Commercial Buildings Maintenance Top 5 Mistakes

Commercial Buildings Maintenance

Commercial Buildings Maintenance

Commercial Buildings: Proper maintenance of commercial buildings is a responsible and knowledge-intensive job that can help building managers not only save a fairly solid amount of money but also earn an eco-friendly business status. According to experts, more and more building managers are choosing digital and automated building management solutions, but due to their incorrect implementation, building maintenance can become unprofitable for them.

According to Donatas Karčiauskas, head of the Apex Analytics Center at City Service Engineering, a commercial building maintenance and administration company, more than half of all energy consumption in commercial buildings depends on the operation of engineering systems, especially heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. With the changing trends and the implementation of digital solutions in building maintenance, automated systems, and their operation determine not only the energy efficiency of the building or the comfort of the people inside but also the operating costs of the facility.

However, it is quite common that an improperly structured sequence of building system automation and other building errors prevent site managers from achieving their goals. City Service Engineering's long-standing building digitization strategist highlights the key flaws in why commercial building maintenance can save you money instead of saving.

TOP 5 Mistakes Why Maintenance of Commercial Buildings Can Become Lossful:

1. The operation algorithm of automated systems is not described in detail at the design stage.

Considering the importance of automation during design, according to D. Karčiauskas, too little attention is paid to this part: “We are used to not include a detailed description of the building operation algorithm in the design of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. At best, it includes guidelines that are often insufficient for the continued and smooth operation of the building. ”

Issues related to system incompatibilities can arise even after the commercial buildings have been commissioned. For example, the ventilation system heats up and the cooling system, acting separately, cools at the same time. Despite the fact that the systems were installed according to the planned design, many problems are encountered due to the algorithm of automated systems operation, which is not described in detail.

"There is a lot of discussions, the building owner or developer has to spend additional investments to optimize the systems, ensuring the healthy operation of the commercial buildings. These problems can be avoided if the algorithm of the building operation is coordinated in detail at the design stage, ”the specialist emphasizes.

2. The operation of automated systems shall not be checked.

The building algorithm is an essential indicator of whether the systems are working as planned and whether they will achieve all the planned tasks. However, it is not possible to physically check whether the building operation algorithm is correct at all times, ie 24/7, according to the specialist.

"When installing a building management system, it is necessary to provide for the archiving of all parameters, the archive of which would be open to everyone. It often happens that the archiving of parameters is not included in the plan, and even if the archive exists, it is locked inside the system, which makes checking the operation difficult and time-consuming, ”says the interlocutor.

There are also cases when the adjustments of the building management system are made even a year after the completion of the building automation works. Archives of system performance parameters can be checked using special algorithms that help detect faults. However, in this case, it is important to check not all the operations of one device, but all their activities with each other.

3. Ignore that each commercial building is unique.

According to the head of the energy-saving group, the golden rule, which is unfortunate, but not always followed by commercial buildings managers or their administrators, is unique to each building: Freely programmable controls are required for certain systems to reap the maximum benefits and make the building work most efficiently. ”

According to the manager, factory controllers do not always ensure optimal performance for a particular building: “For example, in order to install additional efficiency measures in a building in the future, a factory controller may not have the necessary functions to be freely added with freely programmable controllers. When installing freely programmable controllers, it is necessary to ensure that an accurate description of the operation and system configuration files are provided to the customer. "

4. The balancing needs of the building are not taken into account.

Although, as D. Karčiauskas says, we all understand that the actual operating building is always different from the design version of the commercial buildings, for example, the ventilation of the buildings is balanced according to the design values of the building, but the number of people in the actual premises varies.

“And what about the fact that the number of people at different times is different in different areas of the building. Therefore, it is very important to balance the buildings according to the actual need of the building and the specifics of their operation, ”reminds the head of the group.

5. Uncertain warranties are provided.

Quite often, the engineering systems of commercial buildings are only guaranteed by the system manufacturer, but various uncertainties often arise during the operation of a building. It is worth remembering that the performance of systems also depends on the quality of their installation, so the often applied principle of on-site warranty service helps to avoid additional costs: covers all labor and transportation costs related to the replacement of the luminaire. It is, therefore, necessary to take into account all guarantees provided by service providers and their certainty. "

It is important to remember that in a few years' time, a 'young' building will not have to implement additional optimization solutions, which, according to the head of the energy-saving group, become difficult to implement and lead to additional energy costs and a number of additional actions to regulate their operation. Before "bringing buildings to life", it is necessary to anticipate everything and pay close attention not only to the equipment of the commercial buildings itself but also to the efficient operation of the equipment.