Consulting and Specifying Engineers Magazine Oct 2016

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FEATURES
34 | How to design highefficiency hot-water
systems for hospitals
ON THE COVER: The drawing illustrates a portion of the lighting plan of clinical and administrative space in a 1.2-millionsq-ft building with hospital and business occupancies.
Lighting controls are implemented with occupancy sensors,
occupant-operated switching, and an automated lighting
control system. Courtesy: Smith Seckman Reid
COVER STORY
28 | Commissioning lighting
control systems
Codes and standards require lighting engineers to include
power allowances, daylighting controls, functional testing,
and commissioning in lighting designs to verify lighting
controls.
JESSE FELTER and TOM DIVINE, PE
DEPARTMENTS
07 | Viewpoint
21 | Codes & Standards
Research, data, and a lot

of numbers
Evaluating condensation
and condensate
53 | Digital Edition
09 | Research
Electrical, power in industrial Exclusive
facilities
11 | Career Smart
The coming engineering
shortage
12 | MEP Roundtable
Evaluating low-temperature
water-heating options
55 | Advertiser Index
56 | Future of
Engineering
The recipe to becoming a

Exploring the high demands
principal engineer
for higher education facilities
Boilers for heating and domestic

hot-water systems are used in
many hospitals and health care
facilities. This looks at the codes
and standards that regulate boiler
specification, plus energy efficiency and efficacy of hot-water
heating systems.
WYATT WIRGES, LEED AP BD+C;
and JAY GOODE, PE
42 | 2016 Commissioning
Giants
Building commissioning providers are
closely tracking the business, market,
and technical trends that are influencingand, in some cases, reshaping
their profession. At the top of the
list are priorities that affect practical
business decisions, both near-term
and in the future.
DIANA BJRNSKOV
ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES
Use the icons to identify topics of interest.
AUTOMATION & CONTROLS
HVAC
COMMUNICATIONS
LIGHTING
ELECTRICAL
PLUMBING
FIRE, SECURITY & LIFE SAFETY
CONSULTING-SPECIFYING ENGINEER (ISSN 0892-5046, Vol. 53, No. 9, GST #123397457) is published 11x per year, monthly except in February, by CFE Media, LLC, 1111 W. 22nd Street, Suite
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Editors Viewpoint
CONTENT SPECIALISTS/EDITORIAL
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630-571-4070 x2211, ARozgus@CFEMedia.com
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APelliccione@CFEMedia.com
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ELISA GEISHEIMER, Production Coordinator
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Amara Rozgus,
Editor-in-Chief
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

CORY J. ABRAMOWICZ, PE, LEED AP,
Associate, Environmental Systems Design Inc., Chicago
PETER ALSPACH, PE, LEED AP BD+C,
Principal, Mechanical Engineer, Arup, Seattle
JERRY BAUERS, PE,
National Program Executive,
Outcome Construction Services LLC, Kansas City, Mo.
MICHAEL CHOW, PE, LEED AP BD+C,
Principal, Metro CD Engineering LLC, Columbus, Ohio
TOM DIVINE, PE,
Senior Electrical Engineer,
Smith Seckman Reid Inc., Houston
CORY DUGGIN, PE, LEED AP BD+C, BEMP,
Energy Modeling Wizard, TLC Engineering for Architecture Inc.,
Brentwood, Tenn.
TOM EARP, PE, ATD,
Principal/MEP Engineering Director, Page, Austin, Texas
ROBERT J. GARRA JR., PE, CDT,
Vice President, Electrical Engineer,
CannonDesign, Grand Island, N.Y.
JASON GERKE, PE, LEED AP BD+C, C X A,
Mechanical Engineer, GRAEF, Milwaukee
JOSHUA D. GREENE, PE,
Vice President, Jensen Hughes, Framingham, Mass.
RAYMOND GRILL, PE, FSFPE,
Principal, Arup, Washington, D.C.
DANNA JENSEN, PE, LEED AP BD+C,
Vice President, ccrd, a WSP Co., Dallas
WILLIAM KOFFEL, PE, FSFPE,
President, Koffel Associates Inc., Columbia, Md.
WILLIAM KOSIK, PE, CEM, LEED AP BD+C, BEMP,
Mechanical Design Section Manager,
Milhouse Engineering & Construction Inc., Chicago
KENNETH KUTSMEDA, PE, LEED AP,
Engineering Design Principal, Jacobs, Philadelphia
JULIANNE LAUE, PE, LEED AP BD+C, BEMP,
Senior MEP Engineer, Center for Sustainable Energy,
Mortenson Construction, Minneapolis
DAVID LOWREY,
Chief Fire Marshal, Boulder (Colo.) Fire Rescue
BRIAN MARTIN, PE,
Electrical Engineer, CH2M, Portland, Ore.
DWAYNE G. MILLER, PE, RCDD, AEE CPQ,
Chief Executive Officer, JBA Consulting Engineers, Las Vegas
RODNEY V. OATHOUT, PE, CEM, LEED AP,
Principal, Regional Engineering Leader,
DLR Group, Overland Park, Kan.
SYED PEERAN, PE, PhD,
Senior Engineer, CDM Smith Inc., Boston
GREGORY QUINN, PE, NCEES, LEED AP,
Principal, Health Care Market Leader,
Affiliated Engineers Inc., Madison, Wis.
BRIAN A. RENER, PE, LEED AP,
Associate, SmithGroupJJR, Chicago
SUNONDO ROY, PE, LEED AP BD+C,
Vice President, CCJM Engineers Ltd., Chicago
RANDY SCHRECENGOST, PE, CEM,
Austin Operations Group Manager and
Senior Mechanical Engineer,
Stanley Consultants, Austin, Texas
Research, data, and a lot of numbers
f you havent already figured it out,

Consulting-Specifying Engineer conducts a lot of research. We cover
research monthly (see page 9), send
requests for audience members to
provide feedback for various studies,
and follow market and industry trends
carefully. We even conduct proprietary
research for clients who want a laserfocused view of a particular portion
of the market. There isnt a shortage of
numbers to crunch or graphs to read.
The results of a recent readership
study have shed light on a few items
that we know are important to you:
Codes and standards
Articles specific to your
engineering discipline
Webcasts/webinars
Forward-looking or thoughtleadership pieces
New technologies highlighted
in display advertisements.
Our print and online content are
focused even more on your needs
and on areas to help you succeed in
your job. Constructive criticism, suggestions, and ideas for topic coverage
also are taken into account, steering
the content team toward specific
areas of interest.
For example, in mid-September, one
of the most anticipated standards was
released; watch for more about it in
upcoming technical articles. ASHRAE
Standard 90.4: Energy Standard for
Data Centers is a performance-based

standard that looks at data centers in
a much different manner. Rather than
just being lumped into other energy
standards, engineers and data center
designers can use ASHRAE 90.4 as a
mechanical and electrical guide for
design, performance, energy, and a
host of other parameters.
Creation of codes, standards, and
guidelines takes yearsthe committee that worked on this new standard
certainly had their work cut out for
them as they considered data closets,
co-location facilities, and data centers across the world. The mounds of
research, metrics, calculations, and
other moving technological targets
in the industry were likely very exciting in some ways and excruciatingly
painful in others.
This new standard will be covered in more depth in the upcoming
months, as will other topics on data
centers. Our research shows that these
buildings and other mission critical
facilities are rapidly changing and, as
they continue to do so, require you
to keep up with the information as
quickly and easily as possible.
If there are additional topics youd
like to see research results on, or a
particular area youd like to see covered (or even cover yourself in an
article or case study), please contact
me. We can certainly send some highquality data your way.
RICHARD VEDVIK, PE,

Senior Electrical Engineer and Acoustics Engineer,
KJWW Engineering Consultants, Rock Island, Ill.
MIKE WALTERS, PE, LEED AP,
Campus Energy Market Leader, MEP Associates, Verona, Wis.
JOHN YOON, PE, LEED AP ID+C,
Lead Electrical Engineer, McGuire Engineers Inc., Chicago
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T H E
G L O B A L
L E A D E R
I N
P L U M B I N G ,
H E A T I N G
A N D
P I P E
J O I N I N G
S Y S T E M S
Total annual value of lighting,

lighting controls specified
Less than $100,000
More than
$1 million
$100,000 to
$500,000
research
13%
37%
23%
14%
$
$ million
$750,001
to $1
13%
$500,001 to
$750,000
$750
000
Figure 1: The average firm specifies more than $700,000 annually in

lighting and lighting control products for new and existing buildings.
Source: Consulting-Specifying Engineer 2015 Lighting and Lighting
Controls Study
77%
of mechanical engineers regularly specify air-balancing,

test-and-balance, or environmentalbalancing building systems. Source:
Consulting-Specifying Engineer
2015 HVAC and Building Automation Systems Study
66%
of fire protection
design engineers are challenged
with inadequate budgets for proper
fire and life safety system design.
Source: Consulting-Specifying Engineer 2016 Fire and Life Safety Study
$7.6 million:
Average annual mechanical, electrical, plumbing/fire protection (MEP/

FP) design revenue earned by firms
specifying electrical or power systems in 2015. Source: ConsultingSpecifying Engineer 2016 Electrical
and Power Study
More research
covers several research topics each
year.
www.csemag.com
2016 ELECTRICAL & POWER STUDY:
Electrical, power in industrial facilities
he Consulting-Specifying Engineer 2016 Electrical and Power

Study indicated that 56% of
engineers specify, design, or make
product selections for industrial/
manufacturing facilities/warehouses
and seven in 10 of these engineers are
responsible for determining requirements/writing specifications and/or
supervising or consulting for these
projects. Below are five electrical and
power findings as they relate to industrial facility projects:
1. Annual specified products value:
The average engineering firm specifies $3,137,000 in total electrical or
power systems for new and existing
industrial facilities annually, with
39% specifying more than $5 million.
2. Issues affecting future designs:
The most critical issues affecting the
future of electrical or power systems
in industrial facilities are the lack of a
skilled workforce (22%) and budget/
costs (22%).
3. Products specified: Circuit

breakers, fuses, etc. (81%); transformers (79%); electrical distribution
(74%); and power and standby power
systems or equipment (73%) are most
commonly specified for industrial
facility projects.
4. Selection factors: When comparing electrical or power systems for
industrial facility projects, engineers
are most interested in product quality (81%), service support availability
(57%), a manufacturers reputation
(50%), previous experience with a
manufacturer (44%), and the products technical advantage (42%).
5. Specifications: For industrial
facilities, engineers most often write
performance (79%), prescriptive
(72%), or open (alternate or substitute, 59%) specifications.
View more information at
www.csemag.com/2016ElectricalPower.
Amanda Pelliccione is the research
director at CFE Media.
Electrical, power design challenges

for industrial facility projects
Inadequate budget
for good design
43%
32%
Speed of project delivery

Codes and standards
changing frequently
Interoperability and
complementing systems
Energy efficiency
34%
40%
53%
13%
10%
8%
51%
46%
Extremely difficult
Moderately difficult
Figure 2: Having an inadequate budget for a high-quality design (77%) and the clients
desired project delivery time frame (72%) are the most difficult challenges engineers
face in electrical or power systems and design for industrial facility projects.
Courtesy: Consulting-Specifying Engineer
www.csemag.com/research FOR MORE RESEARCH INFORMATION
T i t u s T i m e o u t Po d c a s t s
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Career Smart
BY DAN CARNOVALE,
Eaton, Pittsburgh
The coming engineering shortage

The engineering industry must address the skills gap.
he electrical industry is at a
crossroads. With thousands of
power industry workers about
to become eligible for retirement,
experienced engineers will soon be
leaving the industry. Once this happens, the industry will face a talent
shortage that could leave companies
scrambling to fill the gap.
Yet with every great challenge comes
an opportunity. Though the threat of
an engineer shortage is real, the electrical industry must leverage the current
workforces experience and knowledge
to prepare the electrical engineers of
tomorrow by equipping them with the
skills, tools, and experience they need
to make the transition to the next generation as smooth as possible.
Facing the shortage of
professional engineers
Make no mistake, the problem

of the coming engineering shortage should not be underestimated.
According to Economic Modeling
Specialists International, about 25%
of todays electrical engineers are 55
years old or older.
This means its up to the next generation of electrical workers to take
the reins and usher in a new era of
engineering expertise. But this carries
its own set of problems. Engineering
programs are struggling with mentoring younger workers, who emerge
from said programs overloaded with
theory yet lacking the hands-on
experience to hit the ground running. Apprenticeship numbers, which
www.csemag.com
should ideally fill this role, continue

to dwindle. According to the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers, the economic downturn has
driven apprenticeship recruitment to
record low numbersfrom 41,552
elementary and middle school levels

to build excitement about the robust
opportunities available in the field.
Emphasize growth potential.
Electrical engineering has strong potential for job growth, and the industry and
Engineering programs are struggling, with mentoring

younger workers, who emerge from said programs
overloaded with theory yet lacking the hands-on experience
to hit the ground running.
active apprentices in 2008 to 27,890
in 2012.
While the outlook is troubling,
the industry can stem the tide and
ready the next generation of skilled
engineers for success.
What can the industry do?
Building a talent pool like this

industry needs is time-consuming and
urgent, but not impossible. It requires
investing time, resources, and effort
into better training for emerging engineers. This will prepare them to tackle
the problems that only more experienced engineers were previously able
to address.
There are three ways the industry
can address the skills gap:
Make engineering exciting again.
A way to fill a skills gap is to create
a pipeline of new, skilled talent. The
industry should partner with
educational institutions down to the
educators should harness this to make

the career path attractive to students at
the high school and university level.
Shift from theory to practice at
the collegiate level. The industry and
educational institutions need to collaborate to bridge the gap between classroom theory and real-world application.
This means working together to create
opportunities that give future engineers
access to the tools and products they
will be using in the professional environment.
Dan Carnovale is manager of Eaton
Experience Centers, which focus on
training young electrical engineers. He
is an industry-recognized expert in
power quality and energy management
who has taught more than 100 technical seminars on the topics of power factor correction, surge protection, metering, harmonics, solar, electric-vehicle
charging, power systems analysis, and
many others.
11
MEP Roundtable
Exploring the high demands

for higher education facilities
The design process for higher education facilities has its own set of challenges and
requirements. Here, engineers discuss the current trends, challenges, and experiences
with college and university facility projects.
CSE: Whats the No. 1 trend you
see today in the design of college
and university buildings?
Mark Fisher: The trend we are currently seeing in college projects is an
increase in the use of design-build as a
delivery method. As a consultant, we are
being asked to develop standards for campuses as well as basis of design documents
for various individual projects that are to
be completed on a design-build basis.
Scott Foster: The top trend were seeing is energy efficiency, with universities
sustainable leaders having greater influence over acceptance of newer systems or
engineering approaches.
Keith Hammelman: College and university buildings cover a wide range of
building types, from residences to classroom buildings, offices, laboratories, and
physical plant buildings, just to mention
a few. These multiple building types are
further complicated by multiple project
types that include new facilities, renovated facilities, and/or additions. All of
this contributes to a scenario that makes
it difficult to identify a single common
12
design trend. That being said, one common characteristic that applies to the vast
majority of university and college buildings is the desire to incorporate systems
and equipment that provide the lowest
total cost of ownership over an extended
lifespan. It is common for colleges and
universities to maintain their facilities for
extensive durations and using their own
maintenance personnel; this increases
the importance of equipment durability,
ease of maintenance, and operational efficiency. Understanding the total lifecycle
cost, including potential residual value
for system components that are reused
after the initial equipment is replaced, is
an extremely important assessment to college and university facilities personnel in
determining systems to be used.
James Newman: A primary trend in
the design of college and university buildings is the strong emphasis on combining innovative and aesthetically pleasing
architecture with the strategic integration
of sustainable and high-performance
design features.
Jose I. Torres: University projects are
focusing less on achieving U.S. Green
Mark Fisher,
PE, LEED AP
Principal
Scott Foster,
PE, LEED AP
Principal
AlfaTech
San Jose, Calif.
Affiliated Engineers
Inc.
Chicago
Building Council LEED certification and

more on following LEEDs principles.
In North Carolina, all new state-owned
buildings are required to follow the LEED
Silver guidelines but are not required to be
registered. The cost of registering a LEED
project to the Green Building Certification Inc. is small when compared to the
associated consult fees for compiling and
documenting the LEED-compliance process. Many of our university owners prefer
to invest that money into the construction
of the building.
CSE: What other trends should
engineers be aware of for such projects in the near future (1 to 3 years)?
Tom Hickey: Building mechanical,
electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems
supplied by central heating and cooling
facilities should be designed to optimize
efficiency for the benefit of the entire
campus, not just the individual building.
Campus architects and their MEP designers need to determine if a building will be
supplied through a central campus system
and optimize their designs accordingly.
Keith Hammelman,
PE
Senior Vice
President
CannonDesign
Chicago
www.csemag.com
Figure 1: Located in Grayslake, Ill., the College of Lake Countys new science and engineering building is anticipated to achieve
LEED Platinum certification. Extensive energy modeling helped determine the most effective means to achieve energy savings66% energy-use savings as compared with an ASHRAE 90.1-2007 baseline building, an energy-use intensity (EUI) of 88 kBtu/
sq ft, and 52% energy-cost savings. Courtesy: Affiliated Engineers Inc.
Sufficient analysis must be performed

to not only result in an efficient climate
control scheme for the building, but to
take advantage of the redundancy and
reliability of central facilities and accomplish efficiency in the utility distribution
systems supplying the building.
Foster: Trends that engineers should
be aware of in working on higher education projects begin with alternative
delivery models and contracting arrangements, such as integrated project delivery
(IPD), design-build, design-assist, and
public-private partnerships. In regards
to design, flexibility for future programs
is increasingly a driving design factor
affecting physical layout and system
capacities. Theres an increase in utility
Tom Hickey, PE
Plant and
Building Services Market
Leader
Stanley Consultants
Muscatine, Iowa
www.csemag.com
metering and monitoring for energy analysis and operational optimization. Related
to that, controls integration is leveraging operational tools and maintenance
systems for greater efficiencies. These
complexities are requiring the integration of BIM into operational procedures.
And were seeing more incorporation of
design-trend research into the planning/
programming process.
Torres: University building owners are
proactively comparing the energy models provided during design with their
monthly energy consumption. Many of our
university clients will request a 6-month
and 12-month review of energy models
and their collected metering data. The
university engineers and the design team
James Newman,
PE, CEM, BEMP,
LEED AP BD+C
High Performance Design
Team Leader
EYP Architecture &
Engineering
Boston
will review all MEP systems that are operating higher than expected. The team will
then discuss the input assumptions made
in the energy model and how to improve
those assumptions for the next project.
CSE: Please describe a recent
college/university facility project
youve worked on.
Hammelman: A recent college project that we have been involved in is the
Ohlone Community College Academic
Core Building Project in Fremont, Calif.
This project consisted of creating a new
front door to the campus and involved
a total of three new buildings. These
buildings contain administration space,
Jose I. Torres,
PE, MBA
Project Manager/Mechanical
Engineer
RMF Engineering Inc.
Raleigh, N.C.
13
MEP Roundtable
Great
engineering
requires
great specs
classrooms, lecture halls, general science labs, anatomy and physiology labs,
and a new central utility plant for the
campus. The central utility plant consists of three reversible chillers integrated into a geothermal bore field to
provide both heating and cooling to
the entire campus. In addition to the
high-performance central utility plant,
we used a heat-recovery system to provide heating for the campus outdoor
pool and incorporated LED lighting
throughout the entire project.
Fisher: SOKA University in Aliso
Viejo, Calif., is a private liberal arts
university. We are currently completing a design of a new, 3-story science
laboratory and a new 3-story dormitory. The HVAC system for the science
building is a four-pipe chilled/hot-water
system with VAV distribution, including variable-volume-flow fume hoods
in the laboratories. The offices will have
a combination VAV and active chilledbeam distribution in the offices and
non-lab areas. The building will have
heat recovery, solar thermal domestic hot water, and photovoltaic (PV)
solar onsite power generation. Chilled
water will be from the campus central
plant and hot water from gas-fired
condensing boilers with variable flow.

