HVAC Improvements For Existing Buildings ? HVAC Retrofits ...

One way to identify tenant needs in existing buildings is to note what architects and designers are trying to create for clients in new buildings. The objective for a new building is to provide the ideal office space. Tenants are often looking for space that can address such issues as flexibility, modular space planning, environmental considerations and individual temperature comfort. A particular hot spot for many national tenants is to gain the highest level of productivity from their employees. This usually means the building will need plenty of HVAC zones, flexible office hours and point-of-use supplemental systems. These factors point to a flexible and often programmable HVAC system that can meet tenants? needs.

Architectural trends can also create new loads and requirements for an HVAC system in an existing facility. More natural light can increase heat loads; atrium designs can obstruct air distribution; additional zones can increase the overall volume of ventilated air needed, the quantity of heat to be rejected and the amount of outdoor air required. If a building doesn?t have a flexible HVAC plant, then modifications or upgrades to the HVAC system will be necessary to compete with new building design and technology.

An excellent home improvement and way to save money is to install a whole-house fan. These are excellent sources of energy savings because they typically use one-tenth the electricity of an air conditioner. If you live in an area where air conditioning is not necessary year round, this is a great alternative to central air.

One factor that must be considered in any analysis of a possible retrofit is that an HVAC upgrade usually means that the building has to be brought into compliance with current codes. Some codes are based on prescriptive regulations; however, the trend to create a safer and healthier indoor environment can also bring new performance requirements. For example, over time, the percentage of outdoor air has gradually been increased, and current requirements may call for more outdoor air than many buildings have the capacity to condition. Bringing the building up to code may require a significant investment in upgrades beyond those originally planned.

When it comes to home improvement, consider adding more fans to your house to help during the warm months. This is important because running fans will cost considerably less than air conditioning, and provide a cooling benefit as well. Remember also that a fan only provides cooling benefit when you are in the room, so turn it off if the room will not be occupied.

Making Retrofit Decisions

When thinking about home improvements, think green! It?s a great way to add value as well as to be environmentally friendly. Putting in an energy efficient furnace or air conditioning will not only make your living space more comfortable, but also save you money and keep the earth cleaner longer.

HVAC systems are major energy users, and new HVAC technology is far more efficient than 15 to 20-year-old systems in place in buildings. In some cases, the energy savings alone are so substantial that they justify the upgrade investment. But in many commercial office buildings it can be difficult to justify an HVAC upgrade. Perhaps some upgrades have been performed over the years, reducing the energy savings now available. Or perhaps the owner has a too short a payback-period requirement for energy upgrades.

Installing ceiling fans will reduce your energy bill, add value to your home and improve the look of your home. Ceiling fans circulate and cool the air in your home, especially during summer nights. This can really help to lower the cost of air conditioning. Ceiling fans also add a touch of style unlike any other accessory!

When energy savings alone do not clearly justify an upgrade, how does the facility executive responsible for a commercial office building determine whether and how to upgrade the HVAC system? It is best to start with the building profile. A relatively small or mid-sized building (less than 200,000 square feet) may present marketing opportunities not available to larger facilities. For instance, instead of converting a constant-volume system to variable-air-volume (VAV), it might be possible to make each floor a separate zone. The marketing plan could then be changed to focus on larger, whole-floor users with large bullpen work areas that do not require multi-zone improvements.

One valuable home improvement project that could save you money is the installation of ceiling fans. Having a fan in each of your rooms can help keep them cool and allow the air to circulate. If you use the fans instead of air conditioning, your summer energy bill will be much lower.

In a medium or large-sized building, upgrade options will depend more on the type of system already in place. If the base building system is a constant volume system, with the main fans delivering varied air temperatures to large sectors of the building, there isn?t much choice. To serve the varied needs of today?s tenants, the facility executive will need, at a minimum, to increase the zoning abilities. How this is accomplished depends on the building?s design and business plan.

To make sure that you?re always getting the most out of your air conditioning units, always remember to clean those filters. Especially if you have a large central machine attached to the home, it?s vital that the filter remains clean so that the machine doesn?t have to work too hard and burn itself out prematurely.

For example, new speculative office buildings sometimes install heat pumps, which can deliver heating or cooling to small or large zones, are easily programmable, and operate at about 50 cents a ton per hour. But is the first cost for installing heat pumps a good value for retrofits? Probably not if the building was configured as a constant-volume or multi-zone system. Using heat pumps would require running condenser piping throughout the building and changing the fresh air distribution; what?s more, the actual conversion could not run parallel to the old system if this retrofit was attempted in the summer because the cooling tower would be reused.

Make sure you keep the filter for your air conditioning unit clean. If the filter gets clogged up, the air conditioning unit will have to work harder to cool your house, using up more energy. It can also result in the unit running longer than it should be needed. You should change your filter at least once a month to prevent buildup.

In this case, options for conversion should be limited to a VAV conversion or to individual zone diffusing that does not reduce energy costs but does create comfort zones similar to VAV systems. VAV systems provide a constant temperature to the space, but the air volume varies with the comfort setting. If the building was constructed after 1975, it probably has some type of VAV system installed. The earlier systems did provide easy zone creation; however, after-hour and flexible operation were usually not part of the operating system.

Keep your fans circulating, or invest in some if you do not currently use them. Rooms are kept more cool with the circulating air created by fans. In addition, if you use them instead of air conditioning on those days that are not scorching, the amount of energy you consume is reduced, allowing you to enjoy lower electric bills.

The most difficult VAV retrofit decisions are the ones where the payback related to energy reduction has already been captured by vortex dampers or by the later addition of variable frequency drives. If the facility will not receive an initial influx of energy savings, HVAC retrofits will have to be justified based on increased flexibility, after-hour operation and supplemental cooling. The facility executive must spend the time necessary to understand the overall value to the asset from a marketing standpoint.

