10 minute read
Preventive Maintenance Programs
Most buildings have some form of preventive maintenance program; ranging from a write-and-wipe board in the maintenance area to an all-encompassing, on-line, cloud-based corporate-structured program. Regardless, at the building level, each of these systems needs to provide specific, correct and up-to-date information to the management staff.
Every building, system, structure or device (including humans) requires maintenance. We can consider this maintenance as falling out into three categories: ■ Emergency or Call Maintenance—‘I’ve broken a bone; help me!’ or
‘The toilet in the fourth-floor men’s room is clogged up, please fix.’ ■ Preventive Maintenance—‘It’s my birthday, I need to get a physical.’ or ‘The air filters need changing.’ ■ Scheduled Maintenance—It’s time for ice cream.’ or ‘The emergency generator tank needs refilling.’
As the audience for this article is people involved in the operations and maintenance of buildings, that’ll be the end of the human references. We are going to focus on an overview of Preventive Maintenance in this article, and as you see from the discussion above, there are inevitable overlaps with both unscheduled repairs and with equipment replacements. An unscheduled repair that happens to overlap a Preventive Maintenance Task can be used to complete the PM Task; a PM Task completed the week prior to an unscheduled repair can’t be used as a reason to not make the repair.
A generally accepted definition of Preventive Maintenance (PM) is that it is “the regular and routine maintenance of equipment and assets in order to keep them running and prevent any costly unplanned downtime resulting from unexpected equipment failure.” Unplanned downtime impacts can range from lack of heating/cooling calls, through elevator trap calls to police interventions because the parking lot lighting failed and someone was mugged.
The process of preventive maintenance is applied in every case where the cost of the maintenance action (including labor, parts, materials, supplies and in a lot of cases, contractor support) both provide for the object to reach normal service life and do not exceed the cost of replacement upon failure, prior to the end of normal service life. Additionally, certain systems require the highest level of care because of liability concerns. Preventive Maintenance MAY NOT extend normal service life. It is clearly documented that a lack of Preventive Maintenance WILL ENSURE the failure to reach normal service life.
As an example, it would be normal to consider a preventive maintenance approach for parking lot lighting. It is typically hard to get to, it is a liability concern, and it is very reflective (!?) on the building’s curbside appeal. Even though the individual components are not expensive, the actual installation/maintenance cost is relatively high due to the issue of service access.
On the other hand, it would not be normal to consider a preventive maintenance approach for interior lighting as it can be fixed on call and does not typically require extensive preparation and expensive equipment to access and service the light. There are always exceptions to the rule; for example, a two (or more) story atrium will require
planning to access the interior lighting systems without interrupting building operations.
Another consideration is that the item under consideration, while important, is not costly enough to replace to warrant expending repetitive preventive maintenance time and money. These can include, for example, walk-off mats in the main lobby. While we may (and should) schedule cleaning of wall to wall carpeting in common areas, walk off mats are typically replaced when the Community Manager identifies a need to the cleaning crew. Door closers are another example where replacement is done on-demand.
In order to determine what is covered on the preventive maintenance schedule, it is important to look at the building as a series of systems, subsystems (which are major portions of the system) and components (which are typically individual parts of the system). This will allow the Owner to develop a Systems to be Maintained List and drill down to individual components to be maintained.
For example, building heating systems are varied, including; z Heating steam or heating hot water, • Examples of Subsystems are fuel systems for the boilers • Examples of Major Components are the Boilers • Examples of Minor Components are pumps and valves
z Electric heat, either local or central z Heat pump, air to air or water source
Cooling systems have the same level of variety; z Central Water Chiller, with chillers and cooling towers and chilled water pumping systems, etc. z Direct Expansion Cooling, either air to air (split system) or water cooled, with cooling towers and pumping systems z Heat Pump, either air to air (split system) or water cooled, with cooling towers and pumping systems Heating or Cooling Systems, as an example, are the responsibility of the Association in some instances and may not be in others.
Heating or Cooling Systems, as an example, are the responsibility of the Association in some instances and may not be in others. For example, in newer condominiums with individual heating and cooling units in each residence, typically these units are the responsibility of the resident. If these systems are air-cooled, this is the end of the matter from the Association’s point of view. However, to complicate things, in the buildings using water-source heat pump systems; the central piping, pumping and cooling tower systems are the responsibility of the Association.