Both buildings will have LED lighting
with wireless controls on each fixture.
The residential building will have a
variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system.
Foster: The new science building
in Grayslake, Ill., is a prototype for
the College of Lake County to optimize energy savings through a variety
of cutting-edge energy conservation
measures (ECMs). The 42,000-sq-ft lab
building was created from a proposition
that the most effective form of energy
recovery is to not use the energy in the
first place. VAV fume hoods in the labs
are coupled with variable-speed lab
exhaust fans. Thereafter, heating and
cooling loads are served by a central
hybrid geo-exchange system containing 48 vertical wells each at a depth of
490 ft. A roof-mounted 48-kW PV array
provides the building with a renewable
source of electricity generation while
offsetting 6% of the buildings annual
energy cost. The building documents
66% energy savings as compared with
an ASHRAE 90.1-2007:Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise
Residential Buildings baseline building
and is in the process of earning LEED
Platinum certification.
Download a FREE TRIAL

of MasterSpec today
arcomnet.com/engspecs
800.424.5080
Figure 2: With increasing enrollment, N.C. State Universitys College of Veterinary

Medicine identified the need for the expansion and renovation of its multipurpose
anatomy laboratory to meet todays curricular demands and also improve ventilation
and safety features in the lab. Courtesy: RMF Engineering Inc, Tzu Chen Photography
14
CSE: What unusual requirements

do college/university buildings have
from an engineering standpoint?
Hammelman: The most unusual
requirement for a college or university
building from an engineering standpoint is the need to standardize systems
approaches and equipment across multiple buildings on a campus. While the
standardization of systems approaches
is challenged by the variety of building
types, where applicable, it is consistently
the desire by the facilities staff to use
standard equipment and materials. Just
about all major and most minor colleges and universities have developed
standards. In some cases, these standards
are quite prescriptive. Where the college
or university is subject to public bidding
rules, the ability to obtain standard materials through the competitive bidding
process can be even more challenging.
Understanding the standards, how and

where to apply them, and when to ask for
an exception to do something new or different is a particular challenge of college
or university work.
Newman: One of the biggest challenges with college/university buildings
is engineering systems that have the nimbleness to adjust and respond to varying
situations to provide necessary building
function, while also creating systems
that can offer energy efficiency potential to meet sustainable design needs. An
additional challenge with system design is
engineering a system that can allow for
future flexibilityas most college/university buildings will go through multiple stages of changewithout jeopardizing operational function and energy
efficiency.
Foster: Higher education clients
tend to have more of a cautious, triedand-true mentality and do not lead in
adopting new materials or systems.

While standardization is perhaps understandable, it limits opportunity. The
physical constraints of a campusspecifically, the often tight space between
adjacent facilitiescall for strategies that
are especially mindful of impact. And
higher education clients balance their
capital project decisions against the
capacity and capability of campus utilities. Related to this is a general desire
among higher education clients to be
extremely transparent to the student
body about sustainability ideasand
using the same means to serve both
goals.
CSE: Describe the commissioning process for a college/university
project. At what point was your team
brought in, and what suggestions
were you able to implement via commissioning?
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MEP Roundtable
Torres: All of our university clients
require a commissioning team to be
involved in the design and construction
process of a new building. The successful partnerships between an engineer
and a commissioning agent usually take
place when both members collaborate
during the predesign phase of a project.
The commissioning team will develop
an owners project requirements (OPR)
document. The OPR will serve as another
tool for the engineer of record to use as
the MEP systems are designed. The early
collaboration between the design team
and the commissioning team provides
an opportunity for all design ideas to
be evaluated and fine-tuned to meet the
owners goals and the project budget.
Foster: As energy efficiency grows in
primary importancewhether driven
by code, economics, or sustainability goalsintegrating commissioning
within project delivery can positively
impact the energy usage and sustainability of the building from the concept
stages through early occupancy. Accordingly, payback for commissioning services is greatest when they are brought
on at the same time as the engineer of
record and agency of record. During a
recent project, we were brought into the
team during the design phase and recommended adding energy-recovery wheels
on AHUs as a major change to the design.
Additionally, we recommended adopting smaller measures, such as morning
warmup/cooldown, unoccupied scheduling modes for holidays, and variable
frequency drives for supply/exhaust fans,
none of which the university and construction team had used before. These
suggestions were implemented at little
cost to the owner and save on energy
usage indefinitely.
Fisher: The goal is to have the commissioning agent brought on board
early in the design process to participate

in the basis-of-design preparation and
have input into design decisions prior to
review of final documents. One example
of a recent project where it was valuable to have the commissioning agent
on board early was to help define the
strategy for energy-monitoring points
throughout the building to avoid changes
later in the design and construction.
CSE: Energy efficiency and sustainability are often requested by
building owners and CIOs. What
net zero energy and/or high-performance systems have you recently
specified on college/university projects?
Hammelman: In a recent net zero
energy project for Ohlone Community College, we specified the use of
a reversible chiller connected to a
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geothermal borefield. This was needed

to obtain the energy efficiency of the
central utility plant and achieve the
energy use intensity at a level to be
offset by the onsite PV-generation system. The chillers were configured in
a way to properly produce the necessary heating and cooling water for the
campus simultaneously. This system in
combination with the use of LED lighting, integrated lighting controls, and
an energy-efficient envelope allowed
for this facility to be a net zero energy
project.
Newman: The two primary areas
of focus for designing a high-performance HVAC system to mitigate
the peak-energy end use for science/laboratory buildings is highefficiency heat recovery and occupancy/operational lab space controls
for reduced flows. Specifying a highefficiency run-around loop heat-recovery
system for science/laboratory building

applications allows for peak amounts
of heat recovery while still meeting the
requirement for keeping supply and
exhaust airstreams separated. Designing the lab spaces with occupancy/
operational lab space controls can allow
for reduced airflows during periods of
room vacancy. For this energy-intensive building type, a sustainable HVAC
system can be achieved with the twopronged approach of, first, recovering as much energy as possible from
the exhaust air during normal operation and second, constantly looking to
reduce the amount of outdoor ventilation air delivered to the building whenever possible.
Fisher: We have designed PV systems, fuel cells, and solar hot-water
systems. We have also designed stateof-the-art HVAC systems with variable refrigerant, chilled beams, and
geothermal heat pumps for various

colleges and universities. Our lighting
staff was involved in a study to determine the most energy-efficient lighting
solution for parking lots at University
of California, Los Angeles, and the
solution was implemented throughout the entire campus. We routinely
specify transformers whose efficiencies exceed the Department of Energys
2016 requirements. We have found a
15% reduction in lighting energy by
specifying lighting control systems
with every lighting fixture independently controlled.
CSE: Many aspects of sustainability (power, HVAC, etc.) require
the building facility team to follow
certain practices to be effective.
What, if anything, can an engineer
do to help increase chances of
success in this area?
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MEP Roundtable
Fisher: Most important, you need
to have a deep concern for the environment and a desire to be green.
Engineers are taught to be conservative, do what everybody else does,
and play it safe. A truly sustainable
engineer needs to be able to break out
of this mindset and look for innovative solutions that stretch us out of
our comfort zone. Education is a key
component. Our staff has many members of sustainable organizations who
attend conferences or clinics and read
various publications. Plus, we have an
in-house sustainable design team that
meets regularly to brainstorm and
share ideas.
Torres: In the design phase, the
project engineer should review the
design and function of the MEP systems with the occupants and the maintenance team. The occupants should
be informed of the level of comfort
and energy conservation measurements intended for the project. This

is an opportunity to educate the individuals who control the success of
any sustainability strategy. The maintenance team should be educated on
how the MEP system will function
and how the new equipment or control sequences are intended to operate. In many of our 1-year warranty
walks, we have witnessed how maintenance teams have overwritten control
sequences because the maintenance
staff didnt understand the intent of a
control strategy or the function of a
monitoring point.
Newman: When designing HVAC
systems for college/university buildings, its very important to have a
strong partnership with the institution and a solid understanding of the
building facility teams capabilities
and resources. The best way to ensure
the operational success of a building with high-performance design

features is for the building facilities
team to have a full understanding of
their usage and maintenance. Without
this understanding, high-performance
systems have the liability to use more
energy than a standard system, and
poor operation can equate to shortened equipment life. If the engineer
can design a system that meets or
exceeds the requirements of the institution while also being a good fit for
the building facility team, the outcome
results in a design that delivers a quality HVAC system to the owner at a
good working value.
Read more at
www.csemag.com/archives about:
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Codes and standards
Electrical/lighting/power
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WHITE
PAPER
Emergency
power system basics:
Maintaining always-on power
for reliable healthcare
Thought leadership
White paper
In order to support critical life safety
Emergency power system basics:

Maintaining always-on power
for reliable healthcare
equipment, healthcare facilities need to

be prepared to withstand temporary or
I. Overview:
The importance of uninterrupted power
Table of contents
extended power outages.
I. Overview: The importance of uninterrupted power
II. Codes & standards:

A brief overview of industry requirements
National Fire Protection Association:

The fundamentals
The Joint Commision requirements in brief
Despite some of the worlds best technologies and strictest regulations, power outages from severe weather to utility failures to human
error, natural and national disasters remain a potential reality for the
healthcare industry.
For example, during Superstorm Sandy, 89 percent of the hospitals
in declared disaster areas experienced considerable challenges in
responding to the storm. That said, 93 percent of hospitals needed to
shelter in place and serve a multitude of functions during the storm.1
III. Overview of a complete emergency power system:

Essential components
4
Learn more about emergency power
Backup power sources:

Generators and uninterruptible power systems
Automatic transfer switches
Generator paralleling switchgear
System monitoring
IV. Best practices for emergency

power supply systems
system basics for maintaining

always-on power.
In order to support critical life safety equipment, healthcare facilities

need to be prepared to withstand temporary and extended outages.
Even extremely short power outages of a few seconds can compromise the health of individual patients and cause costly damage to
sensitive medical equipment and IT systems. Consequently, standby
power is required for all essential electrical systems (EESs), which
include evacuation/egress lighting, HVAC systems for patient care and
operating rooms, critical process equipment (such as medical imaging
devices) and fire suppression equipment to aid response teams in the
event of an emergency. Further, healthcare IT systems require back-up
power systems to support full functionality in the case of an extended
power outage.
Federal emergency management agency guidance
U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services Toolkit
Ongoing testing, inspection and maintenance
Scalability of systems for future growth
Capacity planning and simulation
Pre-crisis response planning
A two-part survey sponsored by the American Society for Healthcare

Engineering2 (ASHE) found that up to 17 percent of surveyed healthcare organizations experienced six or more outages between July 1,
2011 and June 30, 2014, which amounts to about one outage every
six months. Additionally, 5 percent of those surveyed reported 12 or
more utility outages during the same timeframe.
This data shows how important it is for healthcare organizations to
plan in advance for utility failures That planning needs to go beyond
the generator and cover the entire emergency power supply system.
It will not matter if the generators function if the overall emergency
electrical system surrounding it has not been tested, maintained and
updated.
V. References
This white paper will assist healthcare organizations in making

sound decisions to assure that the present and future power
needs of their facilities are met. It is intended to:
1 Provide an overview of the current code requirements
and standards for emergency power supply systems
2 Define what a complete emergency power supply
system looks like
3 Offer high-level guidance and best practices for supporting uninterrupted power during both long-and short term power outages
1
2
II. Codes & standards:

A brief overview of industry requirements
The foundation of our electrical codes and standards for healthcare
environments was written in an earlier era, when healthcare and
energy landscapes were vastly different. Healthcare facilities were
not experiencing as frequent and prolonged power outages from
severe weather events and an aging, taxed electrical grid. Much of
the ubiquitous medical equipment that supports our current healthcare system was not yet developed. Additionally, cybersecurity considerations and electronic health record technology were nonexistent.
Many other aspects of our healthcare system today require more
more power, more reliability, more efficiency and more security.
Beyond the evolution of basic electrical system considerations,
the role of rural and metro hospital systems has also changed considerably since the basic codes and standards were written. Although
the codes and standards enforced are identical, rural hospitals may
be the only healthcare facility for miles which necessitates the
ability to operate under back-up power for days or weeks at a time
should a regional disaster occur.
All that said, the codes and standards supporting emergency power
systems in healthcare facilities continue to improve and evolve.
This section briefly summarizes some of the current standard code
requirements healthcare facilities must comply with in terms of
assuring appropriate emergency power. The National Fire Protection
Association establishes the requirements for emergency power
supply systems, while the Joint Commission establish those
basic guidelines sets the guidelines for the inspection, testing
and maintenance of emergency power supply system equipment.
National Fire Protection Association: The fundamentals

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes form
the fundamental standards for emergency power systems.
The NFPA regularly publishes and updates several codes pertinent
to emergency electrical systems in healthcare facilities. These
include: NFPA 70, National Electrical Code (NFPA, 2014), NFPA 99,
Healthcare Facilities Code (NFPA, 2015), and NFPA 110, Standard
for Emergency and Standby Power Systems (NFPA, 2016).
NFPA 110, Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems
While the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) was founded
back at the turn of the nineteenth century, the fundamental standard
for the application and operation of emergency electrical systems
was not formed until 1976. The NFPA continues to evolve and is
reviewed on a three-year cycle, with the latest version (at the time
of writing) the 2016 edition.
NFPA 110 defines the performance requirements for both emergency and standby power systems that provide an alternate source
of electrical power to the healthcare facility. In the event that the
normal electrical power source fails, transition to backup equipment
must occur in a timely and reliable fashion. Systems addressed here
include power sources, transfer equipment, controls, supervisory
equipment and accessory equipment needed to supply electrical
power to the selected circuits.
This code requires for a routine maintenance and operational testing
program after the emergency power system passed acceptance
tests or after completion of repairs that impact the operational
reliability of that system.3 It also requires a defined, written
schedule for routine maintenance and testing of the emergency
power supply systems.
NFPA 110 presents installation, inspection, maintenance, operation,
and testing requirements as they pertain to the performance of the
Health Care Facilities Code Handbook: NFPA 8.3.2

Construction Activity in U.S. Hosptials, by Gloria J. Bazzoli, Anneliese Gerland,
Jessica May in Health Affairs, July 2016.
3
4
EPSS up to the load terminals of the transfer switch. It requires that

transfer switches be subjected to a maintenance and test program
that includes all of the following:
Checking connections
Inspection or testing for evidence of overheating and excessive

contact erosion
Removal of dust and dirt
Replacement of contacts when necessary
6.4 of NFPA 99 requires fresh air intake louvers to be placed in generator

rooms to provide unrestricted airflow to the generator. These louvers
are required to fail in the open position to ensure that airflow is not
restricted. However, louvers open to extremely low exterior temperatures
can rapidly introduce large volumes of cold air into the building that can
cause piping systems, domestic water systems, and fire suppression
systems to freeze and fail (FEMA 32). When considering these specifications, facilities based in extremely cold climates should also plan for the
fact that some systems, such as the battery systems for starting
emergency generators and controlling medium voltage electrical
switchgear, may be susceptible to additional climatic factors.
This document provides a classification structure for EPSS; and provides

guidance on energy sources, converters, inverters, and accessories;
transfer switches and protection equipment. Other topics covered
include installation and environmental considerations as well as routine
maintenance and operational testing.
NFPA 99 also provides guidelines regarding the operational aspects of

the healthcare facility in regard to emergency power. Healthcare facilities
are designated as Level IB operations. Additionally, both NFPA 99 and
NFPA 1600 define criteria for developing emergency management
programs in new and existing healthcare facilities.
Importantly, the first edition of the NFPA 110 code for emergency and
standard power supplies was published in 1985. That is about thirty-five
years of so after many hospitals in the U.S. were built; the financial
support provided by the Hill-Burton Act (1946) spurred the development
of hospitals across the U.S. in the late 1940s and early 1950s.4 The challenge was in applying the NFPA 110 requirements to existing systems.
Lastly, NFPA 99 requires the use of automatic transfer switches, which

by definition need to meet the industry standard for transfer switches:
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 1008.
NFPA 70 National Electrical Code

