Strategy 4.5: Develop nationwide standards and/or guidelines for onboard diagnostic functionality and specification for designated sensor mount locations.
Expanding and ensuring quality maintenance is a central element of the Plan’s HVAC strategies. All residential and commercial HVAC systems naturally degrade in performance over time, especially for commercial units that are on rooftops and exposed to the weather. Occupant complaints are the main method that building owners know that are problems in the building’s HVAC operation. However, most operating problems that degrade energy performance are not noticed by the owners or occupants and can result in wasted energy for years. There are no national industry standards or requirements that address providing notice of performance problems in residential and commercial HVAC equipment or the appropriate location of sensors for the accurate control of the systems. To achieve the goals of the Strategic Plan, HVAC system fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) with remote communication capability must proliferate in the market as soon as possible. By prioritizing this strategy, California can work towards proactive maintenance that can prevent emergency replacements that may be of lower efficiency than might otherwise be chosen.
Strategy 4.6: Prioritize in-field diagnostic and maintenance approaches based on the anticipated size of savings, cost of repairs, and the frequency of faults occurring.
As with so many elements of the Strategic Plan, research is required to better understand how to prioritize specific technologies, incentives, behavior changes and maintenance approaches. With the majority of energy savings failures occurring as a result of installation and maintenance issues, it is no small question to ask, “Why are there so many problems in the field?” California needs to better understand what are the high-leverage diagnostic and maintenance approaches that will yield the most savings. Efforts to address field issues must coordinate with both Goal 1 in this action plan (code compliance) as well as efforts in workforce, education and training (WE&T). A high priority strategy, progress on in-field diagnostics has been underway since 2010.