In older buildings, heating and cooling may be from central utility plants. In newer buildings, with individual heating and cooling systems in each residence, these systems are typically the responsibility of the resident. If these systems are air-cooled, this is the end of the matter from the Association’s point of view. However, to complicate things, in the buildings using water-source heat pump systems; the central piping, pumping and cooling tower systems are typically the responsibility of the Association.
The heating and cooling systems that are the responsibility of the Association have to be on the PM list. The decision to include the system and what level of detail is covered in the PM Schedule is determined by the system and how the space is used, as noted above. This same decision as to both what is on the list and who is responsible for maintenance should be made in all cases.
A typical annual Preventive Maintenance Schedule would make that decision process on at least the following items in the following way: z Typically two major periods—Spring and Fall z Typically two minor periods—Winter and Summer z Schedule can and should contain both in-house and contracted-out services z Annual Schedule can be grouped for legibility into major Infrastructure Systems: • Cooling System and associated subsystems and components • Heating System and associated subsystems and components • Electrical System and associated subsystems and components • Plumbing Systems and associated subsystems and components • Fire/Life Safety Systems and associated subsystems and components • Exterior Appointments, such as at-grade or garage parking and walkways • Below Grade Appointments, such as parking levels and amenity levels
z Annual Schedule should include Insurance-required inspections • Fire Extinguisher Annual Inspections • Boiler and Pressure Vessel Annual Inspections • Elevator Safety Inspections • Emergency generator load bank testing, typically annually
z Annual Schedule should include in-house life safety inspections, without regard to insurance mandates, I.E., • Annual fire egress training • Annual Tenant Storage inspections for fire hazards
z Annual Schedule should be edited annually for the next year to incorporate multi-year inspection, repair requirements: • Elevator 5-year Testing • Chiller Eddy Current Testing, typically 5–7 year intervals • Electrical Switchgear, over 2,000 AMP Service Size, Inspections, typically 3–5 year
z Annual Schedule can include repeating inspection processes • Elevator Emergency Phone Testing • Parking Lot and/or Garage lighting inspections • Stairwell lighting inspections
• F/LS Monthly Testing inspections • Fire Extinguisher Inspections • Fire Pump Tests • Roof mounted equipment inspections
z Annual Schedule can include ‘per-event’ inspection processes • Major Storm/Weather Event preparation
It is not recommended to include daily, every day inspections and actions, such as door unlocks, etc., in the PM Schedule. If required, a separate, daily tour sheet can be set up for this purpose. The issue and completion of the tour sheet can be included in the PM Schedule, if accountability is desired. z Annual Schedule may include property specific inspection requirements: • Underground storage tank testing • Oil Leak Observation well inspections
z The Schedule itself may have sub-sections that are prepared by different entities • Elevator Company would provide Elevator Safety Related items as well as be responsible for them • Landscaping Company would provide annual trimming/ planting schedule
In turn, each action on the schedule should be assigned to a specific entity: z Elevator Company, by name and as part of the elevator maintenance contract, shall provide required code inspections z In-house maintenance staff (when applicable) z May include outside support services, but in-house staff is responsible for completion z Contracted Services, such as boiler or chiller maintenance, by name and as part of the HVAC maintenance contract, shall provide required code inspections z Each action on the schedule should have an associated checklist of what it takes to complete that particular action. • In the case of elevator inspections, for example, the elevator company does all the work, but the management staff should know all the steps and be informed as the steps are completed, such as; • Preliminary testing completed • Local jurisdiction having authority representative is scheduled • For the Record testing, where the Local Code Authority has to be on site to witness, is underway, etc. z Action supporting documents should provide all necessary information about each specific item, including such issues as major tools, requirements for outage notices, lock-out/tag-out and local
Authority Having Jurisdiction notice and/or insurance carrier notice, if required z The Building Operations and Maintenance Manual, if present, should have a lot of this information. z Major Equipment manufacturers will have additional information
Written by: Robert Kroohs TRC Engineering 301-869-6446 ekirk@trc-engineering.com
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