Most code requirements for emergency power are intended to assure
that individuals inside can evacuate the building quickly and safely.
Typically, this is required within a 90-minute to two-hour window of time.
Often, meeting the minimum building code requirements is not sufficient
for maintaining healthcare operations or services when an outage occurs.
NFPA 70 provides specific requirements for the installation of electrical
conductors, equipment, and raceways; signaling and communications
conductors, equipment, and raceways; and optical fiber cables and
raceways. A portion of the National Electrical Code (NEC) addresses
maintenance of electrical distribution system equipment in accordance
with manufacturers or industry standards. It also provides guidance
on specifying personal protective equipment (PPE) and electrical panel
labeling. When power issues occur, the NFPA 70 standards for protective
device coordination is a key element in ensuring that the system reacts
appropriately to prevent a small issue from becoming a major outage.
In addition to emergency power systems, standby systems are also
required of critical healthcare facilities under the NEC. Where emergency
systems typically assure egress lighting and power; standby systems
serve loads that support necessary heating and air conditioning systems
as well as sewage disposal and other industrial machinery on-site.
The Joint Commission requirements in brief

Two key aspects of The Joint Commission requirements are addressed
in this paper EC.02.05.03 and EC.02.05.07. The former addresses requirements for reliable emergency power source, while the latter addresses
the related inspection, testing and maintenance (and documentation)
requirements of emergency power systems. These requirements are
the basics to meet Joint Commission accreditation.
This Joint Commission code addresses the need for a reliable emergency
power source. In 2014 the Joint Commission issued new elements of
performance (EPs) and now requires hospitals to perform and submit
an inventory of their utility system, which includes the main electrical
distribution and emergency power systems.
With respect to emergency power management, NFPA 99 addresses

critical facility power distribution requirements for a wide range of
equipment, lighting and receptacles specific to healthcare. It spans
three branches within the emergency distribution system and describes
equipment for which emergency power must be provided as follows:
EC.02.05.07
This requirement fundamentally relates to the inspection, testing and
maintenance requirements of emergency power systems, however it
does not require that organizations have the various types of emergency
power systems identified in the code. Instead, it provides the guidance for
testing, maintenance and inspection for facilities that have this equipment.
1 An equipment branch, which is broken into equipment with

automatic connections or automatic or manual connections.
2 The critical branch primarily includes task lighting and select
receptacles; additional task illumination, receptacles, and select
power circuits needed for effective facility operation.
3 The life-safety branch is generally given the highest priority. It spans
egress lighting; exit signs and exit directional signs; communication
systems; generator set locations; elevator cab lighting, control and
communications; electrically powered doors used for egress; fire
alarms and auxiliary functions of fire alarm systems.
Requirements of special note are those regarding generator backup for
locations such as the operating rooms and medical labs. These requirements specify that, after detecting a power outage has occurred, the
generators must start and stabilize their output within a set number of
seconds (in most cases, 10 seconds). FEMA emphasizes that, Section
Additionally, under NFPA 101, operational inspection and testing of

emergency or standby power supply systems (EPSS) and components
is required weekly along with monthly load testing. Attention should
be paid to any related fuel systems, lubrication systems, cooling systems,
starting systems, controls and alarms, transfer switches and a variety
of general conditions. Testing documentation must be maintained.
EC.02.05.03
NFPA 99 Healthcare Facility Code

Broadly speaking, the scope of NFPA 99 is to establish criteria for levels
of healthcare services or systems based on risk to the patients, staff, or
visitors in healthcare facilities to minimize the hazards of fire, explosion,
and electricity.
EATON Emergency power system basics: Maintaining always-on power for reliable healthcare
NFPA 101, Life Safety Code

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) currently requires
healthcare facilities to comply with NFPA 101, Life Safety Code (NFPA,
2015). This code spans requirements for emergency power and emergency
lighting systems in both new and existing facilities. It also specifies
guidelines on such details as how long the generator should run and
how much fuel must be stored onsite.
The intention of this standard is to provide guidance for testing of emergency power systems so that these systems are less likely to fail during
a power disruption. Testing these systems for enough time and regularly
helps to increase the probability of identifying reliability issues and
reduces the risk of losing emergency power when it is needed.
It is also important to note Life Safety In May 2016, The Joint Commission
and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the
final rule on Fire Safety Requirements to amend the fire safety standards
for certain Medicaid and Medicare participating healthcare facilities. The
latest ruling requires that hospitals follow the 2012 versions of the Life
Safety Code and the NFPA 99 Healthcare Facilities Code. In large part,
the latest rule accepts much of the CMS 2014 proposals.5
Joint Commission EC.02.05.03

requires an inventory of the following
equipment or components:
III. Overview of a complete emergency power

system: Essential components
In order to implement a robust emergency power system, it is critical to understand and determine the optimal needs for a facility to
combat the loss of power. While code requirements provide a great
baseline or starting point, it is important to fully understand the
essential components of the entire system needed for maintaining
critical functions and operations.
1 Alarm systems
2 Exit route and exit sign illumination
3 Emergency communication systems
4 Elevators
5 Equipment that could cause
patient harm when it fails
6 Areas in which loss of power
could result in patient harm
Backup power sources:

Generators and uninterruptible power systems
Generator specification most often depends on the size of hospital
or facility, location, and ease of access to particular fuel types and
suppliers. Due to capacity, most hospitals typically employ diesel
or gasoline generators. It is also common to see generator quick
connect switchboards used in tandem with temporary generators
that also run on gasoline.
Joint Commission EC.02.05.07 elements

of performance include the following
testing and related documentation:
1 Every 30 days, functional testing of batterypowered lights required for egress for at least
a 30-second duration
2 Every 12 months, functional testing of batterypowered lights required for egress for a duration of 1.5 hours or the replacement of all batteries every 12 months and the random testing of 10 percent of all batteries for 1.5 hours
3 Every quarter, functional testing of stored
emergency power supply systems for
five minutes or as specified for its class.
Additionally, annual testing at full load for
60 percent of the full duration of its class.
4 Twelve times a year, at intervals of not less
than 20 days and not more than 40 days, the
hospital must test each emergency generator
for at least 30 continuous minutes
5 The emergency generator tests are conducted
with a dynamic load that is at least 30 percent
of the nameplate ratings of the generator or
meets manufacturers recommendations
6 Twelve times a year, at intervals of not less
than 20 days and not more than 40 days,
the hospital must test its automatic transfer
switches
The other alternative for generators is the turbine generator, typically

powered by natural gas. Gas-turbine generator sets are generally
lighter in weight than diesel engine-generator sets, run more quietly,
and generally require less cooling and combustion air, leading to
lower installation costs. However, gas-turbine generator sets are
more expensive than diesel engine-generator sets, and require more
starting time (normally around 30 s compared to the 10-15 seconds
for diesels).
The long starting-time requirement and lack of available small sizes
(< 500 kW) makes the gas-turbine generators infeasible in some
applications. Generator installations must consider the combustion
and cooling air required by the generator and prime mover, as well
as the provisions for the removal of exhaust gasses. Noise abatement must also be considered.
These considerations increase the installation costs, especially
for reciprocating-engine units such as diesel or gasoline engines.
Further, the fuel supply must be considered; building code and
insurance considerations may force the fuel storage tank to be
well removed from the generator(s), usually forcing the addition
of a fuel transfer tank near the generator(s).
Care must be taken when sizing engine-generator sets for a given
application since several ratings exist for the output capability of a
given machine. The continuous rating is typically the output rating
of the engine-generator set on a continuous basis with a non-varying
load. The prime power rating is typically the continuous output rating
with varying load. The standby rating is typically the output rating
for a limited period of time with varying load. The manufacturer
must be consulted to define the capabilities of a given unit.
7 At least once every 36 months, hospitals

with a generator providing emergency
power test those generators for at least
4 continuous hours
8 The 36-month generator test uses a dynamic
or static load that is at least 30 percent of the
nameplate rating of the generator or meets
manufacturers recommendations
Generator circuit protection

Generator circuits have unique characteristics that require specially
designed and tested circuit breakers. The IEEE developed the special
industry standard C37.013 and amendment C37.013a-2007, to address
these characteristics.
9 If a required emergency power system test

fails, the hospital must implement measures
to protect patients, visitors and staff until
the repairs are made
Applications with high continuous current levels require connections

with large conductors of very low impedance. This construction
causes unique fault current and voltage conditions. When selecting
generator circuit breakers, make sure they are able to handle these
high continuous current levels without overheating.
10 If a required emergency power system

test fails, the hospital performs a retest
after making repairs
5
Accreditation: CMS, Joint Commission adopt 2012 NFPA 101 Life Safety Code,
Joint Commission Online, May 11, 2016.
For reciprocating engines, diesel engines are the most popular

choice of generators compared to other forms of power and the
relative ease of application. Gasoline engine generator sets are also
available and are generally less expensive than diesel generator sets,
but suffer from the disadvantages of higher operating costs, greater
fuel storage hazards and shorter fuel storage life as compared to
diesel. Diesel engines can also run on natural gas, although for
maximum efficiency specially-tuned engines for natural gas use are
available.
Additionally, generator circuits typically produce very fast rates of

rise of recovery voltage (RRRV) due to the high natural frequency
and low impedance and very low stray capacitance. The voltages
across the open contacts can be as high as twice the rated line-to
ground voltage of the system. Circuit breakers intended for generator protection must comply with IEEE standard through testing
that the generator circuit breaker can switch under specified
out-of phase conditions.
Supercapacitor-based energy storage modules are designed for

applications that require high-power density, fast discharge and
quicker recharging capabilities. Additionally, the technology can
help avoid the costs associated with the ongoing maintenance,
replacement and disposal fees related to lead acid batteries.
Uninterruptible power systems and energy storage devices
An automatic transfer switch switches the critical and life safety

loads from the normal utility source to the alternate standby power
source. This is accomplished with an automatic transfer switch (ATS)
which is defined in NFPA 110 as, self-acting equipment for transferring one or more load conductor connections from one power
source to another. The industry standard governing the construction
and minimum performance criteria for transfer switch equipment
is UL1008.
Because motor starting and block loading can have a big effect on
the output voltage and also because power is not available during
the engine starting period, a buffer between the generators and
sensitive load equipment is generally required.
Uninterruptible power systems (UPSs) are a common buffer of
choice for these applications. UPSs are available in several different
topologies, but the operational goals are the same regardless of
topology: The supply of uninterrupted power to sensitive, critical
loads. This uninterrupted power must also be supplied during a
utility outage, which can be accomplished by utilizing chemical
energy storage, such as batteries or supercapacitors or mechanical
storage such as flywheels. These options vary in cost, backup time
and required maintenance.
The most popular topology for a UPS is the double conversion
topology. As long as the batteries are properly maintained, the AC
output should not be affected by change in frequency or voltage,
or even a complete loss, at the input, when backup time of the UPS
is not exceeded. Other topologies exist, including the line interactive,
double-conversion rotary, hybrid rotary, and line-interactive rotary
topologies, each with advantages and disadvantages of application.
UPS systems do not alleviate the need for a generator or second
utility service power source, but they do serve to buffer critical
loads from the effects of generator starting time and voltage and
frequency variations.
When selecting a UPS, calculating backup battery runtime is critical.
In the event the backup generator does not start, the facility must
be prepared to move to plan B immediately. For this reason, it
is important to know in advance exactly how much battery backup
is in place.
First, consider how much backup time is needed in normal
outages where the generator set starts successfully. Is 30 seconds
enough to transition to alternative power sources should a generator
failure occur? These needs should be assessed carefully.
Additionally, it is important to note that batteries lose capacity over
time. A five year-old battery will only have 80 percent of its original
capacity. Will that be enough? If not, one needs to oversize their
new battery by about 20 percent. You should also realize it typically
takes about 10 times the outage duration to recharge the battery.
For example a 10-minute power outage will require 100 minutes
to recharge the battery.
Facility managers should avoid UPS systems that reply on trickle
charging, as it has the potential to reduce a batterys service life
by as much as 50 percent. Instead, opt for UPSs that leverage
advanced battery management (ABM) technology. This approach
uses sensing circuitry and an innovative three-stage charging
technique to extend battery service life and optimize recharge time.
ABM-enabled UPSs can help improve efficiency to 99 percent; the
decrease in energy consumption means that these systems canpay
for themselves in a short time. These highly efficient systems put
out less heat as well, which means that the facilitys cooling costs
might be simultaneously lowered.
Providing another alternative, modern supercapacitor solutions are
now available, which provide fast discharge and a high degree of
reliability compared to lead-acid batteries in storage and back up
systems. Supercapacitor-based modules can provide a longer life
than batteries and improve power quality during voltage spikes
and brownouts.
Automatic transfer switches
In its most basic form, an ATS consists of a switching mechanism

and an intelligent control system capable of sensing the normal
supply voltage and initiating a transfer to the alternate source
should the normal source fail. There are many options available
to the engineer when specifying transfer switches in the
healthcare environment.
Standards help to establish minimum performance criteria, but
the varying construction types and available options require
well-educated decisions. It is important to understand the needs
of your facility because over-specifying could result in a very
reliable but costly design. On the other hand, under-specifying
could result in a less expensive design that does not meet code,
safety, and reliability requirements especially for the long run.
Because automatic transfer switches are designed to continuously
carry the critical loads they serve, understanding the major
construction types and features is required to make the right
selection minimizing the potential for misapplication.
The major construction types and features can be grouped into
switching mechanism, operation, transition, bypass and automatic
controls. A more detailed discussion of these groupings can be
found in the Eaton white paper, Transfer Switch 101 An introductory guide to picking the right transfer switch for your equipment.6
For simplified maintenance and improved uptime, bypass isolation
automatic transfer switches are a recent advancement that provide
dual switching functionality and redundancy for critical applications.
The primary switching mechanism (or automatic transfer switch)
handles the day-to-day distribution of electrical power to the load,
while the secondary switching mechanism (or automatic bypass)
serves as a backup or redundant device.
During repair or maintenance procedures, these devices allow
service personal to bypass power around the automatic transfer
switch through the automatic bypass to ensure that critical loads
remain powered without interruption. When in the automatic bypass
mode of operation, the control system continues to monitor the
normal power source and will automatically initiate a transfer to the
alternate source should the normal source fail. A bypass isolation
transfer switch is frequently selected for use in healthcare, as well
as in other critical applications, because it provides increased reliability through redundancy and allows the primary switching mechanism
to be isolated from the power source(s) to facilitate regular maintenance, inspection and testing as required by code such as NFPA 110.
Furthermore, bypass isolation ATSs typically include an enhanced
feature set designed to simplify maintenance and serviceability,
including draw-out of one or both switching mechanisms, compartmentalized construction and safety interlocks. In some cases local
or state code, like the California Electric Code, require the use of a
bypass isolation ATS in specific facility types such as hospitals and
correctional treatment centers.
Per NFPA 99, the essential electrical system in a healthcare facility

shall be divided into three branches (life safety, critical, equipment)
and the division between the branches shall occur at the transfer
switches. The number of transfer switches used is based on a
variety of considerations including characteristics of the load. Life
safety includes lighting, signage, electrical door, communication and
elevator control loads associated with emergency egress. The critical
branch serves circuits associated with patient care like tissue banks,
nurse call stations, and intensive care units. The equipment branch
includes a higher percentage of inductive load types like pumps,
suction systems, and ventilation typically requiring a transfer switch
with higher amperage rating as compared to the life safety and critical branches.
As legacy ATS solutions either require maintenance personnel to
work on live equipment or require downtime to turn equipment off,
the branch division outlined in NFPA 99, NFPA 110 maintenance
requirements and critical need for continuous uptime often result in
the specification of bypass isolation ATS for use in new construction
or retrofit projects.
Generator paralleling switchgear

Intelligent communication solutions that interface with generators,
switchgear, ATSs and UPSs can help manage critical transitions from
the utility company power to an on-site generator and back again.
Switchgear and transfer equipment that provides momentary overlap
of power sources eliminates power interruptions when returning
to the normal source, and those facilities whose electrical demand
outstrips the capacity of a single generator will need to consider
components with active generator paralleling at the switchgear.
Intelligent communication features that are integrated with generators, switchgear, ATSs and UPSs carry a host of associated benefits
including matching available capacity to actual load, adding or shedding loads based on generation capacity, and centralizing all relevant
alarms and status at a single interface point
Efficient communication from the emergency system is imperative
to maintain system reliability and preserve lives in healthcare facilities. System alerts can be managed through individual components,
centralized within advanced switchgear or transmitted to a building
management system. With microprocessor-based controls, generator paralleling switchgear can respond to load changes faster, react
to a wide variety of conditions and work with the UPS, saving time
and improving system reliability during an emergency.
For example, some UPS manufacturers offer remote monitoring and
management as a subscription service that collects and analyzes
data from connected power infrastructure devices, providing the
insight needed to make recommendations and take action on
your behalf.
These offers are most often available in a dashboard platform
or mobile application with monthly reports detailing data on the
ongoing health and energy savings of your UPS. This data delivers
information on your units voltages, loads, and external factors such
as temperature and humidity, depending on the model.
Additionally, the data provides information about the attached batteries and system availability. All of these factors contribute to a performance index score that allows you to compare your units health
relative to optimum UPS operating levels.
System monitoring
Federal Emergency Management Agency Guidance
The information available through real-time electrical power management system (EPMS) can provide the central intelligence needed to
drive improvements in power reliability, energy efficiency, maintenance practices and safety. Based on historical electrical generation
and distribution data and reporting, facility managers can more
effectively allocate where and when proactive maintenance dollars
should be spent.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency emphasizes that we

are more vulnerable to power outages, data loss, and losing the
sheer ability to manage operations (FEMA 53). It also recognizes
the potential for loss of utility power for extended time periods and
the necessity for critical facilities to have access to reliable sources
of power to continue operation.
By utilizing modern EPMS platforms, organizations can go a step

further to proactively access vital performance details including
circuit loading, peak demand, and equipment status. Such systems
also give organizations the ability to proactively set hundreds of
alarms that warn building management of underperforming equipment and conditions threatening uptime.
Going a step further, these metrics can be used to simplify Joint
Commission testing. By arranging for reports including user-specified statistics to be automatically arranged at predefined intervals,
organizations can quickly reduce the time and labor needed to
produce and verify reporting documentation.
Additionally, these systems can prove beneficial for event analysis.
If a full power outage occurs, the ability to trace the events that
led to the failure is key in protecting against liabilities. Electrical
systems must be maintained properly to avoid poor performance,
abnormalities or outages and failures. When regular event analysis is
integrated well with proactive maintenance, problem equipment can
be identified well before it fails.
IV. Best practices for

