You may not think of calling on a Consulting Engineer when your
building has comfort problems or needs Heating Ventilation and
Air Conditioning ( HVAC ) equipment repaired or replaced. Engineers
DESIGN, and the design has already been done, so you would be
wasting your money. Right ?? Well, maybe not.
For most buildings a lot of things have changed since the design
was completed. An Engineer can evaluate the "whole building" operation
rather than just focusing on an isolated problem. By evaluating
the present building loads and equipment status, an Engineer
has even more information to work with than the original designer.
Occupancy, loads and conditions change and may be different
from what the systems were orininally designed to meet. Your
building equipment could be incorrectly sized or laid out for
its actual loads. Comfort suffers when equipment is undersized.
Operating and maintenance costs can be high for oversized equipment.
Building occupancy changes and renovations are carried out. This
interferes with the proper operation of the mechanical systems.
For example, we have found that HVAC zoning rarely matches the
space layout in most buildings after only a few years. Typical
problems we find in buildings include:
- air distribution zones serving dissimilar areas
- insufficient or restricted return air path due to partitions
being added or relocated
- excessive air noise from diffusers
- not enough air circulation or ventilation
- excessive use of flexible ductwork
- missing or poor thermostat locations
- air flows no longer match space loads and use
- sizing mismatch between fans, coils, pumps, cooling tower,
etc.
- poorly operated or maintained equipment.
Prism Engineering has focused our services on engineering design
and support for existing buildings. We recommend solutions that
best meet the customers needs, without product affiliations. In
addition to analysis and design, our Project Management services
include equipment and installation specifications, tendering and
installation review to check that the work is according to specification.
We also ensure that the building operator is properly trained on
the building systems.
At a typical building project Prism sends an HVAC specialist
on site to evaluate the equipment, operation, building loads,
envelope, and how systems interact and serve the occupant needs.
A summary report outlines the findings, recommendations and budget
costs for the changes. Once this is approved, we carry out the
necessary design, specifications and drawings and obtain competitive
pricing. A key component of our process is making sure that the
contractor has followed the design intent, the system is properly
commissioned and the operators or staff know how to interact
with the controls. Buildings change. The next time your building
systems need modification consider getting a Consulting Engineer's
help. Viewing the consultant as an unnecessary expense may be
false economy.
