With a degree in engineering, developing a step-by-step process for HVAC energy optimization, comfort improvement and indoor air quality, for existing schools and commercial buildings, came naturally for this HVAC service and building automation contractor. With 35 + years' experience in the industry, the author, Tom Olson, is convinced that over 75% of all HVAC maintenance requirements are simply keeping all system components clean, dry and lubricated. Further, no one is better capable of providing those services, at the lowest possible cost, than well-trained in-house personnel. However, the author's experience is that most buildings are accomplishing less than 50% of all necessary services. The purpose of this book is to help in-house personnel, and their managers, better operate their facilities. The building block system suggested to optimize HVAC energy consumption, comfort and indoor air quality, is a simple six-step process:1.Fix what's brokenIt's impossible to provide the desired efficiency, comfort and indoor air quality with broken or damaged equipment. If it's broken, it should be on a priority list for repair or replacement. This book will help you better understand what to look for and why the repairs are important.2.Clean what's dirtyDirt and debris are your HVAC system's biggest enemies. It causes premature equipment failure, inefficiencies, and indoor air quality related problems. Tom grew up in a family restaurant. His dad wouldn't go to be until the kitchen was clean. So, when he joined the HVAC industry, the filth that he found was shocking! How can these systems possibly operate efficiently with all that dirt? Well, they can't. This book spends a great deal of time talking about getting, and keeping, HVAC systems clean, including specific recommendations on air filters.3.Change methods of operations made possible, because the equipment is no longer broken and dirtyBuilding maintenance staff will be more productive, and efficient, when given the knowledge, and the time, to operate a facility free of broken and dirty equipment. Often times, however, they've never had an opportunity to operate a building free of such deficiencies. Methods of how to cover up for such deficiencies frequently just get passed from generation to generation. This book will help break that chain of events. 4.Temperature control system revisionsEnergy efficiency, comfort improvement and indoor air quality are not mutually exclusive terms. It is not necessary to sacrifice one to have the other two. Current, antiquated control sequences are often the root cause of preventing success in these areas. It is important to utilize proven, modern control sequences to eliminate simultaneous cooling and heating, including simultaneous atmospheric cooling and heating. If your mixed air temps are always 55°F, or 60°F, you're providing costly, uncomfortable sequences of operation. ASHRAE has discouraged it since 1975! It's time to stop. This book can help.5.Install new technology hardwareIn the hands of the right technician, there are few control sequences that pneumatic temperature control systems can't accomplish. The problem is, those technicians are few and far between. It is frequently in your best, long-term interest to replace defective equipment, instead of investing in repairs of old, antiquated equipment. This applies to more than just pneumatic controls. Old boilers are another example of old equipment that have outlived their effectiveness. In many instances, there are new, unique and often low-cost equipment solutions. This book will share many ideas with you.6.Implement preventive maintenance routines Preventative maintenance is an area that should be incorporated throughout the six-step process. A good schedule of preventative maintenance is one of the most important factors in managing time and financial resources. Again, this book will help your in-house maintenance personnel become more self-sufficient.
About the Author: Tom Olson has an engineering degree from the University of Minnesota. After 3 years in the aerospace industry, Tom switched to the HVAC industry, as a service salesman, for a national temperature control company. After just a couple of years membership in ASHRAE, the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineering, Tom's chapter's Energy Committee was asked to review ASHRAE 90-75, a document that ultimately became the accepted energy code for all 50 states. Tom was the only temperature control specialist on that committee. It was there that Tom learned that the current air-handling unit sequences of operation were major contributors to HVAC energy waste and comfort issues. In the late 1970's, Minnesota required that every public school facility have an energy audit. After the first round of audits, Tom discovered that only one energy auditor had addressed the poorly designed air-handling unit sequences of operation. Tom then invited over 250 Minnesota engineers, to his office, for a free box supper and several hours of training on eliminating simultaneous cooling and heating, including atmospheric cooling and heating. When the Internet came about, Tom decided to share his HVAC knowledge with anyone interested in learning how to save energy and improve comfort and indoor air quality. He did this with over 5 years of free, monthly e-mail lessons that are now the foundation of this book.