Emergency Power Supply Systems
Illustrating the importance of viewing emergency power supply
systems as complete, integrated systems, ASHE compared the
results from a recent survey to a prior study following Superstorm
Sandy and found that while the duration of utility outages is shrinking, frequency appears to be increasing. There were 370 outages
reported by 258 respondents in the recent essential electrical
systems survey, versus 139 outages reported by 390 respondents
during the Superstorm Sandy Survey.
ASHE concluded that of the 5,686 registered hospitals in the US,
each facility can expect to face at least one utility outage per year.
The majority of these outages will last from under one hour up to
8 hours. But even in outages that last under one hour, ASHE notes
that 2,497 intensive care unit (ICU) patients are likely to be impacted
in potentially life-threatening ways.
This data proves that, in order to ensure effective response against
potential outages, it is vital to take a comprehensive view of emergency power supply systems as an integrated asset rather than
focusing on just the requirements of individual components such
as generators. By designing and managing these components as
interworking systems, organizations are much less likely to run into
issues during an outage and can better prepare their facilities to
provide uninterrupted power for critical care units.
Further, these services can inform you when critical events are
experienced. Anomalies are checked in incoming parametric or event
data logs, upon receipt of a status or event email, respectively. If
an anomaly is detected, a customer support specialist can further
analyze the data for possible impending failures. These services
most often rely on a connectivity card and an environmental monitoring probe (EMP) attached to your UPS.
FEMA defines critical facilities as those that are essential for the
delivery of vital services or protection of a community (FEMA 54).
All healthcare facilities are thus considered critical due to their basic
life-supporting nature. As critical facilities, all healthcare sites must
include an emergency power system to minimize both downtime
and the related potential for loss of life. It should be noted that,
at the local level, many smaller healthcare and private business
facilities including nursing homes and assisted living facilities
may also be considered critical by the local, regional, state or
federal guidelines.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Toolkit

Beyond the FEMA guidance and the NFPA and Joint Commission
guidelines, there are numerous other resources available to help
establish and maintain critical power systems. The U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services Sustainable and Climate Resilient
Health Care Facilities Initiative (SCRHCFI) is one of those resources
and provides guidance on how to maintain the quality of health and
human care before, during and after an extreme weather event. The
SCRHCFI Best Practices guide7 is included in a web-based toolkit
and framework that includes a vulnerability assessment for medical
facilities as well as suggestions for resilience, checklists and other
resources to encourage real-world best practices for supporting
power reliability even when the power grid may be down.
Ongoing testing, inspection and maintenance

Regular testing and inspection of high-value electrical equipment is
vital and allows staff to determine whether adverse environmental
changes or equipment changes have occurred that should be
corrected to maintain desired reliability.
As the demands on healthcare facilities continues to change due
to advancements in treatment technology, power systems will also
need updated. Many hospitals operate with power equipment that is
decades past its useful life. In those cases, enhanced inspection and
maintenance are critical to continued dependable operation. Retrocommissioning can play a large role in this process. This systematic
process involves identifying less-than-optimal performance in your
facilitys equipment and systems and making the necessary adjustments. While retrofitting involves replacing outdated equipment,
retro-commissioning focuses on improving the efficiency of whats
already in place.
7
Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Health Care Facilities Toolkit, U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services Sustainable and Climate Resilient Health Care
Facilities Initiative, December 2015.
This knowledge could prove critical in planning for infrastructure or

systems investments, helps to avoid unnecessary expenditure, and
simplifies power chain adjustments in support of changing loads
ultimately allowing building management to plan for future requirements more reliably.
Annual infrared thermographic scanning of electrical power equipment is also a recommended best practice. It helps organizations
to discover potential problem areas and correct them before they
develop into dangerous and disruptive failures. It also can be used
as a predictive maintenance tool.
Pre-crisis response planning
Electrical power equipment maintenance is a best practice, but is

hard to accomplish within health care facilities. The 2012 American
Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) management monograph
titled Managing Hospital Electrical Shutdowns contains a robust
discussion of issues and recommendations related to this topic.
Disaster preparedness is not the sole responsibility of government;

facility owners and operators have an obligation as part of the whole
community to plan and prepare for catastrophic events. The social
needs of a community are supported by buildings and utilities that
also need to remain functional. In particular, critical facilities need
to define performance goals for desired levels of functionality for
immediate, short term, and long term recovery plans (FEMA 53).
NFPA 70: National Electrical Code, access to the 2014 edition of NPFA 70.
Testing and exercises are a critical component of any disaster

preparedness and business continuity program. Exercises are
designed to evaluate program plans, procedures and capabilities,
and they provide a standardized methodology to practice procedures
and interact with other entities in a controlled setting. They should
be conducted on a regular basis so that required preparedness and
response capabilities can be established and maintained (FEMA 58).
Joint Commission Update, by Susan B. McLaughlin FASHE, CHFM, CHSP,

in Health Facilities Management, October 1, 2014.
To provide additional assistance for facility managers in compliance

with the testing mandates of NFPA, healthcare market-specific
generator controls are available with features that automate this
testing and reporting, as well as incorporating those times when
the generators are run in the absence of available utility power
that can be applied to meet the testing requirements.
Scalability of systems for future growth

One of the best ways to get the most value, assurance and reliability
out of an emergency power system investment is to practice rightsizing the equipment. FEMA states directly that careful disaster
management planning will help ensure that the emergency power
system is adequately sized to provide the required of level of electrical service, and that this power can be reliably maintained for the
necessary period of time (FEMA 21).
Once critical functions are identified, the building systems required

to support the critical functions can be identified, along with their
electrical power requirements. The plan should take into account the
changes in normal operational procedures that will be implemented
in the event of a disaster, which may serve to reduce the electrical
power demands (FEMA 21).
Proactive maintenance performance contracts:

Overview and importance
Capacity planning and simulation

One can never fully predict future needs accurately. But a good way
to preserve the facilitys readiness is to pursue investments that add
greater agility and flexibility.
For example, while the extra capacity of an oversized UPS is expensive and might never be used; scalable, modular systems are available on the market today, which allow organizations to pay as they
grow. Oversized branch circuit switches can be installed to allow
for future expansion with larger fuses. This is one viable approach
to assuring that critical processes are not disrupted while system
upgrades are underway.
Similar approaches with expansion ready switchgear with spare

distribution and/or generation breaker provisions and generator
control space can avoid substantial retrofit costs as the facility
grows.
Similarly, some modern EPMS platforms are available that offer tools
for capacity management, simulation and planning across an entire
power system.
These features allow users to test the impact of momentary electrical load increases, set capacity thresholds and model potential
system upgrades prior to the addition of new electrical equipment to help reduce the risk of unplanned downtime and ensure
adequate system protection.
There are a wide range of EPMS solutions on the market that are
designed to help track energy usage over time. However, when
addressing the future it may be best to look for a platform that can
also immediately inform facility management of peak levels and
project future demands based on past usage.
A long path to recovery, National Center for Disaster Preparedness,

October 29, 2014.
Hospital emergency preparedness and response during Superstorm Sandy,
Office of Inspector General, Report OEI-06-13-02260.
Without a disaster plan in place, a facility could suffer irreversible

harm from events both near and farPerformance goals for recovery
plans should address the role of a critical facility within the community (FEMA 53-54).
Keeping the power on: the importance of reliable EES, presented at ASHEs
2015 conference by Jonathan Flannery CHFM, FASHE, MHSA.
NFPA 110: Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems,
access to the 2016 edition of NFPA 110.
NFPA 99: Health Care Facilities Code, access to the 2015 edition of NFPA 99.
NFPA 101: Life Safety Code, access to the 2015 edition of NFPA 101.
Construction Activity in U.S. Hosptials, by Gloria J. Bazzoli,

Anneliese Gerland, Jessica May in Health Affairs, July 2016.
Joint Commission and CMS adopt 2012 NFPA 101 Life Safety Code,
The Joint Commission News Release, June 7, 2016.
Accreditation: CMS, Joint Commission adopt 2012 NFPA 101 Life Safety
Code, Joint Commission Online, May 11, 2016.
Joint Commission Resources: Hospital Accreditation Standards:
FEMA reminds organizations that disaster planning and recovery

plans should take special care to account for generator maintenance,
testing, and repair (both preventive and during the event). Audit
existing systems regularly to identify possible issues and areas for
improvement. Repair or replace key components before they fail.
Minimize downtime during maintenance. Consideration should be
given to the proximity of available manufacturers service technicians
and parts warehousing for both routine and emergency services.
EC.02.05.03
EC.02.05.07
Prepublication requirements, The Joint Commission, issued August 21, 2014.
Emergency power systems for critical facilities: a best practices approach to
improving reliability, FEMA P-1019, September 2014.
Around-the-clock reliable power, Eaton 2013.
Closing thoughts
Healthcare facilities require a safe, reliable source of power. A wide
range of industry organizations set numerous standards to help
outline the characteristics behind a robust, compliant emergency
power system. However, maintaining and developing these systems
can pose a major challenge for healthcare system designers.
Because of the critical nature of healthcare emergency power
systems, Eaton highly recommends working with qualified and
trusted professionals to assist with planning, design, selection,
installation, compliance and maintenance processes. Backed by
years of practical expertise, emergency power system experts can
help simplify the task of making intelligent infrastructure decisions
and helping healthcare facilities can achieve compliance with federal,
state and local regulations. Most of all, working with a trusted team
of professionals provides the peace of mind of knowing that critical
processes will be supported with the highest levels of continuity
and reliability possible, despite the inevitable possibility of power
interruptions.
For additional information, please

visit www.eaton.com/healthcare
Building health care sector resilience, U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit.

Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Health Care Facilities Toolkit, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services Sustainable and Climate Resilient
Health Care Facilities Initiative, December 2015.
Transfer switch 101: an introductory guide to picking the right transfer switch
for your environment,1 by Charlie Hume, product line sales engineer, Eaton,
March 2015.
Eaton
1000 Eaton Boulevard
Cleveland, OH 44122
United States
Eaton.com
2016 Eaton
All Rights Reserved
Printed in USA
Publication No. WP083026EN / ETN-DG
July 2016
Register to download now: www.csemag.com/EmergencyPowerWhitepaper

V. References
Emergency power systems must meet the minimum inspection,

testing and maintenance requirements stipulated in NFPA 110,
Standard for Emergency and Standby Power Systems. Additionally,
when testing for NPFA and Joint Commission standards, it is important to arrange the time needed for shutdowns to perform necessary preventative maintenance, as well as equipment and controls
modernization.
For example, facility managers can take daily power-consumption

trends into account to alter electrical loads electrical equipment can
be powered down when not needed. Or, the technology can be
used to simulate the addition of new equipment to determine
if adequate backup power capacity exists.
6
Transfer switch 101: an introductory guide to picking the right transfer switch for
your environment, by Charlie Hume, product line sales engineer, Eaton, March 2015.
FEMA P-1019
FEMA provides guidance on the design and operation of emergency
power systems in critical facilities so they are able to maintain operations for extended periods even when the utility grid is off. FEMA
P-1019 discusses associated mitigation strategies and code requirements intended to mitigate these vulnerabilities in a range of critical
facilities (including hospitals and other healthcare facilities).
Report OEI-06-13-00260
Inside ASHE, Winter 2014
Eaton is a registered trademark.

All other trademarks are property
of their respective owners.
Follow us on social media to get the

latest product and support information.
Codes & Standards
Evaluating
condensation and condensate

Learn methods to capture, control, dispose, and derive
the condensation requirements within HVAC systems.
BY MATT DOLAN, PE, LEED AP, JBA Consulting Engineers, Macau, China
ondensation is one of the simplest and most

recognizable displays of psychrometrics in
our daily lives. Most people can remember in their childhood seeing the sweating of
a soda can or on the outside of an ice-cold glass
of water on a summer day. At that time, we didnt
understand the physical factors behind this display. Mostly, we just tried to keep the glass from
dripping on ourselves or on our mothers table.
From a mechanical engineering practice in
commercial buildings, condensation and con-
densate are found as part of the air and water

systems. This article focuses on the air- and
water-side components as they relate to the air
conditioning. We typically refer to condensation as it forms on building elements (diffusers, windows, mirrors, etc.) and condensate as
it forms on HVAC cooling coils (fan coil units,
air handling units, etc.). These two are closest
in relation and are due to the same psychrometric points used to provide conditioned air
to a space.
Learning
objectives
Evaluate the code requirements for condensate pipe
sizing and how to adapt these
for additional use.
Analyze psychrometrics
and how this impacts condensation on building interiors and exteriors.
Illustrate dew point and
how supply air temperatures
impact condensation within
buildings.
Explain the code requirements of cooling coil installations above ceilings.
Figure 1: This psychrometric chart uses Macau,

China, design conditions
for outside air and inside
air with 50% outside air.
All graphics courtesy:
JBA Consulting Engineers
www.csemag.com
21
Codes & Standards

Basics of psychrometrics
Condensate is water that is drawn

out of the air stream as it passes
through the cooling coil to reach the
required leaving-air temperature for
space conditioning. It forms as air is
cooled beyond its dew point where the
dry bulb (DB) temperature equals the
wet bulb (WB) temperature (see Figure
1). This figure indicates the standard
psychrometric state points for air conditioning within Macau, China. This
area possesses a high WB temperature
and relative humidity year-round and
especially during the summer months.
These conditions result in a significantly higher condensate flow rate and
formation of condensation on building
elements present in other areas, such
as Las Vegas.
The quantity of water condensed out
of the airstream is equal to the difference in water mass flow rate between the
two state points. In the case of Figure 1,
condensate forms as the air is sensibly
cooled from the mixed-air temperature

(MAT) state point of (83.4F DB/73.9F
WB) down to the respective dew point
of 70.1F. At this point, the air cannot
be cooled further with the same quantity of moisture present (under standard
HVAC conditions). The humidity ratio
and absolute humidity must decrease to
maintain the air state point within the
bounds of the psychrometric chart. As
the air moves down the saturation line to
the leaving air temperature (LAT) 51.8F
DB/51.3F WB) a mass flow rate of water
is condensed out of the air.
The quantity of water formed into condensate is determined from the following
physical properties of the airstream:
Mass of moisture in the air as
part of the humidity ratio at
each point between the mixedair temperature and leaving-air
temperature (kilogram/kilogram
or pounds/pound of moisture per
unit of dry air): W
Specific volume of the air

