The design of Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Control Systems is to automatically adjust your system depending on the current conditions within your building. However, sometimes your automatic system doesn’t perform as expected, which can be attributed to human interference. An automatic control system performs the appropriate action to the correct component of the HVAC System without specific interaction of a human. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen. Proper training of your maintenance staff is essential.
Circumvention of Control Components
It is a cold winter day and a call comes into your staff. “We must meet this deadline, and we are freezing. Can you do something?” After a quick check of the HVAC System, the technician sees that the outside air damper is wide open, bringing in cold outside air. The technician loosens the damper control linkage and moves the damper to the closed position. Now everyone is much warmer.
This may work for immediate reconciliation, but now the controls are no longer automatic. When the outdoor temperature rises, then the affected room may become too hot. Because of the disconnected controls, another manual correction is necessary. The technician has become part of the HVAC control system! He is running around adjusting it every time the weather changes.
Training as a Solution
This is not an ideal scenario; the technician needs to know how the HVAC controls manipulate the HVAC system. The role of the technician is to adjust the operating parameters of the control system so it operates on its own efficiently. In the above example, he could make some temporary changes to the temperature settings then do some investigating as to why the problem occurred. With a good understanding of the control system and some diagnostics, the technician can find a solution without disconnecting the control system.
We can provide the training for your maintenance staff on your specific control system and how it should be operated to maximize workflow, efficiency and minimize costs. Contact us to learn more about our Temperature Control Services and training.
