2005, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (www.ashrae.org).

Reprinted by permission from

ASHRAE Journal, (Vol. 47, No. 11, November 2005). This article may not be copied nor distributed in either paper or digital form without
ASHRAEs permission.

Evolving Design
Of Chiller Plants
By Thomas H. Durkin, P.E., Member ASHRAE

uring the last 15 years, mechanical rooms have seen dramatic

changes. The rooms have become smaller with fewer pumps

and valves, the equipment has become more efcient, and more
attention is paid to intricacies of connections. The quest is for solutions that are less expensive to build, less expensive to operate and
easier to maintain than traditional (or previous) arrangements. This
article covers the improvements in chiller plant design, the reasons
why each variation was made, the challenges and opportunities that
were presented, and the results achieved.
The evolution is driven by a continuous search for improvement, and
the only way that can happen is if the
performance of projects is tracked
and all the results and implications are
understood. The standard should never
be that systems work. That must be a
prerequisite. The standard should be
40

ASHRAE Journal

that they work efciently, and the goal

ought to be that each new system works
better and more efciently than previous
designs.
This article traces the ongoing development of mechanical room designs
from 1988. A baseline installed cost and
baseline operating cost for the chiller
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plant have been ination-adjusted so the

schemes allow for direct comparisons.
For example, if the baseline chiller
(1988 scheme) was 240 tons (844 kW), it
would cost $134,000 to install today (R.S.
Means 2005 Mechanical Cost Data). A
chiller for the same size building per the
1990 design would be 192 tons (675 kW)
(80% load diversity) and cost $103,000 in
todays pricing. The 1990 chiller portion
of the total cost would be 0.76 of baseline.
Increases in controls result in a total cost
of 0.90 of baseline.
A similar analysis for operating cost
begins with an estimate of $35,000 per
year to operate the 1988 design at todays
utility rates, based on a 100,000 ft2 (9290
m2) school in the Midwest. The pump
energy saved by the 1990 scheme is estimated to lower annual operating cost to
$33,250, or 0.95 of the baseline.
One assumption that runs through all
scenarios is design based on 12 (44F to
About the Author
Thomas H. Durkin, P.E., is director of engineering at Veazey Parrott Durkin & Shoulders in
Indianapolis.

November 2005

56F) T.
T. The design T
T
T has a direct impact on pumping energy
and pump/pipe sizing.
1988: Primary/Secondary Constant Speed Pumping
Of Both Chiller Circuits

All coils were tted with three-way valves and automatic

ow control valves, aka ow limiters ((Figure 1).
Installed Cost: baseline of 1.00.
Operating Cost: baseline of 1.00.
Advantages: Simple control, safe; easy to understand.
Disadvantages: Unable to take advantage of load diversity in
building; all pumps, chillers, piping are sized for the sum
of the peaks. This means low T
T is normal and chilled
water is mixed (see sidebar Mixing Chilled Water).
1990: Constant-Speed Primary, Variable-Speed
Secondary Pumping For Chiller Circuits

All coils are tted with two-way valves and automatic ow

limiters ((Figure 2). The intent was to take advantage of the part
load efciency of a pump running at reduced speed. Theoretically, as a pump slows to half speed and half ow (they work
together), the energy used is ()3 of full speed energy. The actual energy saved is not that dramatic due to inefciency of the
variable speed drive. Considering that a properly sized cooling
system will operate at full load only about 50 hours a year, vs.
about 1,500 hours of cooling system operations (a school in the
Midwest), the savings potential is considerable.
Of even bigger value is that now, the central plant can be downsized. In the 1988 version, chillers were sized for the sum of the
individual spaces vs. the building peak in the 1992 version.
Contributing to this would be solar load, which affects the east
side in the morning, and the south and west sides in the afternoon.
This is referred to as diversity in the load. It is typically about 80%,
meaning the building peak is 20% less than the sum of the individual spaces. Large buildings with large assembly spaces, such as
auditoriums and gyms, may put the diversity as low as 70%.
Installed Cost: 0.900 of baseline.
Operating Cost: 0.950 of baseline.
Payback: Immediate.
Advantages: Saves energy; and downsized central plant,
pumps, piping.
Disadvantages: Increased control complexity; and low T
is still a limiting factor (see sidebar What Is Low T ?).
1993: Remove Flow Limiters