(cubic meter/kilogram or cubic
foot/lbm): V
Airflow rate of supply air being
cooled from the mixed-air condition to the leaving-air condition
off the cooling coil (liters/second
or cfm): Q
condensate flow rate
unit of supply air
= W *
Q
V
The equation will produce a flow rate in

mass per unit of time by default (seconds
or minutes based upon the airflow rate).
This is due to the specific volume factor,
but it can be easily converted to a water
flow rate in l/s or gallons per minute by
converting from mass to volume of water
(1l = 1 kg and 1 gal = 8.34 lbm). Along
with these volumetric flow rates, we can
derive the code requirements and better
explain the correlation between refrigeration tons (kilowatts) and condensate pipe
Figure 2: A psychrometric chart

for an indoor spa/
pool area uses
Macau, China,
design conditions and 50%
outside air.
22
www.csemag.com
sizing, which will be discussed in greater

depth later in this article.
Code requirements
Below are excerpts taken from the

2015 International Mechanical Code
(IMC), which directly relate to equipment requirements, pipe sizing, routing,
and termination.
307.2 Evaporators and cooling coils:
Condensate drain systems shall be provided for equipment and appliances containing evaporators or cooling coils. Condensate drain systems shall be designed,
constructed, and installed in accordance
with Sections 307.2.1 through 307.2.5.
Exception: Evaporators and cooling
coils that are designed to operate in sensible cooling only and not support condensation shall not be required to meet
the requirements of this section.
307.2.1 Condensate disposal: Condensate from all cooling coils and
evaporators shall be conveyed from the
drain pan outlet to an approved place
of disposal. Such piping shall maintain
a minimum horizontal slope in the
direction of discharge of not less than
1
8-unit vertical in 12-units horizontal
(1% slope). Condensate shall not discharge into a street, alley, or other areas
so as to cause a nuisance.
307.2.2 Drainpipe materials and
sizes: Components of the condensate disposal system shall be cast iron, galvanized
steel, copper, cross-linked polyethylene,
polyethylene, ABS, CPVC, PVC (polyvinyl chloride), or polypropylene pipe or
tubing. Components shall be selected for
the pressure and temperature rating of
the installation. Joints and connections
shall be made in accordance with the
applicable provisions of Chapter 7 of the
International Plumbing Code relative to
the material type. Condensate waste and
drain line size shall be not less than 34-in.
internal diameter and shall not decrease
in size from the drain pan connection to
the place of condensate disposal. Where
the drainpipes from more than one unit
are manifolded together for condensate
drainage, the pipe or tubing shall be sized
www.csemag.com
Figure 3: This shows water condensing on the exterior of windows due to the glass temperature being lower than the dew point of the ambient air conditions in Macau, China.
in accordance with Table 307.2.2. Please

review Table 307.2.2 for specific refrigeration tonnage and condensate piping
sizes.
The condensate drain piping must
be provided with a U-type trap prior
to being indirectly drained into the
approved receptor (floor sink, planter,
etc.). The trap height is as required to
compensate for the negative fan pressure in draw-through units and allow for
draining of condensate without backing
up into the drain pan itself. This liquid
trap prevents air from entering or leaving
the equipment casing while allowing for
condensate to drain away from the unit.
Condensate pumping for
HVAC equipment
An accepted design method that is

not directly noted within the code is
the usage of condensate pumps to move
condensate up from a low level or reduce
the piping slope impact within a ceiling
space. These pumps are used in both
floor- and ceiling-mounted installations
where the discharge level of the condensate pipe is not able to gravity-drain to
the adjacent condensate main lines or
indirect drain receptor.
These pumps are commonly electrically powered, include a reservoir of 1
gal or less, and fitted with a check valve
at the pump discharge to prevent con-
densate from flowing back into the pump

reservoir after the pump shuts off. The
pumped condensate piping typically
matches the gravity piping and connects
to the top of the main line at its connection point to prevent gravity condensate
from flowing back into the pumped line
and better direct its flow path.
Condensate pumps are low-flow and
higher head units for their size and are
selected for open-system requirements
(the pump head is selected to overcome
the friction losses in the piping as well
as the static height of water necessary to
reach the discharge point).
Two important items to review when
determining which pump can be applied
to a specific design are noise of the pump
operation and pump construction.
As the condensate pumps operate intermittently to remove liquid
from the associated reservoir, the
noise they produce during operation
is more pronounced to occupants.
Intermittent noise is typically more
noticeable to people rather than continuous noise (provided they are at
equal and relatively low levels). The
continuous noise will fade into the
background over a period of time,
while intermittent noise will be
noticed each time the level changes
during the same period. This issue
23
Codes & Standards

typically prevents condensate pump
usage within private offices, guest
rooms, spa treatment rooms, or
other areas where an occupant will
be present for longer periods and
will notice changes in background
noise level.
Pump construction is of greatest concern for pump installations in noncombustible-construction building returnair plenums (International Building
Code, IBC, Type 1A, for example). For
large buildings with return-air plenums, plenum-rated or noncombustible (metallic) construction is typically
necessary to comply with the building
code requirements. This limits the
specific types of condensate pumps to
serve equipment installed in the plenum, as some brands and types are
only provided with ABS or similar tank
construction. This type of construction
does not meet the flame-spread and
smoke-developed index requirements
as noted within ASTM E84 and referenced within the IMC/IBC.
Calculations of the IMC requirements
The condensate drainpipe sizing indicated in table 307.2.2 provides code

compliance and a conservative analysis
with combining systems onto main lines.
This table is extremely useful and fills
the requirements for most system types,
but in large buildings, main condensate
risers or pipes can exceed the tonnages
listed and require extrapolation to determine the associated pipe size. Using the
formula identified in the previous psychrometric example for the flow rate of
condensate per unit of supply air, we can
determine the anticipated allowable cooling load that can be accommodated by
piping larger than 2 in.
Using the psychrometric state points
from Figure 1, the anticipated condensate
flow rate is 0.012 gpm/ton. When combined with the gravity-flow limitations
of horizontal piping sloped at the coderequired 1%, this results in approximately
42 tons of load for a -in. pipe size. This
is too large a load for the given pipe size,
as the code values should not be exceeded, but it helps to illustrate the minimal
flow that is achieved from a cooling coil

even at 50% outside air in a humid climate. Even at 100% outside air with the
Macau design condition, the gallon per
minute per ton is similar. The reason for
this is as the differences in humidity ratio
increase, the quantity of supply air for 1
ton (12,000 Btu or 3.5 kW) of refrigeration decreases. The common 400 cfm/
ton decreases down close to 100 cfm/ton
at full outside-air load (due to the high
latent load and enthalpy present in the
outside airstream).
Using the code-required tons of refrigeration per pipe size as a control, we can
infer that the gallon per minute per ton is
closer to 0.025. With this value, along with
specified friction factors and velocities of
condensate in the horizontal piping system, we can extrapolate the table shown
in Table 1. In addition to the refrigeration capacity per pipe size, an equivalent
chilled-water flow rate has been included
using a 14F water-temperature differential. This has been useful on past hotel
tower projects where the condensate
piping follows the chilled-water risers to
Table 1: Condensate values

Condensate pipe sizing
(0.1 ft/100 ft and 1.0 fps)
Equivalent CHS/R
flow rate 14F T
Tons
Pipe
gpm
kW
Pipe
L/s
L/s
gpm
20
3/4
0.5
70.32
20
0.03
2.16
34.29
36
0.9
126.57
25
0.06
3.89
61.71
76
1 1/4
1.9
267.21
32
0.12
8.22
130.29
116
1 1/2
2.9
407.85
40
0.18
12.55
198.86
232
5.8
815.70
50
0.37
25.09
397.71
380
2 1/2
9.5
1,336.07
65
0.60
41.10
651.43
684
17.1
2,404.92
80
1.08
73.98
1,172.57
1,432
35.8
5,034.87
100
2.26
154.88
2,454.86
3,600
90.0
12,657.49
150
5.68
389.36
6,171.43
6,236
155.9
21,925.58
200
9.84
674.45
10,690.29
9,828
10
245.7
34,554.94
250
15.50
1,062.94
16,848.00
14,100
12
352.5
49,575.15
300
22.24
1,524.98
24,171.43
17,188
14
429.7
60,432.46
350
27.11
1,858.96
29,465.14
22,772
16
569.3
80,065.63
400
35.92
2,462.90
39,037.71
Table 1: Shown are calculated values of condensate for pipe sizes similar to those provided within the 2015 International Mechanical Code. The right column shows chilled water supply flow rate.
24
www.csemag.com
serve guest-room fan coil risers, which

allows the designer to size both the chilled
water and condensate piping simultaneously with a single equivalent flow rate
(though small fan coils typically can
only achieve approximately a 12F watertemperature differential).
Cooling coils installed above ceilings
In the 2015 IMC, section 307.2.3 also

details specific requirements for cooling coils installed above ceilings, which
have a direct impact on the ceiling design
aesthetics, maintenance, and occupant
impact to the space.
307.2.3 Auxiliary and secondary drain
systems: In addition to the requirements
of Section 307.2.1, where damage to any
building components could occur as a
result of overflow from the equipment
primary condensate-removal system,
one of the following auxiliary protection methods shall be provided for each
cooling coil or fuel-fired appliance that
produces condensate:
1. An auxiliary drain pan with a separate drain shall be provided under the
coils on which condensation will occur.
The auxiliary pan drain shall discharge
to a conspicuous point of disposal to alert
occupants in the event of a stoppage of
the primary drain. The pan shall have a
minimum depth of 1.5 in., shall not be
less than 3 in. larger than the unit or the
coil dimensions in width and length,
and shall be constructed of corrosionresistant material. Galvanized-sheet steel
pans shall have a minimum thickness of
not less than 0.0236 in. (No. 24 gage).
Nonmetallic pans shall have a minimum
thickness of not less than 0.0625 in.
2. A separate overflow drain line shall
be connected to the drain pan provided
with the equipment. The overflow drain
shall discharge to a conspicuous point of
disposal to alert occupants in the event
of a stoppage of the primary drain. The
overflow drain line shall connect to the
drain pan at a higher level than the primary drain connection.
www.csemag.com
Figure 4: Due to the high wet bulb and dew point conditions within Macau, China, condensation can be produced on the outside of windows if cold air from diffusers are supplied
too close to the window.
3. An auxiliary drain pan without

a separate drain line shall be provided
under the coils on which condensate will
occur. The pan shall be equipped with a
water-level detection device conforming
to UL 508 that will shut off the equipment
served prior to overflow of the pan. The
auxiliary drain pan shall be constructed
in accordance with Item 1 of this section.
4. A water-level detection device conforming to UL 508 shall be provided that
will shut off the equipment served in the
event that the primary drain is blocked.
The device shall be installed in the primary drain line, the overflow drain line,
or in the equipment-supplied drain pan,
located at a point higher than the primary
drain line connection and below the overflow rim of the pan.
Exception: Fuel-fired appliances that
automatically shut down operation in
the event of a stoppage in the condensate
drainage system.
307.2.3.1 Water-level monitoring
devices: On downflow units and all other
coils that do not have a secondary drain
or provisions to install a secondary or
auxiliary drain pan, a water-level monitoring device shall be installed inside the
primary drain pan. This device shall shut
off the equipment served in the event that
the primary drain becomes restricted.
Devices installed in the drain line shall
not be permitted.
Auxiliary and secondary drain

best practices
Cooling coils installed above ceilings

can pose various design challenges to
comply with IMC section 307.2.3.
Among the options available to engineers/designers, the most commonly
implemented are options 1, 2, and 4.
Options 1 and 2 provide a visual
indication of a blockage in the primary drain connection and require no
power or interfacing requirements for
shutdown of the associated equipment.
In addition, most equipment manufacturers provide secondary overflow
drain connections as standard within
enclosed horizontal fan coil units to
meet the requirements of option 2.
The standard piping installation for
this compliance provides an openended condensate drainpipe terminated just below the ceiling construction
with an escutcheon plate to finish the
penetration and mitigate condensate
reaching the ceiling construction. These
options allow for the continual operation of the associated equipment, even
if the primary drain is blocked, which
is beneficial in areas where maintaining
conditioning is more important than
dripping condensate onto the floor for a
period of time before maintenance identifies and corrects the problem. This
includes systems such as fan coils serving electrical or telecom rooms installed
above ceilings outside the rooms. This
25
Codes & Standards

installation is typically suited for backof-house spaces or areas that are not
interior design-driven. The termination point is occasionally brought down
a wall to terminate below a lavatory sink
counter to further conceal its appearance, but the overflow termination location must be visible for maintenance
review and correction.
Option 4 is more acceptable and used
in front-of-house spaces, or where the
discharge of an overflow condensate
drain may cause disruption to the
occupied space. This option is useful
in areas, such as tower guest rooms,
where finding an appropriate location
to terminate the overflow condensate
without impacting the interior design,
the guest experience, or their property
can be challenging.
This option relies on several design
methods, such as a float switch or level
sensor in the drain pan or an overflow
cutoff switch mounted in the conden-
sate drainpipe. Once the cutoff switch

or level float senses impending overflow, it shuts down the associated conditioning equipment. An alarm may be
sent at this time, but in areas such as
tower guest rooms, the equipment may
not be connected to the building-management system and would only alarm
locally or through an in-room control
system. This option may result in guest
complaint due to the equipment shutdown, but it assists in quickly identifying issues with the installation.
Condensation in air-side systems
Beyond the general requirements of

condensate management from HVAC
cooling coils, condensation on building elements can cause issues in humid
climates or within high-humidity spaces, such as indoor pools and spas. For
these areas, the same psychrometric
process governs the formation of condensate; but unlike on a cooling coil,
once condensation forms there is no

proper or direct path for it to drain.
This results in hazards and damage
from water dripping off of metal-diffuser surfaces onto the ground below
or ceiling adjacent (causing walking
hazards, mold growth, or damage to
the ceiling construction).
In humid climates, such as Florida
and Macau, the simple act of washing
the windows with conditioned air (as
is common in Las Vegas to cool the
envelope load at the source) results in
water condensing on the outside of the
windows and the appearance of fog or
rain during the normal day. The 55F
supply air exiting the typical diffuser
is well below the dew point of the outside air, which in Macau is 79.6F. Even
with insulated glass, exterior condensation can form on windows in Macau
during the mornings.
The space dew point and supply air
temperatures play heavily into indoor
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pool designs, especially in spa spaces

where the water temperature is typically maintained at 104F and the air
is maintained at 84.2F and 55% relative humidity. As mentioned above and
shown on the psychrometric chart in
Figure 2, for the mechanical system
to operate properly within this space,
the supply air must exit the diffuser
at a DB temperature above the dew
point of the space. In addition, the WB
temperature of the supply air must be
sufficiently depressed (lower than the
DB) so that the air can dehumidify the
space. Both the latent loads produced
by the people and by water evaporation from the pool/spa surface must
be accounted within the sensible heat
ratio (SHR) calculation as standard
for determining the supply air DB and
WB temperatures. This equation can
be generally described as the following:
SHR =
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calculations and understanding of psychrometrics are necessary to deliver the
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This equation should include all
forms of heat generation throughout
the cooling cycle and from each side of
the coil to account for the total cooling
load, with the space loads taken within the typical floor-to-ceiling volume.
The maximum value for SHR is 1.0, as
this would mean that no latent load is
present and all loads are downstream
of the cooling coil (placing the fan
motor heat within the theoretical space
boundary, which will sensibly heat the
air after leaving the cooling coil). For
office space, the SHR may be as high
as 0.9but for an indoor pool or spa,
this value may be down closer to 0.5
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Commissioning lighting
control systems
Codes and standards require lighting engineers to include power
allowances, daylighting controls, functional testing, and commissioning
in lighting designs to verify lighting controls.
BY JESSE FELTER, Smith Seckman Reid Inc., Nashville; and TOM DIVINE, PE, Smith Seckman Reid Inc., Houston
C
Figure 1: The drawing illustrates a portion
of the lighting plan of clinical and administrative space in a 1.2-million-sq-ft building
with hospital and business occupancies.
Lighting controls are implemented with
occupancy sensors, occupant-operated
switching, and an automated lighting control system. All graphics courtesy: Smith
Seckman Reid Inc.
Learning objectives
Illustrate the steps for commissioning a
lighting system.
Summarize the codes and standards that
apply to lighting systems, controls, and
commissioning.
Make use of lighting controls to gain
efficiency in lighting design.
28
ommissioning is a quality
assurance process intended
to ensure that completed
facilities perform according to owners expectations.
Activities involved in commissioning
include establishing expectations, design
review, submittal review, verifying the
installation, functional testing, and postconstruction documentation.
Requirements for lighting controls
become more complex with each edition
of the energy conservation codes. Codes
and standards include ASHRAE Standard 90.1: Energy Standard for Buildings
Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings,
the International Energy Conservation
Code (IECC), and California Title 24.
With each level of increased complexity,
the benefits of formally commissioning
lighting control systems increase. Those
benefits include:
Superior energy performance,
generally obtained from operation
of lighting controls in accordance
with their design
Improved indoor environmental quality, with maintenance of
appropriate lighting levels through
changing conditions
Smoother transition of personnel
and operations into new facilities.
There are many steps to examine when

commissioning lighting controls, following energy code requirements. ASHRAE
90.1, the International Energy Conservation Code, and California Title 24 all
require some form of commissioning
activity, in varying levels of detail. Title
24 provides a lot of detail in its commissioning and testing requirements.
Establishing the scope of
commissioning services
The appropriate scope of commissioning services will be different for every

owner, and for every project. Some owners place a high value on commissioning
and call for extensive services. Others
may see commissioning as an unwelcome
necessity, required by codes or corporate practices, and will contract for the
minimum level of service that meets the
requirement.
Minimal commissioning projects
will generally include only prescribed
functional testing services, with limited
review services. More thoroughly commissioned projects will call for a complete array of services including any or
all of the following items:
Assistance in defining the owners
project requirements (OPR)
Review of the basis of design
(BOD)
www.csemag.com
Figure 2: Functional testing of automated window shades is shown at night. The

sequence of operation calls for shades to close after dusk. Here, all shades are
open at night. The photograph has been lightened to highlight shade position.
Design review
Submittal review
Equipment check-sheet documentation, or prefunctional checklists
Functional performance testing
(FPT)
Post-construction documentation.
Most recommended practices and
standards for commissioning strongly
recommend that the commissioning
firm is independent of the design team,
the construction team, and other project participants and reports directly
to the owner where project procurement requirements allow. In practice,
that means nearly all projects, with the
exception of certain government-owned
projects with rigid contracting requirements. The entity in charge of the commissioning project is typically called the
commissioning authority (CxA).
The elements of an owners
project requirements
The commissioning process begins

with developing a written description of
the owners needs and expectations for a
www.csemag.com
facility in a document traditionally called

the OPR. The OPR describes the expected
use, performance, and costs of the facility.
The OPR is created by the owner in conjunction with the CxA and the design team.
If the construction team is engaged early
in the project, those team members will
participate as well. The OPR will include
a description of the project, including its
size, location, and intended use, along with
primary project goals, such as the schedule
and total budget. The OPR will also cover
more specific requirements for building
systems including performance, maintainability, and warranty requirements. It will
describe any special requirements and
contain a list of the applicable codes and
standards.
In practice, the development of the
OPR will take the form of a negotiation,
with the owner balancing various project
goals against one another, and the CxA
and design team acting as mediators. It
is rare for an initial project budget to
be compatible with the goals for project quality, cost, and schedule. In general, some adjustments will be required
to harmonize those requirements. In
terms of lighting and lighting controls,
the requirements of the locally enforced
energy conservation code will establish a
basis for functionality and cost.
Certain elements of the OPR will affect

the implementation of lighting components and lighting system controls:
Project cost will, to some degree, determine the general quality of lighting
system components, the selection of
available lighting technologies, and the
level of complexity and functionality of
the lighting control systems.
Required lighting levels and uniformity will affect the number and types
of fixtures in the design.
Requirements for individual controllability will increase the number of
control components, the complexity
of the control system, and the use of
task lighting.
Indoor environmental quality, in
terms of the lighting level and uniformity, will have a strong impact on the
lighting system design.
Space usage and occupancy schedules will determine the types of controls required for various areas of
the facility and the initial programming for automatic, scheduled
controls.
29
Commissioning lighting control systems

Efficiency goals will affect the
selection of lighting technologies
and the complexity and functionality of the lighting control systems.
Maintainability requirements will
affect lighting and control equipment selections. Different lighting
technologies have different maintenance requirements. For example,
LED fixtures exhibit extremely
long lamp life and are generally
provided as integral units with no
replaceable components. Fluorescent fixtures require more frequent
lamp changes and have replaceable
lamps, lamp holders, and ballasts.
Requirements for adaptability will
affect the selection of lighting control
systems. Where reconfiguration is
expected only infrequently, systems
that require reprogramming by outside specialists will often be acceptable, while an expectation of more
frequent changes to occupancy patterns will drive the selection toward
user-configurable systems.
Evaluation and testing requirements affect the scope of commissioning services and will have a
level of impact on construction cost
and schedule.
Training requirements are normally described in the OPR. Lighting and lighting control selections, though, will generally drive
training requirements, as they are
normally viewed as specialty systems with specific operation and
maintenance requirements. Maintenance and operations staff will
require training to operate, maintain, and modify lighting controls,
and users will learn to operate the
controls.
Special requirements may take
the form of a requirement for a
particular technology, a manner
of operation, or even a specific
manufacturer. Examples are a
requirement for an open lighting control protocol, or for LED
fixtures.
Applicable codes and standards

especially energy codeswill
affect the total allowable lightingpower density and functional
testing requirements. Some jurisdictions, particularly those under
Title 24, require prescribed
and very detailed functional
tests. Other jurisdictions using
ASHRAE 90.1 or the IECC will
find testing requirements less prescriptive.
The OPR may be periodically updated
during the course of the project to reflect
design decisions, owner-driven changes,
and resolution of unanticipated construction issues. As the design progresses
and cost estimates are refined, the OPR
adjusts to manage costs or enhance the
functionality of the facility with available funds.
Basis of design
The BOD is a document describing

the design teams technical approach to
realizing the elements of the OPR and
complying with applicable codes. The
Figure 3: For functional testing of an

auditorium, the sequence of operation calls for all dimmed lighting to
go to full brightness in response to a
fire alarm. Here, the lighting is shown
operating as intended.
30
www.csemag.com
BOD is developed by the design team.

