Even in a pandemic-free world, there are important reasons to maintain healthy indoor air quality (IAQ). Indoor air quality is a concentration of thermal conditions and airborne contaminants in commercial buildings. The indoor air quality parameters are carbon dioxide (CO2), humidity, temperature, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). IAQ is essential for our well-being; poor indoor air pollution is a leading risk factor for premature death. The IHME estimates it's responsible for 1.6 million deaths each year. The WHO puts this figure at 4.3 million.

Studies have shown that up to 70% of economizers are not functioning correctly. Many economizers are not working or are out of service because of the installation or lack of maintenance. Economizers must be working correctly and saving energy rather than increasing costs. Many times economizer systems are not set up correctly or left to operate in factory default mode. Economizer failures generally do not result in comfort problems causing many failures to go undetected. These problems persist, causing poor filtration, ventilation, and inefficient air exchange resulting in poor indoor air quality and increased energy usage with energy standards and building indoor air requirements not being met.

Piping Packages, sometimes referred to as coil kits or hose kits, are a streamlined method of piping HVAC terminal units, significantly reducing the amount of field joint connections required between the distribution piping and the coil. Hydronic applications use water or water/glycol solutions as heat transfer fluids in heating and cooling systems. Typically, in large-scale facilities such as commercial buildings, high-rises, schools, university campus facilities, a hydronic system will include a chilled and hot water loop to provide heating and cooling. These hydronic systems consist of centralized energy sources such as a chiller or boiler, pumps to move the fluid, and associated distribution piping to connect to localized heat transfer terminal units. These terminal units require flow control often through actuated valves and ancillary components to allow for commissioning and routine maintenance. Custom factory assembled piping packages offer an excellent solution to meet the numerous piping requirements for these hydronic applications.

When designing commercial HVAC damper applications, many factors are considered that impact actuator selection. Every actuator manufacturer has an applied torque limit to consider. When factoring in the controllability of a damper, the control system is simply sending a control signal to “an actuator” to drive “a damper.” The control signal is not affected that multiple damper sections or multiple actuators must operate as “one” device. Damper manufacturers also have specific product considerations such as rough opening with dampers, manage shipping size limits, damper assembly configurations, and damper performance. Application, product, and manufacture terminology vary when discussing large dampers or high torque applications.

Effective fire protection saves lives, minimizes property damage, and secures the continued operation of buildings. Actuated fire and smoke dampers in walls and ceilings penetrations provide the best protection along with sprinkler systems against the spread of fire and smoke. Actuator dampers also protect against low-temperature toxic smoke produced when a fire breaks out, helping for safe evacuation.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) and its effect on occupant well-being and comfort are essential. Many issues such as sick building syndrome, indoor air quality thermal comfort, visual comfort, and acoustic comfort are a part of the indoor environment. Good indoor air quality requires attention to the building's HVAC system, measure and monitoring, healthy indoor air, air filtration, and pollutant source management. Some good practices in these areas have also been highlighted.

Airside Economizing is a great way to reduce operating costs; it also provides the correct ratio of outside air and return air to deliver the proper indoor air quality (IAQ) to meet the codes and provide occupant comfort. Many commercial building owners are paying too much for utility bills and are looking at ways to cut costs. HVAC economizer can make a difference in energy costs.

On average, we spend approximately 90% of our lives indoors and take about 20,000 breaths a day. We assume the air is "clean" in the buildings and will not affect our health. It is surprising how little we know about the importance of indoor air quality.