Before you scrap a system, especially a recently installed one, consider a commissioning process to check if your current system meets the design intent.

Mechanical systems (especially with more recent developments like chilled beams, heat pumps, and controls) are more complex than ever before, this has been driven primarily by stricter building codes to ensure energy efficiency. Energy efficiency is GREAT, but the tactics to get it do complicate a building. It takes a rigorous testing process to be sure a building is functioning per design intent once everything is installed and powered up.

Common ways a recently installed system cannot be meeting the design intent:

• Equipment:

  • Control devices wired backwards.

  • Substitutions in equipment/installations/etc. that happened during the construction phase that had unforeseen consequences on the system.

• Controls:

  • Sequences/programming in the BAS not matching what the Engineer called for.

  • Incorrect point mapping for valves, dampers, sensors, thermostats, etc.

  • Weird (unforeseen, and possibly unforeseeable) interactions that are difficult to spot unless you have someone reviewing how the building works as a WHOLE.

• Communication:

  • Perhaps one of the most common culprit behind under-performing buildings is a lack of communication among project team members. This can come in the form of the Construction Team didn't fully understand the intent of the Design Team, Contractors not communicating and coordinating amongst themselves (the "it's not my problem" mentality), etc.

  • Communication can be especially tough if you didn't have a good Commissioning Provider on your project from the start. We have heard countless tales of building Owners who have been facing under-performing buildings and have had multiple people in to try to figure out why they can't keep spaces warm during the winter, for example. When you dig deeper, you will find out that each person who came in to find the problem only looks at their one area of expertise. As each new person comes in to find the cause, no one knows what each previous person did or looked at, or if they tested any other components. In this scenario of a building not heating, the Design Team can come in and say their design isn't the issue, it must be the boilers malfunctioning. The Mechanical Piping Contractor can come in or send a boiler rep out and they relay back that the boiler is making hot water so it isn't their problem, the same can happen with pumps, controls, etc. The reality is that it could be a combination of all of these: We recently had such a scenario from an Owner who had become exhausted from continuously being told "it isn't my insert component here, must be something else." After we performed a thorough assessment and testing of the systems within the facility we found issues with component installation, controls integration, poor maintenance, and even a seemingly unrelated issue of boiler room exhaust fan programming (which caused boiler rooms to be under an extreme negative pressure which affected the boiler operation)!

  • Our point is, without communication among project team members, it is next to impossible to truly understand what is working, and what is NOT working.

Consider calling Cooper Cooper Commissiong (701-212-9513) if you are frustrated with your building's performance and aren't getting answers anywhere else!