DA-76-18-3 -- Centralized or Decentralized Fan Rooms ✓ Most Recent

The location and number of Mechanical Equipment Rooms in a building is one of the more conspicuous decisions made during the planning stages of a project. The decision affects not only the construction cost for the project but also involves the operational and maintenance characteristics that the mechanical plant will assume after the occupancy takes place. It can also, due to the possible presence of louvers in the building facade, influence the architectural appearance of the building. Finally, the location and quantity of Mechanical Equipment Rooms can have an important effect upon the construction schedule of the btdlding, since it is in these mechanical areas that the largest amount of work by the Mechanical Contractor will take place.

The decision is therefore not one made unilaterally by the design engineer, but rather one that requires the additional judgment of the architect and the building owner. Further, the presence of a construction manager, which occurs so frequently today, will influence the resolution of the problem, since he brings a cost and scheduling expertise into the project. The point is not that the determination of the location of Mechanical Equipment Rooms in a building is made by a committee but rather that the accumulation of relevant inputs by a number of parties with specific knowledge will result in the proper judgment for the particular building.

In general terms, the intent of the ensuing discussion is to review the location of air handling equipment for the environmental comfort-conditioning in one or more central Mechanical Rooms or in multiple Fan Rooms located throughout the building. The concern is with a mechanical plant that receives its cooling and heating from centrally located refrigeration machines and boiler plant. The possible application of incremental or self-contained type equipment is outside the purview of this paper for the reasons indicated subsequently.