Consulting-Specifying Engineer - September 2007 - (Page 63)

• COMMISSIONING • Professional Practices B U I L D I N G A U T O M AT I O N S Y S T E M S Key procedures for BAS commissioning BY GEORGE BOURASSA, P.E., CCP, LEED AP, Senior Vice President, and CRAIG JOHNSON, CxA, Senior Manager - Commissioning, Carter & Burgess, Inc., Chicago ommissioning has been a formally recognized practice in project delivery for about a decade. ASHRAE defines commissioning as “a quality-focused process for enhancing the delivery of a project. The process focuses on verifying and documenting that the facility and all of its systems and assemblies are planned, designed, installed, tested, operated and maintained to meet the Owner’s Project Requirements.” And this, ultimately, is what all commissioning providers are shooting for. Commissioning of the building automation system (BAS) early is critical, because it is then used to commission other systems. Our experience over the past eight years with commissioning services related to BAS has consistently demonstrated one significant issue: There are far too often critical deficiencies in the implementation of the design intent articulated by the project team in the installation and startup of the C There are far too often critical deficiencies in the installation and startup of BAS when compared with the design intent articulated by the project team. systems on site. These relate principally to the following issues: • The controls subcontractor is the last installer in the overall sequence of trades on projects, and frequently lags the completion of other installed systems. The controls system is not functioning or barely operating when the commissioning agent is scheduled to carry out functional performance verification testing on HVAC and supplementary systems. As a result, we wait for the controls installation to be completed, or the sequences of operations cannot be verified because the controls system fails to perform all of the interfaces— those internal to the BAS and the interfaces with the systems that BAS monitors. • The composite controls/automation system is a patchwork of standard modules marketed by the manufacturer, and the combination of these elements does not specifically comply with the design intent. • Record documentation—all submittals, RFIs/ responses/resolution, as-built drawings, operation and maintenance manuals and videotapes (or other media records) of training sessions—is detailed as it relates to individual components within the installation, but there often is minimal or no description of the sequences of operation or how to diagnose problems when the sequences do not perform as intended. • Providing accurate component identification (tagging) within the systems as required by the plans and specifications has also become problematic during the functional testing phase of the commissioning process. • Training of building system operators by subcontractors usually consists of highlighting the technical attributes of the installed components. This is not training, because it does not address the real needs of the personnel who are charged with the responsibility of efficiently operating and maintaining the systems over the life cycle of the facility. Because commissioning is a relatively new industry, at least in the formal nature of the rigorous functional performance verification testing that is the focus of the process, BAS manufacturers and installers are finding that a high level of third-party scrutiny is now being given to the sequences of operation, transition of system functioning as seasons and outside weather changes and the interfaces among systems. In order to avoid the potential that numerous functional tests receive fail results, when appropriately implemented, commissioning should incorporate the following requirements: Consulting-Specifying Engineer • SEPTEMBER, 2007 63

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Consulting-Specifying Engineer - September 2007

Contents M/E Roundtable Cover Story: Airborne Superbugs Third-Party Liability Back to School Product Spotlight Codes & Standards Professional Practices How To New Products Jobs/Cliassifieds Specifier’s Notebook Pure Power Supplement New Technologies, Same Old Transmission Problems Wireless Battery Recharging Solar Concentration Renewables Tracking System A Mighty Wind The Importance of Load Bank Testing Quality Power for Security Systems

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - September 2007

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