ATLANTA – A newly published standard focused on the commissioning process will help ensure a fully functional, fine-tuned facility.
ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 202, Commissioning Process for Buildings and Systems, identifies the minimum acceptable commissioning process for buildings and systems as described in ASHRAE’s Guideline 0-2005, The Commissioning Process. Standard 202 is ASHRAE’s first standard focused on the commissioning process. The commissioning process as detailed in Standard 202 applies to all construction projects and systems and is an industry consensus document.
“Given the integration and interdependency of facility systems, a performance deficiency in one system can result in less than optimal performance by other systems,” Gerald Kettler, P.E., chair of the committee that wrote the standard, said. “Implementing the Commissioning Process is intended to reduce the project capital cost through the warranty period and also reduce the life-cycle cost of the facility. Using this integrated process results in a fully functional, fine-tuned facility, with complete documentation of its systems and assemblies and trained operations and maintenance personnel.”
The commissioning process assumes that owners, programmers, designers, contractors and operations and maintenance entities are fully accountable for the quality of their work. The process begins at project inception and continues for the life of a facility.
The process includes specific tasks to be conducted to verify that design, construction, verification, testing, documentation and training meet the owner’s project requirements, according to Kettler.
The standard defines the commissioning process through 13 functional steps, each of which contains deliverables. The commissioning activities and deliverable are as follows:
-
Initiate the Commissioning Process, including defining roles and responsibilities
-
Define the project requirements, which results in the Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR) document
-
Develop commissioning plan – produces a written Commissioning Process Plan
-
Plan design approach to Owners Project Requirements – defines the basis of design
-
Set contractor commissioning requirement, which are included in the commissioning specifications
-
Design review by the commissioning authority provides feedback and a design review report
-
Submittals review verifies compliance with the OPR in a submittal review report
-
Observation & Testing verifies system performance with results documented in construction checklists and reports
-
Issues resolution coordination is done with an issues and resolution log
-
Systems manual assembly results in a systems manual for building operation
-
Conduct training for building operations with training plans and records
-
Post occupancy operation commissioning provides an end of warranty commissioning report
-
Assembly of a commissioning report captures all the project commissioning documentation
Other commissioning guidance from ASHRAE includes Guideline 0-2005, The Commissioning Process;Guideline 1.1-2007, HVAC&R Technical Requirements for the Commissioning Process; and Guideline 1.5-2012, The Commissioning Process for Smoke Control Systems.
ASHRAE also is working on several other guidelines related to commissioning: Guideline 0.2P, The Commissioning Process for Existing Systems and Assemblies; Guideline 1.2P, The Commissioning Process for Existing HVAC&R Systems; Guideline 1.3P, Building Operation and Maintenance Training for the HVAC&R Commissioning Process; and Guideline 1.4P, Procedures for Preparing Facility Systems Manuals.
The cost of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 202-2013, Commissioning Process for Buildings and Systems, is $72 ($61, ASHRAE members). To order, contact ASHRAE Customer Contact Center at 1-800-527-4723 (United States and Canada) or 404-636-8400 (worldwide), fax 678-539-2129, or visitwww.ashrae.org/bookstore.
ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is a building technology society with more than 50,000 members worldwide. The Society and its members focus on building systems, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, refrigeration and sustainability. Through research, standards writing, publishing, certification and continuing education, ASHRAE shapes tomorrow’s built environment today. More information can be found atwww.ashrae.org/news.
Related Stories
| Oct 15, 2014
Harvard launches ‘design-centric’ center for green buildings and cities
The impetus behind Harvard's Center for Green Buildings and Cities is what the design school’s dean, Mohsen Mostafavi, describes as a “rapidly urbanizing global economy,” in which cities are building new structures “on a massive scale.”
| Oct 15, 2014
Final touches make 432 Park Avenue tower second tallest in New York City
Concrete has been poured for the final floors of the residential high-rise at 432 Park Avenue in New York City, making it the city’s second-tallest building and the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere.
| Oct 14, 2014
Slash energy consumption in data centers with liquid-based ‘immersive-cooling’ technology
A new technology promises to push the limits of data center energy efficiency by using liquid instead of air to cool the servers.
Sponsored | | Oct 14, 2014
3 color trends drive new commercial exterior color collections
Collectively as a society, we help create color trends, which shape our businesses, recreational facilities, healthcare centers, and civic buildings. These iconic colors are now appearing in Valspar's new color collections. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Oct 14, 2014
Get inspired with the top 10 TED talks about cities
The TED talks, none of which are longer than 20 minutes, feature speakers such as architect Moshe Safdie, Rio de Janeiro Major Eduardo Paes, and animal behaviorist Amanda Burden.
| Oct 14, 2014
Proven 6-step approach to treating historic windows
This course provides step-by-step prescriptive advice to architects, engineers, and contractors on when it makes sense to repair or rehabilitate existing windows, and when they should advise their building owner clients to consider replacement.
| Oct 14, 2014
Richard Meier unveils design for his first tower in Taiwan
Taiwan will soon have its first Richard Meier building, a 535-foot apartment tower in Taichung City, the country’s third-largest city.
| Oct 13, 2014
The mindful workplace: How employees can manage stress at the office
I have spent the last several months writing about healthy workplaces. My research lately has focused on stress—how we get stressed and ways to manage it through meditation and other mindful practices, writes HOK's Leigh Stringer.
| Oct 13, 2014
Debunking the 5 myths of health data and sustainable design
The path to more extensive use of health data in green building is blocked by certain myths that have to be debunked before such data can be successfully incorporated into the project delivery process.
Sponsored | | Oct 13, 2014
The problem with being a customer-centric organization
Kristof De Wulf, CEO of InSites Consulting, argues that the effects of customer-centricity typically don’t endure, leading only to temporary improvements in company performance. SPONSORED CONTENT
