Establishing Quality Startup Processes for Central HVAC Systems
Why standardized startup practices and team coordination are essential for the successful delivery of IPD and DB HVAC projects
PROCESS: A process-driven approach to equipment and system startup reveals why project delivery method matters – and how involving design engineers in startup planning can elevate quality control across DBB, CM, IPD, and DB projects.
As a rule, design engineers and commissioning agents don’t include in their fees time to assist the HVAC contractor with equipment and system startups, both stating, “Startup is the contractor’s responsibility.” While these comments are factual and not excuses, their tasks apply mostly to design-bid-build (DBB) and construction management (CM) project delivery methods. These arguments don’t apply to integrated project delivery (IPD) and design-build (DB) project delivery methods. With these latter two methods of design and construction, the design engineer is an active team member of the IPD and DB teams, and their consulting fee should reflect this startup assistance requirement as part of IPD and DB single-source HVAC solutions.
Transitioning from HVAC consultant design engineer to IPD and DB project manager, I became aware that most HVAC contractors don’t have a standardized, methodical, and cost-effective policy and procedure for equipment and system startup for a central air system or a central chilled water or hot water system. In other words, these firms lacked a quality control process.
Trained in quality control (QC) skills and based on my experience as a designer and as an IPD-DB project manager, here are my suggestions for preparing for and assisting in equipment and associated system startup—whether DBB, CM, IPD, or DB project delivery:
- The “Startup Team” should consist of the design engineer, HVAC technician, testing, adjusting, and balancing (TAB) technician, automatic temperature control (ATC) technician, and, when necessary, the equipment manufacturer’s startup representative (e.g., boiler manufacturer’s technician).
- The following should be uploaded onto a portable computer as electronic documents, using a central air system as my example:
- Approved shop drawings for the air-handling unit and the sheet metal fabrication/field coordination drawings
- Standard details from the contract drawings showing sheet metal and piping details
- Field coordination drawings showing the sheet metal and piping installation associated with the equipment room, along with the associated drawing part plan(s) and sections through the air-handling unit equipment room indicating maintenance access and filter and coil removal compliance
- Standardized equipment and system startup sheets in sync with the HVAC subcontractor’s and TAB subcontractor’s own startup sheets
- TAB technician’s system flow diagram indicating total flow and pressure loss/resistance and individual terminal unit flow and pressure loss/resistance
- Approved ATC sequence of operation documents, as well as the commissioning agent’s functional performance test (FPT) narrative documents
Prior to the equipment and overall system startup, it is recommended to have the automatic controls in place and system trending for a minimum of 24 hours so that startup can begin and any fine-tuning can be done once the design engineer has reviewed these trends.
Required tools and personal protection equipment (PPE) should be available at startup.
Prior to equipment startup, the design, in sync with the contractor’s mechanical-electrical coordinator, will make sure the trade subcontractors are well-versed in each trade’s requirements (e.g., Division 1, etc.) found in the contract specifications. It is important to note that equipment startups should be scheduled for the beginning of the work week, not on a Friday, for those who haven’t given this detail any thought.
All this documentation will be useful, if not already required by the commissioning agent’s contract specification at the time of the startup and prior to the FPT demonstration to the commissioning agent and the building owner’s operation and maintenance (O&M) staff. In addition, this documentation can be linked to the owner’s computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) program’s asset database prior to turning over the project to the building owner.
Once back in the office, the Startup Team’s project manager should immediately download all electronic documentation to the job folder on the company’s internal network and email the information to all parties who need it. This information will be an integral part of the final documentation at project closeout.
When finished, the Startup Team should meet one more time to summarize the initiative and record “continuous improvement” notes, to provide continuous quality control to this standardized process for future projects.
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