Key Takeaways:
Few projects in institutional and commercial facilities require as much planning as HVAC upgrades. They involve a range of interested parties, they affect large areas of facilities and numerous occupants, and they generally are expensive. For these reasons, HVAC upgrades require that building owners and facility executives pay close attention to the planning process to ensure success.
“Owners and the owner’s team need to bring to the table their mission,” says Al Spinelli, P.E., senior mechanical engineer with Henderson Engineers. “What are their goals? What values do they have? Do you have ESG goals? Are you part of an organization that’s trying to minimize your impacts with refrigerants? That’s very useful information to an engineer because then we can help determine what systems and what retrofit makes sense, not just from the technical perspective but also to allow you to achieve your goals.”
The planning process for HVAC upgrades starts with gathering and sharing information on the components and systems in question.
“One thing they need to know is their equipment,” says Craig Barbee, owner and senior mechanical engineer with Smith Seckman Reid, offering the example of one facility manager whose facilities have over 200 air handling units, some of which are 40 years old.
“They’re way past their lifespan, and (the manager) said, ‘We can only manage about seven retrofits on those air handlers a year just because of the time it takes to go through the process of design, as well as going through the budget, the capital, getting the funds available and then ordering the equipment.’
“If all of them are old and nobody has ever touched them, you can’t replace 200 in one year. You’ve got to start early to replace some prematurely, maybe before they’re too old. Then the next year, do another seven and just keep going until you get a cycle of getting them completed. (Owners) need to know their equipment age, the condition and any major problems that are inherently in their systems.”
Owners then need to gather and share information on the financial impact of the existing equipment with the planning team, which often includes in-house finance and energy executives, as well as outside engineers and architects.
“The second part that is good to know is how much you’re spending on the asset or that system — how much you’re spending on maintaining it, how much you’re spending on operating your HVAC system in the building across the year, your boiler system, your water heater, whatever it is,” Spinelli says.
“The more information you have on that financial side to the equation, the better you can allocate your dollars as an owner. There are far too many engineers that don’t think in terms of dollars. They just think in terms of systems: ‘This is the best that I can get for you.’ The best may not be what’s needed for the building. Not every building needs that. Not every building wants that. They need to really align the two sides — the money side and the engineering side.”
Barbee says gathering and acting on this financial information is critical to move along a process that can take more time than owners might anticipate.
“The problem is the process,” Barbee says. “It takes a year. For these large air handlers, you’re spending $400,000, $500,000 to replace it. And (the CFO) wants you to spend (the budget allotment) within that fiscal year. But with the time to hire a consultant to do the drawings, to order the equipment and install it, it’s usually a year or longer. It can take a year and a half to two years sometimes. That’s a challenge for them, managing the money within the fiscal year with the finance department because they don’t like it when you go past that window.”
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
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