A newly published standard focused on the commissioning process for buildings systems technology will help to 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,” comments Gerald Kettler, P.E., chair of the committee that wrote the standard. “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.”
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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, i.e. produce a written Commissioning Process Plan.
-- Plan design approach to Owners Project Requirements, defining the basis of design.
-- Set contractor commissioning requirements, 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 and Testing (verifies system performance with results documented in construction checklists and reports).
-- Issues resolution coordination (done via 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. Learn more.
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