ASHRAE/IES Publish First Standard Focused on Commissioning Process

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ATLANTA – A newly published standard focused on the commissioning process will help ensure a fully functional, fine-tuned facility.

ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 202, Commissioning Process for Buildings and Systems, identifies the minimum acceptable commissioning process for buildings and systems as described in ASHRAE’s Guideline 0-2005, The Commissioning Process. Standard 202 is ASHRAE’s first standard focused on the commissioning process. The commissioning process as detailed in Standard 202 applies to all construction projects and systems and is an industry consensus document.

“Given the integration and interdependency of facility systems, a performance deficiency in one system can result in less than optimal performance by other systems,” Gerald Kettler, P.E., chair of the committee that wrote the standard, said. “Implementing the Commissioning Process is intended to reduce the project capital cost through the warranty period and also reduce the life-cycle cost of the facility. Using this integrated process results in a fully functional, fine-tuned facility, with complete documentation of its systems and assemblies and trained operations and maintenance personnel.”

The commissioning process assumes that owners, programmers, designers, contractors and operations and maintenance entities are fully accountable for the quality of their work. The process begins at project inception and continues for the life of a facility.

The process includes specific tasks to be conducted to verify that design, construction, verification, testing, documentation and training meet the owner’s project requirements, according to Kettler.

The standard defines the commissioning process through 13 functional steps, each of which contains deliverables. The commissioning activities and deliverable are as follows:
•    Initiate the Commissioning Process, including defining roles and responsibilities
•    Define the project requirements, which results in the  Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR) document
•    Develop commissioning plan – produces a written Commissioning Process Plan
•     Plan design approach to Owners Project Requirements – defines the basis of design
•    Set contractor commissioning requirement, which are included in the commissioning specifications
•     Design review by the commissioning authority provides feedback and a design review report
•    Submittals review verifies compliance with the OPR in a submittal review report
•    Observation  & Testing verifies system performance with results documented in construction checklists and reports
•    Issues resolution coordination is done with an issues and resolution log
•    Systems manual assembly results in a systems manual for building operation
•    Conduct training for building operations with training plans and records
•    Post occupancy operation commissioning provides an end of warranty commissioning report
•    Assembly of a commissioning report captures all the project commissioning documentation

Other commissioning guidance from ASHRAE includes Guideline 0-2005, The Commissioning Process; Guideline 1.1-2007, HVAC&R Technical Requirements for the Commissioning Process; and Guideline 1.5-2012, The Commissioning Process for Smoke Control Systems.

ASHRAE also is working on several other guidelines related to commissioning:  Guideline 0.2P, The Commissioning Process for Existing Systems and Assemblies; Guideline 1.2P, The Commissioning Process for Existing HVAC&R Systems; Guideline 1.3P, Building Operation and Maintenance Training for the HVAC&R Commissioning Process; and Guideline 1.4P, Procedures for Preparing Facility Systems Manuals.

The cost of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 202-2013, Commissioning Process for Buildings and Systems, is $72 ($61, ASHRAE members). To order, visit www.ashrae.org/bookstore.

ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is a building technology society with more than 50,000 members worldwide. The Society and its members focus on building systems, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, refrigeration and sustainability. Through research, standards writing, publishing, certification and continuing education, ASHRAE shapes tomorrow’s built environment today.

More information can be found at www.ashrae.org/news.