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Commissioning processes for heating and cooling water distribution in buildings
The latest regulations emphasise the need to commission building services appropriately. So, when should commissioning start and what should it involve? This CPD gives an overview of the process and focuses on specific examples
The complexity of building services solutions frequently expands to meet the demands of the increasingly stringent requirements of regulations and of local authorities. Building systems are proved in concept and their theoretical performance marked by their asset rating (in the UK by the Energy Performance Certificate, EPC) as calculated during the design process. However, the key measure is their effectiveness in use, as might be measured by an operational rating (and demonstrated by a Display Energy Certificate, DEC, in the UK). The operational effectiveness will depend
not only on the ingenuity and skill of the design and installation but, importantly, on the ability to set the systems to work properly. This commissioning activity provides an important link between the aspiration of the EPC and the actuality of the DEC. So important is the need for suitable commissioning that the Approved Documents for the 2010 revisions to the Building Regulations require that building services be appropriately commissioned, and that this should be done in a planned way and formally recorded, so that there is
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evidence that the systems operate in line with the design intent. This CPD article will look at the required commissioning processes of the one service that is included in virtually every building: water distribution for heating and cooling circuits.
The formalisation of the need for commissioning The Building Regulations require that it must be properly demonstrated to the BCB (building control body, a local authority or approved inspector) that the heating and hot water systems have been adequately commissioned. The term ‘commissioning’ includes the processes of bringing the systems into operation; their regulation; the setting up of associated control systems; plus the recording of the final settings and the state of the final system performance. The actual commissioning
process should start well before the building systems are installed, with a commissioning plan submitted at the design stage at the same time as the Target Emission Rate (TER)/Building Emission
Rate (BER) calculations are produced. As well as ensuring that commissioning is properly integrated into the process, this will allow the BCB to check that commissioning is being undertaken as work proceeds. It will also help to ensure that provisions specifically included for commissioning purposes do not fall foul of value engineering exercises, and are not neglected due to poor understanding of the commissioning needs by site personnel. At the end of the commissioning
process the BCB must be formally advised (within a prescribed time period) that the commissioning plan has been followed and that the results of tests confirm that the performance is reasonably in accordance with the actual building design. If the installed systems deviate from what was proposed at the time of design, then the alterations must be detailed in the report to the BCB. And until this commissioning notice is received, the building cannot be signed off as complying with the Building Regulations, so a delay in the formal commissioning processes may have significant implications on the issuing of a final completion certificate.
July 2011 CIBSE Journal 51
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