Introduction to Functional Testing

This playlist consists of four video modules that explore the role of functional testing in new construction (NCx) and existing building commissioning (EBCx) processes.  
The first module discusses the similarities and differences between functional testing in NCx vs. EBCx along with the difference between forced response and natural response testing.

The second module looks at testing hierarchy and explores how one might go about targeting their test plan based on their field observations and the goals of a project, in particular, and EBCx project.

The third and fourth modules are a case study illustrating how a functional test was developed to inform the solution to a compressor short cycling problem in a facility.   The problem was solved by using the test data as a basis for a control logic modification that provided a thermal flywheel cycle for low load conditions. 

​The flywheel not only solved the operational problem, it allowed an air handling system to be converted from a non-integrated economizer system to an integrated economizer system, saving several thousand dollars a year in energy in addition to saving the life of the compressors.