The lighting controls portion of the
BOD, often called the lighting controls narrative, describes how the control system functions, its sequences of
operations, and its user controls for
each space.
Recent energy conservation codes
require more functionality and flexibility from lighting control systems than
their predecessors did. The lighting controls narrative describes how the system
will comply with the requirements of
applicable energy codes including:
n Automatic scheduled shutoff
controls
n Staged manual controls, providing
an initial lighting-power level of
roughly 30% to 70% of the maximum power level when activated
by user controls, with additional
higher lighting-power levels in
response to user demand
n Light-reduction controls that are
available to users
n A strategy for maintaining lighting uniformity at reduced power
levels, if power levels are reduced
by switching fixtures rather than
continuous dimming
n Dimming technologies
n Daylight-responsive controls,
defining areas with daylight controls, and their control sequences.
ASHRAE 90.1 and Title 24 require
as many as four different illumination levels for daylight-responsive
controls, and the IECC requires
continuous dimming for certain
areas.
The BOD serves as the reference for
design reviews throughout the design
process. Like the OPR, the BOD is
periodically reviewed and updated to
reflect changes in strategy as the design
progresses.
www.csemag.com
The CxA reviews the design at least

once before construction documents
are issued, to determine that the design
is consistent with the OPR. Additional
reviews may be performed at various
stages of the project, in accordance with
the scope of commissioning services
agreed upon between the owner and
CxA. The CxA typically provides comments and observations about the design,
and the design team provides written
responses.
During the design review, the CxA typically will also review and adjust the commissioning plan to address the developing
design. The CxA will frame contractortesting requirements into project requirements and add these requirements to the
contract documents.
Construction phase
During the construction phase, the

CxA will typically review product submittals in parallel with the design and
construction teams to verify that the
submitted equipment is compatible with
the requirements of the BOD. The CxA
will provide comments to the design
team, which ultimately provides the
final responses to submittals. At the same
time, the CxA will begin to develop the
systems manual based on information
contained in the submittals.
The CxA will also verify that the
equipment and systems that are actually installed are, in fact, the devices
described in the final submittalsand
that they are installed in accordance with
the manufacturers instructions.
Functional testing for
lighting controls
The codes require that lighting controls be tested, to verify that they are
installed properly, and are calibrated
and adjusted as directed in the construction documents. ASHRAE 90.1
and IECC call this functional testing,
and Title 24 calls it acceptance testing.
The intent of these testing activities is
to ensure that the lighting controls perform as expected to achieve the energy
savings contemplated by the codes.
Title 24 requires acceptance testing of

automatic daylight controls, lighting
shutoff controls, demand-responsive
controls, and outdoor lighting controls. IECC and ASHRAE 90.1 do not
require demand-response controls, nor
do they require that those controls be
tested when they are present.
Under Title 24, testing must be performed by a certified lighting controls
acceptance testing technician under the
auspices of a certified employer, both
of whom must be certified by a lighting controls acceptance test technician
certification provider. Testing requirements are very detailed and prescriptive. The requirements are described
in Reference Nonresidential Appendix
sections NA7.6.1 through NA7.6.4.
ASHRAE 90.1 and IECC require
functional testing of occupant-sensing
controls, daylighting controls, and timeswitch controls as shown in Figure 1.
They do not specifically differentiate
between interior and exterior lighting controls. Presumably, the testing
requirements for these particular types
of controls apply whether the controlled
lighting is inside the building or outside.
The requirements of ASHRAE 90.1 and
IECC are not nearly as detailed as those
of Title 24. They require that the devices
be tested for specific functions, but do
not describe a particular methodology
or sequence, leaving those decisions to
the testing professional.
Occupant sensors
Occupant sensors are devices that

detect whether people are present in
a particular area of the building. They
may act as inputs to a more complex
lighting control system, or they may
control lighting directly. Occupancy
sensors typically call for fixtures to turn
on when occupants are present and to
turn off when occupants have been
absent for an extended period of time.
Vacancy sensors do not turn lights on,
deferring to manual controls operated
directly by occupants; they turn lights
off after occupants are absent.
ASHRAE 90.1 and IECC require
31
Commissioning lighting control systems

functional testing of occupant sensors
including:
n Certification that occupant sensors
have been located and aimed as
directed by their manufacturers
n Testing of all occupant sensors for
projects with fewer than seven sensors
n Spot-testing of 10% of unique
combinations of sensor types and
space geometries, with testing of
at least one of each unique combination.
IECC additionally requires testing of
10% of the instances for each unique
combination. IECC also adds a condition
that, if 30% of the controls fail the functional test, all identical combinations
of sensor and geometry must be tested.
That condition will impose a substantial
penalty, in terms of effort and cost, for
projects whose installers are careless in
setting up lighting controls. ASHRAE
90.1, however, has more stringent testing
requirements.
Both ASHRAE 90.1 and the IECC
require:
n Verification of proper operation
for occupant sensors with status
indications.
ASHRAE 90.1 and IECC have

identical requirements for timercontrolled switches and generally use
identical language. Functional-testing
requirements for timer-controlled
switches are:
n Confirm the switches settings
including day-of-the-week settings, holiday settings, the override time limit, and the current
time and date, and provide documentation of those settings to
the owner.
n Verify that the battery backup, if one
is included by the manufacturer, is
activated and working.
Occupancy phase
After the construction phase is complete,

the CxA finalizes the system manuals and
reviews the operation and maintenance of
the lighting systems with building operations personnel. In accordance with the
owners agreement, the CxA will confirm
that appropriate training has been provided
or scheduled for operations personnel and
for users.
The CxA will develop a plan to
address any outstanding commissioning items. Finally, the CxA will perform a post-occupancy survey roughly
a year after substantial completion and
develop a plan to address any commissioning items that still remain outstanding.
Commissioning of lighting controls can encompass a broad set of
Commissioning of lighting controls can encompass a

broad set of services, beginning at the inception of the
project and ending well after occupancy.
n Verify proper operation of manual
controls in both the occupied and
unoccupied condition.
Daylight controls
Testing requirements for daylight controls are similar in ASHRAE 90.1 and IECC.
Both codes require that:
n Verification that controlled luminaires turn off, or turn down to

the level permitted by the code,
within the allowable time.
n Devices are located and calibrated

properly and their setpoints and
threshold light levels are set to appropriate values.
n Automatic-on sensors turn lights

on when a person enters the space.
n Lighting loads adjust appropriately in

response to available daylighting.
n Manual-on sensorsalso called

vacancy sensorsoperate manually, but dont turn lights on automatically.
n The calibration adjustment is readily

accessible to authorized personnel,
but not to users of the space.
n Sensors dont turn lights on in

response to movement outside the
controlled space or in response to
air movement.
32
Timer-controlled switches
ASHRAE 90.1 also states that the persons responsible for documentation of
daylight controls functional testing be
independent of both the design team and
the construction team.
services, beginning at the inception of the

project and ending well after occupancy.
Larger, more complex projects will typically
require more thorough commissioning than
smaller or simpler projects and will benefit from implementation of the planning
stagesdevelopment of the OPR and the
BOD documents. As the energy codes continue to develop, they will likely require a
larger array of lighting control functions
and will become more specific in regards to
commissioning activities required to implement and verify lighting controls.
Jesse Felter is an electrical engineer and
commissioning authority with Smith Seckman Reid Inc. Tom Divine is a senior electrical engineer at Smith Seckman Reid Inc.
Hes spent nearly 20 years in the consulting
engineering field, with the past several years
designing and engineering health care facilities. Hes responsible for power, lighting, and
fire alarm design for hospital and health care
projects. Divine is a member of the Consulting-Specifying Engineer editorial advisory
board.
www.csemag.com
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How to design
high-efficiency hot-water
systems for hospitals
Boilers for heating and domestic hot-water systems are used in many
hospitals and health care facilities. This looks at the codes and standards
that regulate boiler specification, plus energy efficiency and efficacy of
hot-water heating systems.
BY WYATT WIRGES, LEED AP BD+C, and JAY GOODE, PE, WSP + ccrd, Dallas
Learning
objectives
Identify requirements for
a boiler system for heating
and domestic hot water in a
health care building.
Analyze the codes, standards, and other requirements for designing boiler
systems and their related
HVAC equipment.
Develop a design to maximize energy efficiency.
34
ospitals offer a unique

opportunity to be creative
when designing a hot-water
system. While providing
reliable support for critical
health care functions is the first priority, it is possible to design a system that
significantly improves energy efficiency
and cost-effectiveness by separating
steam and hot-water systems and using
condensing boilers configured to operate with maximum efficiency.
More than any other building type,
airflow quantities in a hospital are dictated by code. Many of the spaces have
minimum airflows regardless of the
actual loads or the number of occupants. The Facility Guidelines Institutes
(FGI) Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals and Outpatient
Facilities is the primary guideline being
used today for hospital accreditation by
The Joint Commission, and many states
have either their own amendments or a
complete alternate code.
FGI now references ASHRAE Standard 170: Ventilation of Health Care
Facilities for the actual airflow requirements. All of the health care HVACrelated codes concentrate on the minimum acceptable airflow quantities for
each type of space and the pressure
relationship between the spaces.
The codes also dictate the amount
of air that is fresh outside air. Different systems have been used over the
decades to meet these requirements,
including constant-volume single zone,
constant-volume multizone, dual-duct
systems, and single-duct variable air
volume (VAV) systems. In recent years,
newer systems have been developed
and tested including variable refrigerant flow systems and chilled beams.
The majority of the health care facilities
built within the last 20 years use a VAV
system with hot-water reheat; therefore,
this article will use this type of system
as a basis for discussion.
VAV systems
When a VAV system is used in a

health care facility project, the minimum airflow of the terminals is dictated
www.csemag.com
Figure 1: Side-stream configuration of both the heat-recovery chiller and condensing water boilers maximizes the efficiency
potential of both systems. All graphics courtesy: WSP + ccrd
by the spaces minimum airflow requirements. A portion of the terminal units

is actually designed as constant volume
terminal units, because the minimum
airflow requirement exceeds the airflow
required to meet both the heating and
cooling load of the spaces. This results
in the need for reheat all year. Coupled
with the fact that domestic hot-water
uses are constant throughout the year,
a typical hospital may have a summer
water-heating load that is two-thirds of
the winter hot-water-heating load.
Hospitals, especially large ones
(>500,000 sq ft), have an inherent steam
requirement for sterilization-related
equipment and the humidification of large
outside air quantities. Because a steam
system is necessary to begin with, there is
a tendency to make it support a host of

building functions. Historically, the steam
system has been used to serve all functions
requiring heat. These additional building
functions can include kitchen, laundry,
and typically all water heating. Domestic
hot water and heating hot water are generated with steam using shell and tube or
tank bundle-type steam converters.
This makes the steam system a major
component of the facility, requiring
trained and experienced boiler operators. Field-built water-tube boilers and
manufactured water- and fire-tube boilers from 500 to 2,000 hp or more are
present at most large hospital campuses.
The inherent design of these boilers as
noncondensing limits their efficiency,
even in ideal conditions.
The age of the boiler, steam trap

maintenance, and steam leaks all contribute to making the actual efficiencies
of these systems much lower. Redundancy and system reliability have traditionally far outweighed any concerns
over minor efficiency losses. However,
times are changing, and an increase
in efficiency of just a few percentage
points is highly sought after.
Improving efficiency
A key strategy to improve the efficiency of heating systems for hospitals is to

separate the heating water and the steam
systems. In this new design paradigm,
steam systems are downsized to meet
only the direct steam requirements for
humidification and sterilization. Hot-
Table 1: COP comparison

Cooling and
heating system
Heating
water temps
COP
heating
COP
cooling
COP
combined
95 to 115F
5.13
3.86
8.99
Screw
125 to 140F
3.28
2.28
5.56
Scroll
120 to 140F
3.44
2.38
5.82
Chiller and condensing boiler
120F to 140F
0.97
5.94
2.00
Heat recovery chiller

Centrifugal
Table 1: The simultaneous heating and cooling coefficient of performance (COP) of a heat-recovery chiller outperforms the combined COP of decoupled heating and cooling systems. Note: All based on 56 to 42F chilled water. COP: Ratio of heating/cooling
output to input work required.
www.csemag.com
35
High-efficiency hot-water systems

water systems for both domestic and
hydronic heating, which had typically
been generated through steam converters, are generated independently of
the steam system using their own fuel
source. This single measureproviding
separate water boilers of the condensing
typegains several percentage points
of efficiency for a large percentage of
the facility heating needs. In addition,
decoupling the heating-water systems
from the steam system provides significant opportunities for the design professional to be creative when developing
the most efficient system possible.
Condensing boiler efficiency is maximized when the temperature of the heating water returned back to the boiler
is reduced below the dew point of the
water vapor in the exhaust gases, which
occurs at approximately 130F. Condensing boiler efficiency improves as
the inlet water temperature decreases,
according to ASHRAE. The lower heating-water temperature causes the water
vapor in the exhaust gases to condense.
The condensate is then passed through
a heat exchanger within the boiler, and
the latent heat is recovered. In a conventional boiler system, this situation
must be avoided because the conden-
sate and residual air that remains after

the combustion process causes damage
to the boiler in the form of corrosion,
failed refractory, and fin blockage due to
sooting. While these potentially damaging conditions are still present in a condensing boiler, the boiler components
and flue are constructed with corrosionresistant materials to prevent corrosion
and destructive effects.
These efficiency characteristics
encourage the designer to drive the
heating-water-return (HWR) temperature as low as possible. The first step is
to evaluate the climate conditions to
identify if the hot-water system can be
designed to operate at a supply temperature that is closer to the exhaust gas condensing point. Ideally, the system can
be designed to work with 140F supply
temperature with an HWR temperature within the 110 to 120F range on
a design heating day. These operating
temperatures are especially practical in
southern climates with milder winters.
However, designing with a lower hotwater temperature requires a careful
analysis of the system heating coils. The
lower hot-water temperature causes a
reduction in approach, the term given
to the difference between the hot-water-
CASE STUDY: hospital boiler systems
new regional hospital project used the principle of lowering

the heating-water temperatures to allow for innovative ways to
recover heat. This 250,000-sq-ft regional hospital in Texas DallasFort Worth metro area provides a wide range of medical services to
the community.
Early in the design process, the use of heat-recovery chillers was
evaluated. Using a contractor partnership, preliminary pricing estimates
were made comparing a low-temperature hot-water system with a typical
heating-water system. Options that were considered included increasing
all of the variable volume terminals by one size, but keeping the original
size of inlet connection to maintain accuracy of airflow and provide the
normal turndown ratio; an increase in distribution piping due to the larger
flows a low-temperature system would require; an increase in a heatingwater-distribution pumping system; and the added cost of a heat-recovery
chiller over a traditional chiller of equal size.
Due to the critical nature of the hospitals functions, it was decided that
neither the cooling towers nor heating-water boilers would be downsized
to take advantage of the heat recovery. Instead, the exact opposite was
36
supply temperature and the temperature

of air entering the heating coil. Due to
the lessening of the approach, more
coil surface area is required to obtain
the same heating capacity versus when
180F water is supplied to the reheat
coil. To counteract this reduction in
coil capacity, three-row coils may be
required.
Another potential solution is to upsize
the terminal box to increase the coil surface area. For example, a 6-in. terminal
box with a two-row coil may be adequate
to meet the airflow requirement, but
may not have enough coil surface area
to meet the discharge-air temperature
requirement with 140F heating-water
supply (HWS) on a design heating day.
To avoid upsizing to a three-row coil,
it may be possible to provide an 8-in. terminal unit with a two-row coil. The cost
of this upsize is minimal (10% to 20% of
terminal box cost) and avoids the additional fan energy consumption required
to overcome the increased pressure drop
of a three-row coil. This additional cost
is quickly offset via the efficiency gained
by operating the condensing boilers at a
higher efficiency range.
There are additional creative ways
to drop the HWR temperature even
further. Within a health care facility
application, there are multiple systems
donethe building would be able to function without any issues if the

