Summer is around the corner, but that doesn’t mean a break for your facilities department. As temperatures start to rise, now’s the time to make sure your Building Automation System (BAS) is ready for the summer load. A tuned and optimized BAS is key to keeping your occupants comfortable, minimizing costly and disruptive downtime, and controlling energy consumption and costs during those demanding summer months.
Use this summer readiness checklist to help your facilities team take the right steps for peak cooling season.
1. Check HVAC Systems
Before the next heatwave hits, make sure your HVAC system is serviced and performing efficiency to handle higher demand. Proactive maintenance is especially key and will prevent equipment stress to make sure systems are ready for high-load operation.
- Inspect and clean chillers, rooftop units, and air handling units.
- Verify cooling tower operation and water treatment.
- Replace or clean air filters.
- Clear drain pans and condensate lines.
- Review chilled water setpoints and reset strategies.
2. Optimize Schedules and Occupancy
Summer brings extended daylight hours and shifts in occupancy patterns. Accommodate these fluctuations and adjust BAS schedules to match your facility’s actual use during warmer, longer days. This helps ensure occupant comfort while reducing unnecessary runtime and energy waste.
- Update summer occupancy and holiday schedules.
- Adjust cooling start/stop times.
- Enable night setback or unoccupied cooling sequences.
- Verify proper warm-up and cool-down settings.up for winter.
3. Calibrate Sensors and Data Accuracy
During summer when systems run harder and longer, inaccurate readings can cause your BAS to overcompensate and waste energy. Even small sensor shifts can lead to unnecessary cooling, poor humidity control, and occupant complaints. Accurately operating sensors ensures more reliable data to optimize your BAS.
- Calibrate temperature and humidity sensors.
- Verify CO2 levels and pressure sensor accuracy.
- Compare zone readings with actual space conditions.
4. Optimize Cooling Strategies
A well-configured BAS can automatically adjust cooling performance to actual conditions, ensure the optimal balance of occupant comfort and energy efficiency. By resetting temperatures and adjusting airflow to match demand, you can avoid overcooling, reduce energy usage, and extend component life.
- Check air supply and reset chilled water.
- Verify economizer operation.
- Optimize variable frequency drive (VFD) control.
- Ensure demand-controlled comfort and energy.
5. Prepare for Peak Load Events
Extreme heat, humidity, and high utility demand can put a strain on systems. Prepare your BAS to respond intelligently to dynamically adjust setpoints, prioritize critical zones, and shed non-essential loads without compromising safety or comfort. Proactive tuning can reduce the risk of equipment failure, unplanned downtime, and costly energy spikes.
- Review peak demand and load sharing sequences.
- Identify critical cooling zones.
- Verify temperature alarms and notification.
- Confirm backup cooling readiness.d drainage issues.
6. Review Alarms and Fault Detection
Identify and resolve issues in your fault detection and alarm notification system in time for summer demands. Fixing even small issues now helps prevent costly breakdowns later.
- Review active BAS alarms and fault diagnosis.
- Check for communication errors or offline devices.
- Analyze equipment runtime trends and temperature deviations.
7. Analyze Trend Data and Performance
Your trend logs can tell you a lot about how your systems behave under load, so you can finetune for efficiency and performance. By analyzing data, you can uncover issues like simultaneous heating and cooling, short cycling, or over-ventilation that drive up energy use.
- Review energy consumption trends for cooling systems.
- Check temperature stability across zones.
- Monitor chilled water and air delivery performance.
- Compare fan and pump speeds with building load.
8. Confirm Connectivity and Cybersecurity
Consistent connectivity is critical during summer month. Ensure that remote access is reliable and properly secured to allow access to facilities teams so they can quickly address issues, without leaving systems open to cyberthreats.
- Update BAS servers and software
- Review remote access and user permissions
- Verify current system backups
- Test remote alarms and monitoring functions
Before summer heats up, make sure your BAS is ready to meet demand, keep your systems running efficiently and reliably, and maintain occupant comfort. Reach out Albireo Energy for more information, and for help with any part of your checklist.
