MEP COMMISSIONING SOLUTIONS
Quality Assurance for Your Building’s Systems
Commissioning. What is it? There are different definitions of what commissioning is but in the end, what it really breaks down to is – it’s a form of Quality Assurance. There are many steps, phases and levels of complexity within the commissioning process but in the end, it’s a form of Quality Assurance that ensures the systems are designed, installed and function in the manner they were designed to.
Why Do It? Commissioning serves many purposes and delivers many benefits. Having your systems commissioned has proven to:
- Lower lifetime energy costs
- Improve indoor air quality
- Improve the life of equipment
- Improves building systems’ documentation
- Reduce warranty issues
- Reduces open issue items at the end of the project
DESIGN PHASE
5D’s will conduct design reviews at several levels. During this phase the Cx team will ensure direct communication between the owner’s design team and CxA is established.
We will also review the designs to ensure the owner’s project requirements are met and will allow for the accurate measuring of the performance for the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems
CONSTRUCTION PHASE
5D’s will review submittals, conduct Cx team meetings, conduct site visits, create the issue log tracking system, as well as, develop the pre-functional and functional tests needed in the Acceptance Phase.
ACCEPTANCE PHASE
This is the testing phase. 5D’s will personally write Functional tests specific to the project. Those tests will then be used to test the buildings’ systems. The Functional Tests are designed to put the systems under very intense conditions in order to validate their performance, as well as, to net out any potential issues that would otherwise go unnoticed until failure occurred.
WARRANTY PHASE
This is the final phase and will consist of an off-season visit (usually 10 months after building hand-off) to validate the system’s performance while occupied. It will consist of interviewing the building’s occupants to identify any issues, such as hot/cold spots. The owner and facilities maintenance staff will also be interviewed to discuss any equipment specific issues. A few tests may be conducted and the equipment will be inspected to ensure performance and sustainability. The goal of this is to ensure the system functions and performs at the level it was designed to. It also serves to identify any specific equipment issues that need be resolved before it’s warranty expires.