heat-recovery system was disabled.
After the analysis showed significant savings, the system was designed
using two 550-ton centrifugal chillers (with one 455-ton chiller equipped
with a separate heat-recovery condenser barrel capable of more than 6
million Btuh of heat at 115F), oversized terminals with larger reheat coils,
and two 4-million-Btuh high-efficiency condensing hot-water boilers. The
system was configured as shown in Figure 2.
The domestic hot water was preheated with a small plate-and-frame
heat exchanger. The system was configured so that the heating water
return (HWR) was piped through the chillers heat recovery to 115F and
then to the boilers to bring the heating water to a setpoint of 125F. After
system start-up and a few months of operation, the energy bills indicated
something was not working as intended, so a complete review of the
system, operating conditions, setpoints, and other features was performed.
The analysis uncovered two important factors. One was that the
heat-recovery chillers hot-water temperature capability was reduced
at less-than-peak capacity. It could only produce 90F supply hot water
www.csemag.com
that require heat with a consistent load

profile that can serve as a heat sink for
the HWR. These systems can include
domestic hot-water heating, steam system make-up water preheating, snowmelt systems, and in-floor radiant heating systems. Each of the aforementioned
systems can be intercepted and piped
through individual plate-and-frame
heat exchangers. The heating water can
then be connected to the other sides of
these heat exchangers, piped inline or in
a side-stream configuration with threeway valves or inline pumps.
A simple example is the preheating
of domestic cold water before it is sent
to the domestic water heater. A conventional water heater will operate with
similar efficiencies to that of a conventional boiler in the 80% to 85% efficiency range. Condensing water heaters are
also available, which can operate in the
same efficiency ranges as a condensing
boiler (approximately 98%). However,
efficiencies of a condensing water heater
can be limited in part-load conditions
due to the constant recirculation of hot
water from the building and the intrinsic storage component of a water heater.
In a health care facility application at
part-load conditions, domestic cold water
between 40 to 60F is mixed with water
returning from the building between 110
Decoupling the
heating-water systems
from the steam system
provides significant
opportunities for the
design professional
to be creative when
developing the most
efficient system
possible.
and 120F before entering the domestic
water heaters. While this mixed temperature of water still allows condensation of
water vapor in the flue gases for energy
recovery, further efficiency can be gained
if the make-up water is preheated by the
HWR via a double-wall plate-and-frame
heat exchanger. The water heaters are then
used to boost the domestic hot water to a
minimum temperature of 140F, which is
necessary to eliminate Legionella bacteria
from building up in the hot-water system.
This system configuration maximizes
the efficiency of the condensing boiler,
whose operation is required regardless
when operating at less than 50% capacity. The

second was that the return temperature was
not low enough to take advantage of the heat
recovery, owing to the heating-water boilers
125F heating-water supply.
Changes were made that included resetting the
boiler discharge temperature setpoint based on the
heat-recovery chillers current operating capacity
of -2F. This way, the majority of the heat would be
provided by the heat-recovery chiller instead of the boilers. The other major
change disabled the air-side economizers on all of the air-handling systems
to keep the heat-recovery chiller loaded to provide the heating hot water.
The effect of those changes was immediate. In 1 month, electricity consumption increased by 30% due to the increased load on the heat-recovery
chiller, but the gas consumption dropped to just 4% of the previous month.
In fact, the gas usage remained so low that the gas meter was checked
multiple times to verify that it was operating properly. Today, nearly 2 years
www.csemag.com
of the presence of the heat exchanger

and, at minimum, limits and potentially eliminates firing of the condensing water heaters, which are operating a
lower efficiency point.
No equipment is more efficient than
equipment that doesnt have to operate; this statement is not intended to
discourage the use of a condensing
water heater, but rather to place greater
emphasis on system energy performance
over component energy performance.
Implementation of an HWS temperature reset is also vital in reducing HWR
temperature. In a traditional heatingwater system with a fire- or water-tube
boiler, the minimum limit that the
supply heating-water temperature can
reduce must be limited to prevent the
HWR temperature from causing condensation in the flue and, in turn, damaging the boiler. In a condensing boiler
system, there is no minimum limit and
lower temperatures are encouraged.
Heat-recovery chillers
There is an additional technology

available that can be implemented into
the aforementioned system that can
create heating water. In a health care
application, there is often a year-round
requirement for chilled water similar
Figure 2: This heating-water system configuration provides for

a highly energy-efficient design in a Dallas-Fort Worth hospital.
later, the heating-water boilers are cycled on occasionally to keep them

in good condition, but the system rarely requires them. This would not
have been possible using noncondensing boilers. The heating hot-water
temperatures could only be lowered to such an extent due to the use of
condensing boilers.
37

to that of heating water. The use of airside economizers must be considered in
this analysis in many climates, as outdoor weather conditions may allow the
chilled-water system to be disabled completely. But when there is a demand for
year-round chilled water or a water-side
economizer is present, the incorporation
of a heat-recovery chiller can allow for
tremendous system efficiency gains.
A heat-recovery chiller creates chilled
water at typical chiller-water temperatures while transferring the heat from
the chilled water to a water-source heat
sink. This operation is similar to that
of a typical water-cooled chiller, but
instead of discharging water at 95 to

100F, it can discharge water from the
heat sink side at temperatures up to
140F. This hot water can then be recovered in the form of heating hot-water
supply, or at minimum, a hot-water
booster prior to the boilers. It should
operate at the same working temperatures on the hot-water side to that of
the condensing boilers, which provides
for a harmonious integration of a heatrecovery chiller into a condensing boiler heating-water system.
The design of the heat-recovery chiller in this type of application must be
approached with care. It ideally needs
Given that the heat-recovery chiller is intended

to be supplemental to chiller and boiler systems,
any remaining heating or cooling of the water
necessary will be handled by the boiler or
chiller systems.
to be sized to hit the sweet spot of

the minimum of either heating load
or chilled-water load that allows it to
run 24/7. Given that the heat-recovery
chiller is intended to be supplemental to
chiller and boiler systems, any remaining heating or cooling of the water necessary will be handled by the boiler or
chiller systems.
It is important that the heat-recovery
chiller in this application not be grossly
oversized, as it will operate to its minimum heating or cooling load. The outcome of the significant oversizing is the
potential for portions of the equipment
capacity to be untapped in typical cooling or heating conditions. While this
may not seem like a significant drawback, the reality is that loss of run time
hours negatively impacts the equipment
return on investment.
The initial cost of heat-recovery chiller equipment is expensive as compared
with the cost of a boiler and chiller at
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similar capacities. From an operational

standpoint in comparison with a traditional system, a heat-recovery chiller
acting solely as a chiller is an inefficient
chiller, and a heat-recovery chiller acting solely as a boiler is an inefficient
boiler.
However, when it is acting as both a
chiller and a boiler simultaneously, it is
significantly more efficient than operating independent chillers and boilers
simultaneously (see Table 1). In a health
care facility application where the heatrecovery chiller is intended to operate
in a supplemental energy/cost-saving
capacity, it is probably the only example
of equipment where slight undersizing
is desirable as opposed to oversizing. A
properly sized heat-recovery chiller system can attain a payback within 5 years,
especially in instances where the natural
gas cost is greater than 33% of the cost
of electricity per the same energy unit
(comparative dollars/Btuh).
Figure 3: Building additions can be provided with a secondary heating loop and
three-way blend valve off of the existing building heating water loop to aid in the
reduction of heating-water return temperature.
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The integration of the heat-recovery
chiller into the condensing hot-water
boiler system also can be piped in
such a way as to optimize the efficiencies of both the heat-recover y
chiller and condensing boiler systems
simultaneously. In Figure 1, both the
heat-recover y chiller and condensing boilers are piped in side-stream

configuration off of the main heating water loop. The piping feeding
the condensing boilers connects to
the main HWR prior to the discharge
point of the heat-recover y chiller
More hot water

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Science nerds might even call it a perfect fusion
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back into the main water system. This

allows both the heat-recovery chiller
and condensing boilers to receive
cooler HWR, thus maximizing the
efficiencies of both systems.
In addition, the pumps dedicated to
the condensing boilers allow for significant turndown of the flow-through
boiler, which further increases boiler
and system efficiency. The heat-recovery chiller operates to achieve maximum possible heating output, and the
condensing boilers provide as much
heat as necessary to reach the heatingwater system setpoint.
The alternative would be to pipe
the condensing boilers in series with
the main heating-water system, which
aligns with a more traditional heatingwater-system layout. The heat-recovery
chiller would still be configured in a
side-stream capacity, but the condensing boiler system would receive heating hot water after it has already been
conditioned by the heat-recovery chiller.
This configuration allows the savings of
the dedicated pumps required for each
boiler, but does have the potential to
raise the hot-water inlet temperature to
the boiler above its condensing point in
part-load conditions.
There are also creative means that can
be employed when adding on to heatingwater systems that have been designed
around more traditional HWS and HWR
temperatures (i.e., 180/150F HWS/
HWR) to drop the HWR temperature
and make condensing boilers and heatrecovery chillers possible.
A careful analysis of the existing
system heating coils is required to
determine the minimum dischargeair temperature necessary to meet the
space-heating load. Once this value is
determined, an analysis of the heating
coils must be performed to determine
what discharge temperature the coils are
capable of at various hot-water supply
temperatures.
Due to the code-required minimum
air-change rate in many spaces in
health care facilities (especially those
that require constant-volume systems),
the terminal box discharge tempera-
ture required to offset space-heating

requirements may only be in the 80
to 85F range, especially in southern
climates. Heating-water flow through
the boxes also must be considered when
performing this analysis, as the flow
will inevitably increase as the hot-water
supply temperature is reduced. If it can
be determined that the system supply
temperature can be reduced to 150F
or less, it provides an opportunity for
condensing boilers and a heat-recovery
chiller to be employed.
In the aforementioned design condition, reducing the HWS temperature
to 150F alone may not be enough to
ensure that the heat-recovery chiller is
operable 24/7, as the HWR temperature
may still be too high (130 to 140F).
In addition to employing the previously
described strategies to reduce the HWR
temperature, any new building additions can be provided with dedicated
secondary hot-water loops that blend
the 150F supply water into the new
secondary loop to maintain the new
design secondary loop supply temperature (see Figure 3). This configuration
permits each secondary loop to operate
with its own HWS temperature setpoint
and allows temperature reset within
each loop.
In conclusion, the minimum air changes required in health care projects result
in needing heating water year-round
due to reheat loads at minimum ventilation. This creates an opportunity for the
design engineer to develop creative ways
to meet that heating load. Incorporating
any heating load that can reduce the
HWR temperatures allows efficient use of
condensing boilers, heat-recovery chillers, and other creative solutions.
Wyatt Wirges is a mechanical designer
at WSP + ccrd. He has been involved in
the design and analysis of both mechanical and plumbing systems in health care
applications across the country. Jay Goode
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Learning
objectives
Introduce the top commissioning professionals,
including the 2016 Commissioning Giants.
Explain the commissioning business model's future
and top business issues and
expectations according to
commissioning providers.
42
2016
2016
Commissioning Giants
Building commissioning providers are closely tracking the business, market,
and technical trends that are influencingand, in some cases, reshaping
their profession. At the top of the list are priorities that affect practical business
decisions, both near-term and in the future.
BY DIANA BJRNSKOV, Building Commissioning Association, Beaverton, Ore.
recent study of commissioning industry stakeholders, conducted by the

Building Commissioning Association (BCxA)
shows that strategic and technical problems, needs, and outcomes are expected
to shift the structure and function of the
commissioning business model over the
next 5 years and beyond.
Lets be honest. For every business
in every sector, it is about the money.
Beyond that, its about value and results
that last. Commissioning providers
(CxPs) are finding themselves in the
role of liaisons who connect silos of
designers, builders, and owners personnel to deliver the promise of value and
increasingly over time, a valuable (but
not always valued) position.
In an effort to define whats going on
behind the scenes of daily contract fulfillment, field work, and forensics, the
Building Commissioning Association
(BCxA) reached out to commissioning
providers and stakeholders to understand
the top pressing business issues they
foresee. A further technical online survey correlated both sets of information
to gain a full picture of commissioning
concerns and expectations.
The initial investigation included
mostly CxPs with a sprinkling of designers, builders, owners, and facilities staff,
www.csemag.com
2016 Cx Giants rank

Rank
Firm
MEP Cx revenue
Jacobs
$87,500,000
AECOM
$37,500,000
Burns & McDonnell
$21,559,184
Sebesta, an NV5 Co.
$14,417,559
IPS-Integrated Project Services LLC
$13,881,513
exp
$10,472,520
WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff
$9,180,000
Smith Seckman Reid Inc.
$8,791,890
AKF Group LLC
$8,190,000
10
Salas OBrien
$7,828,749
11
Vanderweil Engineers
$7,275,712
12
Affiliated Engineers Inc.
$7,172,060
13
Page
$6,705,000
14
JENSEN HUGHES
$6,300,000
15
Syska Hennessy Group
$5,965,955
16
HDR
$5,899,611
$5,729,568
17
Stantec
18
Newcomb & Boyd
$5,356,871
19
Jaros, Baum & Bolles
$5,290,000
20
Optimation Technology Inc.
$5,000,000
21
Farnsworth Group Inc.
$4,997,195
$4,900,000
22
RMF Engineering Inc.
23
IMEG / KJWW / TTG
$4,155,475
24
ESD (Environmental Systems Design Inc.)
$3,980,694
25
Bala Consulting Engineers
$3,760,000
Table 1: The top 25 firms, ranked by commissioning revenue, were calculated by multiplying their annual mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP), and fire protection design
revenue by the total percentage of commissioning billings. This is part of ConsultingSpecifying Engineers 2016 MEP Giants data; refer to the August 2016 issue for the full
MEP Giants rankings in print or online. Courtesy: Consulting-Specifying Engineer
43
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2016
representing six 1-hour mixed focus
groups and an online business-focused
survey. Attendees (BCxA members and
nonmembers) were asked to describe their
concerns over three separate time frames.
One year: The main concern over
the next 12 months is arresting the commoditization of the commissioning
market, whereas previous BCxA surveys
indicated that training was the primary
need. The second most important concern is creating targeted value propositions for commissioning and disseminating to appropriate audiences.
Two to 4 years: The biggest concern
is identifying opportunities to grow the
Cx business, followed closely by ensuring best practices are applied consistently
across the Cx profession.
Five or more years: Two major concerns over the long term include succession planning and commissioning
teams prepared for deeper engagement
in building performance. Predominantly,
outcomes were predicated on thinking
through the long-term business model
for the practice of commissioning and
understanding the impact of shifts in
design, construction, and operations on
the practice of commissioning.
The top 10 business issues described
by respondents are listed below for each
time frame, representing challenges or
solutions for CxPs and their clients to
achieve the best value in project delivery.
Business issues for CxPs
Problems to solve within the next year:

commoditization and value proposition:
1. Commoditization vs. quality
performance
2. Selling owners a clear, unquestionable value proposition, including
ways to add value
3. Educating owners and managers
about commissioning content,
process, timing, and benefits
4. Recruiting qualified staff
5. Integrating project teams and
improving communication skills
www.csemag.com
6. Scaling commissioning for projects of all sizes

7. Creating consistent contract documents written for the commissioning profession
8. Working to mitigate the negative
impact of codes that undermine
Cx best practices
9. Developing a consistent approach
and expectations for Cx in the private sector; reducing jurisdictional
differences in the public sector
10. Building performance criteria into
design team deliverables.
Two to 4 years: Needs to fill, opportunities to grow, and best practices:
1. Expanding company capabilities,
such as bringing building-enclosure
commissioning (BECx) in-house
2. Integrating consistent best practices in design and delivery plans,
expectations, and implementation
among all players
3. Formally educating allied professionals on the benefits they accrue

from commissioning
4. Developing tools to support continuous teamwork throughout the
design-delivery process
5. Finding ways to recruit as well as
develop advanced skills among
younger staff
6. Creating resources to educate
CxPs on the new wave of building
technologies and validation tools
7. Purging check-the-box and
drive-by commissioning providers from the profession
8. Increasing the focus on wholebuilding commissioning (WBCx)
beyond energy efficiency
9. Improving project assignment
manpower forecasting capabilities
10. Focusing on occupied optimization of buildings.
Five or more years: outcomes to achieve;
long-term business model:
Training and education wish list

Building systems
and assemblies
247
109
Cx process
87
Team/role
78
Scope of work
41
Cx tools
27
Value proposition
Operations/ongoing Cx
12
Deliverables
12
Quality
11
Codes
11
Standards and guidelines
Procurement
Market
Certification
Figure 1: Technical Cx survey distribution. More than 300 commissioning and associated firms across North America completed the BCxA survey of best practices. In
2016, the Best Practices Committee completed revising, expanding, and updating the
New Construction Best Practices, a BCxA cornerstone document. Courtesy: Building
Commissioning Association
45
2016
6. Commissioning curriculum
offered in college and university
programs
7. Expanded and diversified commissioning education that
concentrates on the high skills
needed for complex buildings,
future smart grid issues, demand
response, self-generation,
energy-recovery systems,
microgrids and renewables, net
zero, and associated operational
complexity
8. Integrated technical adaptation
in step with goals, such as the
Architecture 2030 Challenge
9. Next-generation utility, government, and private sector programs implemented to facilitate
superior building performance
through commissioning
10. Adequate workforce capacity to
design, build, commission, and
operate at an upscale level.
1. Best practices carried farther

into the industry, without being
watered down, to realize the true
value of commissioning
2. Succession planning underway to
replace the aging market: mentoring the next generation of commissioning leaders who are looking for increased work/life balance
3. Prepared teams for existing
building commissioning that
includes deep energy retrofits,
distributed energy, systems
interoperability, and integrated
building information-management systems
4. Updated study on commissioning
data to help CxPs establish and
explain valuecosts and benefits
similar to the 2009 LBNL Study by
Evan Mills
5. Streamlined methods to integrate
new technologies with legacy systems
Best practices for technology issues
A second data set, an online survey

of CxP firms and associated technical
service providers, was correlated with
the business-focused responses above.
This best practices survey yielded
more than 300 responses about priorities
for technology advancements, practical
tools and automation, market conditions, and training topics to meet future
building needs. Respondents represented
commissioning practices across the U.S.
and Canada. Survey respondents distribution is shown in Figure 1.
Respondents were asked to define
what the commissioning industr y
could do better to make their technical
performance more productive. Rather
than rating or weighting a predefined
list of topics, the BCxA asked for open
responses in order to understand what
CxPs care most about and believe would
improve their career. Respondents
answered that they would like to see
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Technical survey - respondent distribution

the following self-identified improvements, ranked in descending order by
category count (number of mentions
per category). The list below shows the
top five improvement wish list items
along with examples of respondents
recommended actions:
Team/role:
Ensure early communication with
general contractor/construction
manager
Create opportunity for more input
on project specifications due to
deep experience with diverse systems and integration
Clearly establish and standardize
functions/roles of commissioning
and CxPs
Sort out and agree upon lines of
responsibility throughout project
Improve document coordination
with non-Cx entities
Coordinate all project teams early.
Design/build with internal

