Resources

General Resources and Resource List

The pages you can access from here contain general resources that did not fit into the structure of the website in other places.

Bill Coad's Writings

Bill Coad was one of my mentors and had a pretty significant influence on my career and the career of others I know. If you have attended any of the classes I am involved with, if nothing else, you have heard me mention his paper Energy Conservation is an Ethic.

In addition to that paper, he wrote a lot of really good technical articles. including a regular column in Heating, Piping and Air Conditioning as well as a book on Energy Engineering. Since they are all based on fundamental principles, they are still valuable resources. Since they are becoming harder to find on the internet, I thought I would make a page for them here.

Control and Logic Diagram Standards

Logic diagrams are a very useful way to communicate control sequences with very little room for error given the specific meaning of the symbols. Some control systems, Automatic Logic for instance, actually are programmed using graphic symbols to build logic diagrams which then are compiled and executed to control the machinery they serve.

This page contains links to a number of standards that are in the public domain, placed there by Universities as a resource for their designers to use in developing the logic, operating sequences system diagrams and specifications for new and renovated systems on campus. If you want to try making your own logic diagrams, you can download an Excel based Logic Diagram Tool from our Logic Diagram Tool page.

Data Logging Resources

Data loggers are really handy tools for building commissioning work. Even of you have the luxury of a DDC control system, you may find loggers handy to supplement the data points that are available or log a process at a higher frequency that the DDC system can handle.

This page contains links to data logging resources including magazine articles, a monitoring plan, and a video that walks you through the steps in deploying and retrieving a typical data logger.

EBCx Skills Guidebook

This is a generic version of a guideline we use for existing building commissioning training classes to help guide a self study effort targeted at developing the 10 Key Commissioning Skills. The Introduction portion of the guidebook provides a bit more of an explanation about the history behind it.

Fisher Controls Valve Cavitation Bulletin

Pumps are not the only thing that can cavitate in our systems; control valves can do it to. This resource is how I learned about the phenomenon and how to assess it.

Functional Testing Guide

This is a tool that was developed by PECI that is no longer available from their website or the California Commissioning Collaborative website. Since people (including myself) still use it and since it was developed with public benefit money, I have made a downloadable version of the tool available here.

Honeywell Gray Manual

This is a book that Honeywell used as a text book for training their system engineers at one point in time. A lot of it references pneumatic controls but the principles still apply. It also includes good general information on HVAC processes, psychrometrics, and valve and damper sizing.

MCC Powers Valve and Damper Sizing Bulletins

MCC Powers had some very good application engineering bulletins in their Application Engineering Manual that seem to have disappeared over the years as the company grew and was acquired, eventually merging into Siemens. But the physics of the procedure have not changed and thus, these bulletins still apply.

NBCIP Reports

This page contains the guidelines and reports that the Iowa Energy Center developed for the National Building Control Information Program on Return Fan Capacity, duct mounted humidity sensors, and wall mounted CO2 sensors.

PEC Tool Lending Library

If you are a utility customer in California (or doing work for a utility customer in California), and need to measure something, then the Pacific Energy Center Tool Lending Library is the place for you.

PID Resources

Proportional plus Integral plus Derivative control processes are very common in our system. These resources helped me learn a lot about how that process works.

Pneumatic Control Resources

While the industry has moved to digital control technology, pneumatic controls are still quite common, especially in existing buildings. And pneumatic actuation is still a very desirable way to make things move, even if electronics and digital technology is used to measure things and make decisions. This page is a compilation of resources on pneumatic controls including links to some blog posts I wrote on the topic

Resource List

There are an amazing number of free resources out there from vendors, manufacturers, organizations, and individuals that can be really helpful if you are trying to learn about buildings and building systems.

A number of years ago now, we decided to put together a list of the ones we knew about to support some of the classes we teach and to furnish the information to our clients in an organized fashion. The link below will take you to the current version of that document.

EBCx Scoping Resources

This page contains downloads and links to other resources that you This page contains links to resources that you may find to be useful if you are starting an existing building commissioning process (EBCx) and are going to scope the targeted facility for opportunities.

TAB Resources

This page contains downloads and links to other resources on the topic of testing, adjusting and balancing, including a 1967 vintage SMACNA balancing manual, a discussion about flow profiles and laminar and turbulent flow, and a discussion of pitot tube traverses.

Vintage Carrier Design Manual

One of my mentors, Bud Wiecezorik, gave me his Carrier Design Manual when he retired. Since HVAC physics have not changed much over the years, it is still a very handy reference, especially when working in older buildings served by legacy design solutions like high velocity perimeter induction systems.

So, I started scanning different chapters from my vintage manual as the need arose and this is the page where I am placing them in case you run into one of the legacy design approaches and want to learn about the design intent behind it.

VRF Systems

Variable Refrigeration Flow (VRF) technology is becoming more and more common and there are a number of things to be aware of if you have not been exposed to it before. This page has a smorgasbord of our lesson's learned from the field.

Williams' Wisdsom

Jerry Williams has been a mentor and a friend to me for my entire career in this industry. There is a black binder on my bookshelf with a Williams Wisdom label that is full of information he and other mentors shared with me.

But in addition to that informal information, Jerry has shared his knowledge via number of very good articles in professional Journals. This page is where I will be placing the copies I have so you can create your own electronic Williams Wisdom binder.