UTILITIES MANAGEMENT

The Utilities Management Division of Facilities and Services is responsible for the operation of the Central Heating Plant, steam and condensate return distribution systems on campus, the HVAC Shop and the Building Automation.  The Utilities Management Division is under the management of the Utility Systems Engineer.  Services provided by Utilities Management include:

• Diagnosis of problems related to a variety of building mechanical and utility system operation

• Design mechanical and utility systems repairs, replacements, renovations and additions

• Provide technical support to operational staff

• Perform design review in conjunction with Facilities and Services Engineering Department and outside consultants related to design and construction of utility systems, building mechanical systems, and building automation systems.

Staff reporting directly to the Utility Systems Engineer includes:

• Senior Mechanical Engineer (1)

• All HVAC and Building Automation Shop employees

• Central Heating Plant Supervisor

CENTRAL HEATING PLANT

The Central Heating Plant has a combination of coal, gas and oil-fired boilers that provide high (90 psig) and/or low pressure (10 psig) steam to most of our buildings on campus including academic spaces, the residence halls, and food service facilities, University Student Union, administrative buildings, research and greenhouses. The Central Plant heats 2,788,876 gross square feet of buildings with the Central Heating Plant and 312,701 gross square feet is heated by other miscellaneous sources. Besides being the primary source of building heat for many buildings, steam also is used for domestic water heating, autoclaves, humidifiers, cooking, cleaning, and process loads. 

Staff of Central Heating Plant includes:

• Building Maintenance Specialist/Shop Supervisor (1)

• Building Maintenance Lead Worker (1)

• Heating Plant Technicians (5)
  
   

HVAC AND BUILDING AUTOMATION SHOP

Types of Services provided by the HVAC and Building Automation Shop:

• Operate the Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems across campus to achieve occupant comfort in an energy conscientious manner while retaining equipment life

• Monitor the Building Automation System (BAS) alarms and coordinate with University Police Department to dispatch appropriate personnel to service equipment that goes into alarm

• Maintenance and repair of pneumatic temperature control systems

• Maintenance and repair of digital temperature controls systems

• Maintenance and repair of hydronic heating systems

• Refrigeration system repair and replacement

• Chiller service work

• Service on laboratory ventilation systems

• Installation of new temperature controls

• Remotely monitor critical equipment across campus and dispatch service personnel
  for items such as:

Growth chambers
Freezers/coolers
Ultracold freezers
Critical space temperatures
Water level alarms
 Access control or security systems

Staff of the HVAC and Building Automation Shop includes:
   

Building Automation System Specialist (1)

Building Automation System Technician (1)

Building Maintenance Specialists (4)

Senior Building Maintenance Specialists (1)

Student Hourly Employees (2-3 seasonal)

BUILDING AUTOMATION POINT CHARGES

Building Automation System Charges are $25 every six months for each hardware point.   

These hardware points represent a system that works to ensure the integrity of some portion of departmental programs or equipment - it is important that the appropriate ongoing investment be made to maintain this system. 

Detailed Discussion of Building Automation policy at SDSU:

As per our policy, found in Appendix B of the Physical Plant Service Guide, building maintenance on departmental equipment is the fiscal responsibility of the department to which that area is assigned. 

All departments will be based upon the same criteria.  The method used to count control points is standardized. Only hardware points will be considered for recharge status. 

Hardware point - a physical device that monitors, or allows us to control, equipment.  Some examples of hardware points are temperature sensors, start/stop relays for fans or other equipment, damper actuator control/modulation, valve actuator modulation, set of contacts that close in an alarm condition, etc.  Hardware points are more static in number and more tangible so they are a better measure of the number of points assigned to a department.

Software points - not physical devices, includes setpoints.  A “point” that resides in the building automation system and is used only for program execution or additional information to the operator.  For example a temperature setpoint defined may be used to control a valve actuator. 

Other examples of software points are: setpoints used to trigger alarms; room occupancy commands, calculated values displayed for informational purposes, etc.  Software points are much more fluid and new software points can be added for our convenience in operating the system. 

Laboratories - Laboratory fume hood control systems are one area where there are many billable points in the BAS.  In most of those cases the individual laboratory exhaust and supply are critical to maintain safe working environments in the fume hood and surrounding lab itself.  In many of those cases the heating and/or cooling system is integrated with laboratory supply/exhaust air systems to maintain proper temperature as well as ventilation.  Hardware points add up quickly when each room has multiple points for things like space temperatures, heating valve position, fume hood sash position, exhaust air valve position, supply air valve position, humidifier valve position, etc.  These highly specialized heating, ventilation and air conditioning control systems would not be required in a standard office building or general classroom.  They are required because of the laboratory function of the space and are therefore billable like any other specialized lab equipment service would be. 

New construction/Remodeling:  Construction, on new or remodeled space, will continue to expand the control system. There are digital control points being used, which is advantageous because digital controls provide for much tighter control of temperature and humidity for occupant comfort as well as critical research.  Digital controls also allow for remote troubleshooting of systems which can lead to more timely repairs and can lead to reduced maintenance costs.  Remote monitoring and trend logging of pertinent data is also available.  Therefore in remodels, renovations or new buildings there may be a large increase in the point count.  Building Automation System charges will be passed onto the appropriate department after the completion of the project when the points are considered billable so departments are asked to factor these ongoing maintenance expenses into future operating budgets.  The HVAC shop can provide information on the number of new points and associated BAS charges related to remodeling or new construction.

Semi-annual Building Automation System (BAS) charges:  Includes all the labor and material necessary to operate and maintain the entire building automation for campus on a per point basis.  Includes outside vendor labor and material and Physical Plant labor and material used to repair, monitor alarms, program, and adjust the BAS.  Includes the repair or upgrades to the specialized network server, the BAS software, the various level of controllers and the wiring between the all these devices.  Every BAS point in the system contributes to the load on the service, controllers, network wiring, software, etc, and therefore shares in this system expense.  In order to keep overall system size and costs down, in many cases some of the controllers serve multiple departments.  All costs are socialized from the controller level and up.  It does not include costs for the maintenance of the Input/Output device itself or the wiring between the I/O device and the lowest level controller.  If that device or wiring fails it is charged to a separate work order.  If the I/O device is used by a recharge department, then that work is charged to the department.  If the point is used for equipment for which the Physical Plant is fiscally responsible, then the costs of those repairs is covered by the Physical Plant in their operation and maintenance budget.   

The BAS point charges do not include the hardware and wiring in new installations.  Those are charged to the project (and associated project account) as any other work associated with the new installation would be.  Once the construction project is complete, then BAS point operation and maintenance charges begin.