Preventative Maintenance Opportunities

Recently we were asked by a client to review Tasks and Activities for their outsourced operations and maintenance team. The O&M contractor had defined their own tasks and activities and while they did a good job covering the airside of the equipment, there was room for improvement on the water side and in the building management system (BMS).

Whenever I start one of these reviews, I reach for ASHRAE standard 180. You can get a copy here: Standards 180 and 211 (ashrae.org)

In our opinion, if the tasks, activities, and frequency outlined in ASHRAE 180 is being thoroughly completed, the facility and its equipment has a solid level of maintenance occurring. That being said, each facility is going to have unique aspects to it. Is the building close to a cow pasture or farm, filter changes are going to need to be more frequent; even a dirt lot can lead to requiring more frequent filter replacements.

In the facility we were reviewing, what stuck out was a lack of strainers being cleaned and a previous history of no water treatment. This was likely just an oversight but adding it to the preventative maintenance (PM) schedule would ensure the coils continued to receive design flow. Thermal comfort would improve, and pumps may not have to work as hard.

Another miss that we helped this client add to their semi-annual PM's was checking the BMS. Admittedly, ASHRAE 180 is a bit generic on what to do with the BMS, but it does say to check it semi-annually. We would expand that and say, at the very least, check for overrides and alarms and investigate if present. Also confirm set points are correct.

We would add that some light retro-commissioning would benefit on a one to two year interval - things like confirming the schedule is accurate, checking the sensors calibration is current, confirming the actuators on valves and dampers stroke easily and verifying your major energy saving strategies are functioning properly. Of top of mind would be checking that economizers are operating properly, and temperature and pressure resets are up to par.

If it has been a few years, we would recommend retro-commissioning the building. If you need help with any of this, reach out.