BMS Blunders IV

At an RAF base with Royal connections (in England so not that one) I came in as Energy Manager for their FM provider. After my usual survey (a few problems but nothing glaring) I asked to look at the BMS – after confessing that they had no-one who knew how to use it thanks to personnel changes and that they were worried I might get them into trouble – they sat me down at the master computer and “volunteered” a keen member of their team to watch me (actually he didn’t take much pressing). Finding the login (actually it was username =Name of the Establishment and Password=Password – I had it changed!) I logged in with some trepidation. OK not too many alarms (pleasantly surprising) and the system clock has the right time AND Day -so not as bad as I expected.Then I turned to the local and asked “Why is this building set to 23C?” “That’s the creche” was the reply. “Then why does it say “Library?”
It turned out that one half of the building was a creche for servicemen/women’s children and the other half was a library. Very different temperature requirements and opening hours but they were one zone on the BMS despite the graphics (rather good) showing that mechanically they were seperated (and even had two sensors).
As they were operating at the high temperature required for toddlers and the library’s long hours rather a lot of energy was being consumed.
A Classic example where a small saving on capital cost results in a significantly greater loss on operating costs – which are repeated through the life of the installation.
And the outcome? The BMS service engineer was due, he put in one new wire (apparently about 2m long) did a bit of reprogramming and one zone became two with the right temperature and hours, the library staff were grateful to be comfortable and my “disciple” set about adjusting the settings for ALL the buildings based on a chart I gave him.
All in all a very effective visit.
Now drawing the four BMS stories together, it is a capable tool but it needs to be correctly engineered, managed and understood if it is to achieve results. and as is often the case in energy a small “saving” on capital can result in considerable long term losses on running costs.