We used the facility itself as the basis of our activities – the building’s equipment along with the design drawings, specifications, equipment submittals, Basis of Design (BOD) and Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR). The activities were a mix – some geared toward new construction and others applicable to existing buildings, some classroom and some hands-on. Overall we had a good blend, and the students seemed to really enjoy the hands-on equipment testing; design and submittal review, installation checklist verification, functional test development and execution, sensor validation, data logging, pump testing activities- sounds like a real commissioning job!

We’re already thinking about ways to tweak the lab to make it better. First priority – less homework. Students documented class activities including an issues log, functional test forms and results, and a variety of memos documenting calculations and analyses. We will allocate additional time for the students to complete the assignments during the week.

We will also add more hands-on testing and measurements. This round, we had a little extra time on the last day and added exercises related to hydronic balancing and a variety of air flow measurement strategies. Although these are typically outside the realm of the new construction CxA, familiarity with the tools and their applications is helpful. It fills a gap for many engineers and can be directly utilized on some existing building projects. Using state-of-the-art tools can be intimidating until you do it, then you pick it up fast. Working with students who are experienced CxA’s in this lab made us realize this course applies to both novice and mid-level providers. Everyone has more to learn.

Learn more and register for CxA training program at learn.peci.org.