If you don?t already have some, install some ceiling fans in all your rooms. You can use these to cool rooms and circulate the air, reducing the need to use your air conditioning unit. This in turn will save you money on your electric bill and most likely increase the life expectancy of your air conditioner.

It is important that all values are considered when making the decision. More is involved than just the cost of energy. There will be other gains that are not so obvious. A new cooling tower or new chiller not only operates with less kilowatts per ton, it also has new heat transfer surfaces, better part-load abilities and generally reduces maintenance requirements. The amount of labor and maintenance required to service a temperamental HVAC system can be quite a surprise once it is segregated from general operating costs.

To keep your heating and air conditioning system in top shape, clean your air ducts at least once a year. It is a chore that no one really wants to do but it certainly easy enough to do on your own. During your inspection of the ducts, please note that if you see any mold growth you should call a professional.

The facility executive must also look at the useful life of the existing system. Will there be parts available next year? Is there a service company that will be willing to support the system? If a decision is made to sell the building will the system be flagged as unserviceable? Can the system still be used when a big block of space comes up in two years? These are all questions to ask when a system is facing obsolescence and when reliability of building systems becomes a factor in the marketplace.

Consider using white or light colored tiles if you are replacing your roof. The lighter tiles will reduce the heat that your attic absorbs, keeping the house cooler and reducing the need for you to run central air conditioning. Running your air conditioner less will save you money on your electric bill.

There are other building details that sophisticated tenants are aware of or will become aware of if they enlist a good tenant representative or broker. Consider a broker with a client that is considering an existing building over the brand-new building across the street. The potential tenant is concerned with the condition of the HVAC system and requests the following information:

In order to get the most out of your air conditioning and heating system, clean or replace your air filters. Dirty air filters can reduce air flow in your vents, causing your system to work harder to cool or heat your home, therefore using more energy and costing you more money. You can find replacement filters at your local hardware store or even sometimes at your local supermarket.

? Is the ductwork and distribution system clean? Please offer some verification.
? How is the insulation attached? Is it interior or exterior fiberglass?
? Is sound batting provided?
? What is the zoning per terminal?
? What are the temperature setpoints of the zones? How many zones are in my space?
? What is the noise level of the terminals?
? Can we control the perimeter zones of the offices separately?
? Is there any asbestos on the HVAC system, piping or ceiling?
? How can I operate after hours and what is the cost per hour?
? If I want to add some additional servers, is there a tenant tower for condenser water?
? What are the watts per square foot and the cubic feet per minute of ventilation air?
? What am I guaranteed in the future?
? How will I be billed for use of my after-hour heating and cooling?

It is extremely important to change your air filters. Not only is it more healthy for the air that you breathe inside your home, but it is better for your heating and air conditioning unit. Many of the service calls that these repairmen face are due to build up that has gotten into the machine from dirty filters.

In the last few years, tenants have been even more concerned with the office IAQ (Indoor air quality) environment. The more important the staff is to the operation, the more concern for the users? welfare. Tenants are asking more questions like these:

When it comes to home improvements, one thing that needs to be understood is that sometimes you have to spend money in order to save money. Buying a new fridge can save you money on electricity, and insulating a room or especially an attic can save on heating and air-conditioning bills. All these types of improvements will also help to increase the value of your home if you decide to sell in the future.

? What is the outside air ratio?
? Where does the outside air for my area originate and can you achieve 100 percent economizing?
? Do you have a proactive plan for indoor air quality complaints?
? Do you allow smoking?
? Do you have pressurization, smoke tower, stairway pressurization or smoke exhaust system?
? Are there any negative air situations in this building and does any of the air come from infiltration?
? Is there any redundancy to the heating and cooling systems?
? What is the origin, quality and reliability of the electrical service supplying the building HVAC system?

Consider your quality of life before visual aesthetics when starting home improvements. A pond in your front yard might be nice, but having your child fall in and drown would be horrifying. You might want to install a desk, but the money could be be better spent on installing air conditioning in a Florida home.

Competing for Tenants

Improving the air quality inside your home can be an invaluable home improvement for both your health and the resale value of your house. The first step would be to replace any old carpets or have them professionally cleaned, as they could be hiding contaminants, allergens and unpleasant odors. Secondly, if your budget allows, install an energy efficient air conditioning system.

Potential tenants may also want to see the property?s preventive/predictive maintenance program, or to review the energy or computerized maintenance program to determine what occurs when the building operates outside its design parameters. This is when a facility executive must know the market. Can the property afford not to retrofit? Very often an energy payback exercise will show the project being way off the owner?s target. But the analysis must also take into account lease-up value, tenant retention, cash flow and ultimately overall asset value. If a property is competing with a state-of-the-art VAV building with lower operating costs and greater flexibility, where are the tenants most likely to go?

In order to save money on air conditioning costs during the summer, try installing ceiling fans. Ceiling fans recirculate air within a room, cooling it down without the need for turning on a central air system. They are relatively easy to install and can be installed in place of your lighting fixture.

In a landlord?s market, a building with an outdated HVAC system may do all right. In a tight market, with a lot of available space, that property may either have to reduce rent, offer concessions or decide to give tenants what they really want: An HVAC system that is flexible, usable, efficient and able to provide comfort and good indoor air quality for employees.

Ceiling fan installation is a fantastic and cost effective home improvement project that you should consider. Ceiling fans are great for circulating the air in the home, and keeping the home cool. They can also help reduce the cost of your electric bills by eliminating the need for air conditioning during the cooler days of the summer.

Source: http://www.hvac-boston.org/hvac-improvements-for-existing-buildings-hvac-retrofits

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