Cx group
Architecture only
Utility
1.0%
Commissioning-only
AEC with internal

Cx group*
6.0%
9.0%
3.0%
30.0%
22.0%
29.0%
Other
non-commissioning firms
(includes facility owners and managers,
energy engineers, turnkey firms providing
commissioning services, and test-and-balance firms)
AE with
internal Cx group*
* Architecture, engineering, construction (AEC); Architecture, engineering (AE)
Figure 2: This is an illustration of topics for continuing training and education that
the BCxA surveys show are desired by the commissioning industry. Courtesy:
Building Commissioning Association
2016
Standards and guidelines:
Develop testing standards
Establish a five-step process guideline to support enhanced commissioning on new construction 1 to 2
years post-occupancy
Improve the definition of standards
for commissioning results
Create consistent methods for owners to compare providers
Create a commissioning-community database for industry-standard
templates and other documents
Use common nomenclature.
Quality:
Define and hold up higher standards for levels of care
Regulate and audit commissioning
outcomes to ensure a minimum
standard of acceptance.
Certification:
Consolidate to make a single,
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The table indicates that CxPs are looking to the industry for significant changes
and improvements to sustain their professional standing as the market launches
new strategies for efficiency and broader,
deeper systems integration and ongoing
value over the building lifecycle. There was

a strong desire among CxPs calling for the
establishment of consolidation and uniformity in many areas of commissioning
practice. While its true that most are calling for standardization in tools and practices, respondents simultaneously want
more independence and a higher level of
contribution within the building industry. CxPs are broadening services beyond
a construction-focused quality assurance
process and areor want to beincreasingly involved in occupancy-phase building performance.
Beyond the top five areas of improvement cited by respondents, specific actions
are recommended for deliverables, commissioning tools, codes, scope-of-work
expansion, procurement, and marketing/
advocacy. The BCxA is reviewing action
items for their potential integration into
member services.
Contradictory opinions abound among
commissioning providers, which is
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Market awareness: emphasize the
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Training and education:
Respondents identified training
and education among the top five
improvements the industry could
take on to improve commissioning.
Figure 2 illustrates results regarding
the need for further training and
education within various parts of
the overall commissioning industry.
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2016
normal for most professional services.
There is also disparity between (1) desired
areas of improvement for productivity and
(2) priorities for additional training and
education. For example, respondents prioritize project team relationships and role
clarification at the top of the productivity
improvement wish list, but consider building systems and assemblies the highest priority for training.
Based on overall responses from the
BCxAs focus groups and surveys, together
representing more than 500 respondents,
the following business and technical concerns are considered high priorities over
the next 5 or more years.
n Arresting the commoditization
of commissioning
n Creating value propositions for
various types of owners
n Identifying commissioning business growth opportunities
n Ensuring best practices are applied
consistently by all in the profession
n Building the long-term business

model for the practice of Cx
n Keeping pace with shifts in the
overall design and construction
industry.
The commissioning profession is becoming more complex. The commissioning
business model is encountering the burden of losing experienced problem solvers,
some of whom are not adapting to market
pressures. At the same time, companies are
vigorously seeking smart recruits with personal and technical skills, most of whom
have not earned the experience or insight
to troubleshoot and verify building systems
and performance. Succession and continuity planning are of the essence.
CxPs are looking for more teamwork
and integrated coordination among
project personnel that allow for complementary, rather than competing, roles in
successful project delivery. CxPs have synthesized knowledge and experience across
numerous projects and systems and are

a valuable resource for owners, design
teams, and construction managers. With
the increasing focus on efficiency over
the building lifecycle, CxPs want deeper
involvement in post-occupancy performance and the profitability that goes with it.
The commissioning value promise is and
always will be quality assurance. Opportunities to expand the CxPs role abound
as the building industry and its drivers
codes, regulatory requirements, technologies, performance expectationsbecome
more exacting, durable, and lasting. The
future is on the way, and everyone has a
stake in it. Make it valuable.
Diana Bjrnskov is the senior program manager at the Building Commissioning Association. She has spent more than 30 years in the
building industry with extensive experience
leading research and analysis of building industry issues, energy policy and legislation, marketpotential assessment, and program planning.
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DE-1 Evaluating
low-temperature
To take advantage of HVAC energy savings, engineers must change their thinking on heating-water
temperatures, as the trend drives toward greater
sustainability.
BY GEORGE MARSHALL, PE
Visit www.csemag.com/research for a

variety of research studies, including:
research
Electrical and power systems

Fire and life safety
HVAC, BAS
Lighting and lighting controls
2016 MEP Giants
Salary survey.
www.csemag.com
53
Evaluating low-temperature
To take advantage of HVAC energy savings, engineers must change
their thinking on heating-water temperatures, as the trend drives toward
greater sustainability.
BY GEORGE MARSHALL, PE, EYP Architecture & Engineering, Albany, N.Y.
Learning objectives
Understand that energy efficiency
demands have pushed HVAC design to
new levels.
Review the various products and
systems that help achieve efficiency in
water-heating systems.
Analyze low-temperature hot water
(LTHW) and its benefits.
rom the campfires we use to

warm ourselves to modern condensing boilers, heating usually
requires burning something to
create thermal energy. Decades
ago, the United States oil-production
infrastructure used to fuel World War II
was left in place after the war, and cheap
oil was abundant. By this time (the late
1940s through the early 50s), Americans
decided they no longer wanted to shovel

coal into a boiler or furnace; it was much
easier to simply adjust a thermostat and
burn oil. Many coal-fired cast iron boilers were then retrofitted with oil-fired
burners to create this convenience.
Most of these early heating systems
(commercial and residential) were
low-pressure steam systems and earlier
gravity-fed hydronic systems, some of
which are still in operation today. When
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) energy crisis hit
in the early 1970s, however, oil became
scarce and prices rose drastically for the
first time in 25 years (from $21/barrel
to $52/barrel). This was the first time
Americans took a serious look at energy
efficiency, and the phrase boiler efficiency was born.
From the 1970s on, the industry
started relying more on hydronic heating systems, typically a combination
of oil- and gas-fired equipment. These
systems used 180 to 200F (with a 20F
Figure 1: The graph (boiler efficiency
versus return water temperature) illustrates the increase in boiler efficiency as
the return water is lowered. Also notice
the peak boiler efficiency is obtained
when the boiler is running on low-fire
and low-return water temperatures. All
graphics courtesy: EYP Inc.
DE1
www.csemag.com
Figure 2: The diagram shows a typical dual lowwater temperature boiler piping return. The lower
the return water, the higher the boiler efficiency.
delta T), heating hot water for all terminal devices (including air-handling
units, fan coil units, unit ventilators,
and unit heaters). Revolutionary at the
time, they typically reached the 80% efficiency range for hydronic heating systems with atmospheric or forced-draft
boilers. Some of these boilers can even
approach the 82% annual fuel-utilization
efficiency (AFUE) threshold, but were
held back by the higher return-water
temperature needed to prevent condensation in the boilers.
Energy efficiency
Over the past 15 years, the HVAC

industry has seen a dramatic shift in
design from conventional boilers and
other HVAC equipment to anything and
everything characterized by high efficiency. This primarily includes motors,
use of variable frequency drives (VFDs),
chillers, condensing units, boilers, furnaces, heat recovery, and controls. Interestingly, new energy codes have strict
guidelines for the efficiencies of motors
and cooling equipment, but many have
not yet caught up to the full potential of
modern boiler design. As an example,
www.csemag.com
the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (with a 2014 amendment)

still allows the use of gas-fired boilers
and furnaces with AFUE as low as 78%.
Understandably, this is acceptable for
small steam boilers to operate in this
range, but not for a large plant.
There are a vast amount of opportunities and strategies for enhancing
a buildings overall energy usage. For
instance, the invention and widespread
implementation of direct digital controls (DDC) and VFDs are an engineers
dream come true, allowing him or her to
design a control sequence of operation
that is only limited by imagination. Heat
recovery is another, with enthalpy wheels
and 75%-efficient high-performance
hydronic base heat-recovery systems now
widely available.
Todays industry buzzwords include
net zero energy (NZE) and highperformance building design (HPBD),
both of which take into consideration
not just mechanical systems design but
also the building as a wholeincluding envelope construction, daylighting
studies, LED lighting, water consumption, etc. This type of holistic approach is
requested by clients more often than not,

in a proactive attempt to save money and
improve overall building and occupant
performance. A typical office-building
owner in the Northeastern United States
10 years ago, for instance, would have
been happy to use 80 to 120 kBtu/sq ft/
year. Today, the same building would be
expected to use as little as 30 to 60 kBtu/
sq ft/year.
Even with all of our advancements and
innovations, much of the time we still
have to burn something to bridge the gap
and meet the NZE ideal. This brings us
back to the condensing boiler. With an
ever-expanding nationwide natural gas
network, we have a clean-burning fuel
that can be used effectively in condensing boilers. By using lower temperature
return water, we can efficiently capture
more latent heat when operating the
boiler in the condensing mode.
To take advantage of this energysaving potential, engineers and designers must change their thinking on heating-water temperatures. An example
is the recent engineering design for
several different types of large commercial buildings using a 130F low-
DE2
Low-temperature water heating

temperature hot-water supply with a 20
to 30F delta T, as opposed to the traditional 180F water supply. This small
design change bumps up overall boiler
plant efficiency from percentages in the
low 80s to the mid-90s, depending on
boiler-firing rate and heating-watersupply (HWS) temperature.
Boiler efficiency
The lower the return-water temperature, the higher the boiler efficiency.
Some boiler manufacturers have actu-
ally incorporated a dual-return connection at the boiler to accommodate

a heating-water return and a domestic water-heater or snow-melt system
return, further lowering the overall
return-water temperature to the boiler.
Additionally, running multiple boilers
at lower firing rates to match the load
can produce as much as a 2% increase
in boiler plant efficiency.
The complications of using lowtemperature hot water (LTHW) include
design challenges, operational issues,
Figure 3: This shows a typical 12 million Btuh condensing boiler plant in Albany, N.Y.
Condensing boilers typically have a very small footprint compared to the boiler output.
DE3
and increased cost of the terminal

equipment. One of the most significant
design challenges/obstacles to date has
been selecting and obtaining the most
effective equipment. Most of the major
air handling unit (AHU) manufacturers
can provide coil selections using LTHW.
Some of the variable air volume
(VAV) box manufacturers use larger
coils, which usually require a transition
at the end of the box (making the overall size of the VAV larger) or actually
duct-mounting the coil. Unit heaters,
cabinet unit heaters, blower coils, and
fan coil units must be upsized to use
the increased coils area and reduced fan
speeds to obtain design capacities.
In some cases, the design team must
then use small AHUs instead of fan
coil/blower coil units to obtain the
desired output capacity. Since LTHW
requires larger coils/terminal units,
the cost of the equipment is slightly
higher.
However, it is imperative to remain
careful about using convectors, finnedtube radiation, and panel radiators when
applying LTHW, as the output capacity
of this equipment using LTHW is not
typically listed or obtainable. This is why
most LTHW systems (except for radiant
floor or snow-melt systems) tend to be
mostly air-side-type systems.
Using 180F water provides very highapproach temperatures on coils. This is
desirable, since it allows the coil surface
area to be smaller while creating a builtin safety factor to offset those momentary
hours when the outside temperature drops
below the ASHRAE weather data.
LTHW systems, on the other hand,
produce very low-approach temperatures
and effectively eliminate this built-in
safety factor. Vigilantly double-checking
calculations and equipment selections
will usually keep the designer out of the
woods, but there are always other construction-related factors involved that
can potentially challenge or even defeat
a good system design. This is where the
control system and a well-thought-out,
strategic sequence of operation can step
in to save the day.
www.csemag.com
From an operational standpoint, in

most cases, the LTHW building will
operate as designed until the outdoor
air (OA) temperatures drop 10 to 30F
below OA design temperature. To offset
this handful of hours per year, engineers
should consider allowing the control
system to incrementally increase to
the LTHW temperature to match the
building load. Other strategies include
allowing VAV boxes to momentarily
float above their minimum setpoint and
starting morning warmup earlier. This
minor deviation in operation yields significant benefits and does not create any
noticeable energy penalties.
LTHW is quickly becoming the industry standard, leading equipment manufacturers to redesign their equipment to
accommodate future system needs. In
addition, most gas utility companies and
state energy authorities offer rebates to
help offset the increased systems cost of
using LTHW. These LTHW systems can
Figure 4: This condensing boiler control

panel is shown during winter operation. The boiler is providing 126F lowtemperature hot water, while the outside
temperature is 25F.
effectively increase boiler plant efficiency

by as much 15%, depending on baseline
comparison.
This is a significant contribution to
HPBD in relation to reducing energy
cost and carbon dioxide emission reductions. Central-campus-type steam and
high-temperature hot-water distribution
systems are starting to become decentralized, taking advantage of this potential. All signs point to even more cleanenergy sources being developed in the
near future, but for now, LTHW is truly
starting to make a difference.
George Marshall is a senior mechanical
engineer with EYP Architecture & Engineering.
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630-571-4070 x2215; KNimmo@CFEMedia.com
AAON ............................................... 2 ......................3 ................918-583-2266................. www.AAON.com .....................................
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630-571-4070 x2208, PBrouch@CFEMedia.com
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Aeroflex USA .................................. 16 ....................10 ..............866-237-6235................. www.aeroflexusa.com ............................
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Armacell........................................... 39 ....................16 ..............800-866-5638................. www.armacell.us.....................................
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Carlo Gavazzi, Inc ........................... 48 ....................21 ..............847-465-6100................. www.GavazziOnline.com .......................
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55
Future of Engineering
MITESH SMART, PE, LEED AP,
RTM Engineering Consultants, Orlando, Fla.
The recipe to becoming

a principal engineer
Start developing your skill set early with these three steps.
t is human nature to desire progress.

Most often, when first-year engineers
graduate from school, their next goal
is to land a great job, at a great company,
and in a great city. The last thing on
their minds is becoming a principal of a
company. However, after a few decades
of working in the industry, many engineers want to become the leader in their
companyand maybe even the principal engineer.
Although the recipe to becoming
a principal engineer includes all the
normal ingredients, such as a positive
can-do attitude, honesty and integrity,
time- and task-management skills, and a
strong work ethic, being selected out of
a large field of colleagues to be a principal engineer in the company will require
additional skills and traits that set you
apart. There are many steps engineers
can take to help them move forward to
possibly becoming the principal engineer at an engineering firm.
Become an expert at your company
Most engineering firms offer a variety

of services that may be outside of the
discipline from which you studied. For
example, to stay competitive in todays
market, most mechanical, electrical,
and plumbing (MEP) engineering firms
need to provide a variety of services that
are constantly developing. A principal
engineer at an MEP firm is required to
manage teams that will include engineers from all of the companys service
offerings.
56
Becoming a well-rounded expert in

your companys services will set you
apart from your colleagues/competitors.
One must begin by learning all of the
disciplines from the start. Methods for
accomplishing this include seeking out
colleagues who are already experts and
learning from them, taking continuingeducation courses in other disciplines,
and spending time performing crossdiscipline quality control reviews.
Obtaining registration in more than one
discipline will underscore your commitment and prove your expert status.
Set personal goals
Setting personal goals, such as learning a new language or obtaining a

certification, are very time-consuming
and require discipline to achieve. These
goals may not directly help you at work;
however, developing the excellent habits
of commitment, dedication, and persistence will follow you for life. Principal
engineers are normally faced with longterm goals, such as implementing a new
technology to increase efficiency. Starting early to develop the habits to persevere at these types of tasks will show in
your everyday work life.
Join a public speaking club
According to a survey performed by

Chapman University, more than 25% of
Americans fear public speaking. This is
higher than the fear of heights, snakes,
and zombies. A principal engineer not
only will have to speak to groups within
the company, but also will have to give

speeches and presentations and run
large meetings outside of the company.
Joining a public speaking club is an
effective way to polish your speaking
skills, while also working on the habits
previously discussed. One of the most
notable public speaking clubs is Toastmasters International. When attending a
weekly meeting, every word that is spoken is carefully examined and ahs, ums,
and unnecessary pauses receive dings
from the other members. Although
at first, this could be very difficult for
an introvert, over time, the structured
course designed to eliminate these bad
speaking habits can make anyone a polished, confident speaker.
There are many standard traits to
exhibit in order to obtain a leadership
position; however, to become a principal, an engineer must be able to possess
additional skills, habits, and traits that
will sustain the companys performance
and growth. By implementing some
of the suggestions provided as early as
possible, an entry-level engineer who
has set their sights on becoming a principal engineer will be better suited to
achieving this goal.
Mitesh Smart is principal at RTM Engineering Consultants and has more than
25 years of experience in MEP/FP system
design for projects in the public and private sectors. He is responsible for the overall quality of projects to ensure the highest
level of service is delivered to clients.
www.csemag.com
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L PLUMBIN

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