Using fault detection and diagnostic software tools reduces utility costs keeps and optimizes building systems. Learn how adopting a modern approach allows you to catch minor problems.
Old-School HVAC Fault Finding Techniques
Institutional and commercial buildings are operated through the use of several interconnected building systems. Building occupants and owners expect comfortable conditions delivered reliably and at the lowest possible operating cost. Yet the complexity of building systems such as HVAC, BAS, Lighting Control, Access Control, Elevator & Escalator, and utility management demand regular maintenance and constant upkeep and repair.
For decades, facility managers have used a five-step approach to building maintenance that includes:
Evidence Collection
A Technician inspects equipment, controls, or instrumentation or responds to a complaint about a particular area. The process of gathering critical evidence is time consuming and requires a technician with specialized skills.
Analysis
For a needed repair, the evidence gathered is carefully analyzed by the technician, or a team of technicians to determine the likely fault or root cause. A. In the case of maintenance, the evidence collected is analyzed by the technician to look for any indications of abnormal or faulty operation.
Again the analysis of both a repair or collected maintenance data requires technician time, and specialized knowledge only gained through years of experience and training.
Determine Next Steps
With the root cause of the fault determined above, the technicians will now plan out the material, tools, and manpower needed to make the necessary repair.
In the case of maintenance items identified, the technician will create a plan for the proper technician to make the proper adjustments or maintenance tasks. Each building is unique, as are the technicians and skill sets available to a given building or campus. In some cases “In-House” technicians handle repairs, and in others contractors are called in to execute needed repairs or large maintenance campaigns.
Execute Repair or Adjustment
With proper planning the correct materials, tools, technicians, and proper time to execute repair or adjustment will be in place, and work commences. The technicians will document the repair and log their work in the institution’s maintenance management system.
Quality Assurance
As a best practice, a technician returns to the site of the repair to ensure that the equipment or control element has been restored to proper operation, and again this activity is logged in the maintenance management system. All of this work is planned and performed on the basis that addressing problems while they are small is more efficient and less costly than waiting for the fault or problem to deteriorate to a major concern.
While the process outlined above works, it does require a great deal of technician time. In addition, the past 40 years in America has seen the steady decline in the quantity of skilled technicians entering the building trades. Today all owners of institutional and commercial buildings are faced with extreme shortages of available technician hours and skilled building tradesmen.
The question is constantly posed by building owners: What is the best way to quickly and effectively provide maintenance and identification of potential faults in my building systems?