This may not sound like much of a change, but the results
were pretty interesting. While designing the nal phase of a
multiyear project that began in 1990, the last addition ended
up being larger than had been conceived three years earlier.
Faced with modifying a recently installed chiller plant to solve
a critical issue of pump capacity, 10% more ow was needed.
By removing the pressure drop (ow limiters) from the piping loop, the system curve shifted to the right far enough to
November 2005

give the capacity needed ((Figure 3). The same pump was now
delivering more ow.
This raised some interesting questions:
What do ow limiters really do?
Answer: They make system balancing easy and control
valve selection less important. If a control valve were to
fail open, the ow limiter would limit the impact on the
rest of the system, maybe even to the point of masking the
failed control valve.
What happens when the ow limiters are removed?
Answer: On the building side, nothing happens as long as
the control valves are working correctly. In the mechanical
room, additional pump capacity was found, and 3 psi (7 ft)
of head was taken off the pumps, equaling a drop in pump
energy for the life of that building.
Anything else?
Answer: In many control schemes, the winter fail-safe
freeze-protection operation for heating systems is to open
the control valves and count on the ow limiters to balance
the ow. This means that the hot water pumps are running
at 100% speed. This also means that the hot water pumps
werent sized for the building peak load, but were sized
for the larger sum of the individual spaces. And, it means
that the speed drives arent being allowed to save money
since most of the operating hours are unoccupied when the
pumps are at full speed. A much better scheme is to limit
the freeze protection valve position to some small percent
calculated to prevent freeze-ups. This will allow for pump
energy savings, and eliminate the need for ow limiters.
Installed Cost: 0.890 of baseline.
Operating Cost: 0.943 of baseline.
Payback: Immediate.
Advantages: Saves pump energy; and saves operating cost.
Disadvantage: Balancing more time consuming; control
valve and actuator selection more critical.
1996: Variable Primary Flow

This was the next logical step in the evolution of variablespeed pump systems. The constant-speed chiller primary pumps
design purpose is to provide constant ow through the chiller to
ensure safe operation. However, with modern chiller controls,
the need for constant ow through the chiller is not as critical
as a generation ago. Minimum ow will always be required.
The variable primary-ow design did away with the constantspeed chiller pumps and added chiller isolation valves. A ow
meter in the chiller inlet line monitored ow, with a setpoint
minimum corresponding to the number of chillers needed. The
ow meter would open a chiller minimum ow valve to ensure
safe operation ((Figure 4).
From a rst-cost standpoint, replacing two large pumps with
two isolation valves, adding some additional controls, and
increasing the size of the remaining pumps resulted in a net
savings. That savings is compounded by reducing the required
size of the mechanical room.
ASHRAE Journal

41

Secondary Pumps
Primary
Pumps

Secondary Pumps
Primary
Pumps Potential
Mixing
Point

Supply

Potential
Mixing
Point

Flow Limiter
Constant
Speed

Chiller

Three-Port
Control Valve

Chiller

Coil

Chiller
Constant
Speed

Supply

Variable
Speed

Flow
Limiter

DPT

Coil

Chiller

Chiller Bypass

Constant
Speed

Return

Figure 1: Primary/secondary constant speed pumping (1988).

Chiller Bypass
Return

Figure 2: Variable speed secondary pumping (1990).

140
11 in. D

65% 70%

75%

10 in.

78%

80%

New Selection
680 gpm at 83 ft
80.5%

10 in.

100

80%
78%

9 in.

80

75%

70%
65%
25

60

hp

Original Selection
600 gpm at 90 ft

hp

15

40

20

Total Head in Feet

9 in.

NPSH in Feet

120

hp

30

20

20

NSPH REQ.
0

100

200

300

400

500

Figure 3: Removing ow limiters (1993).

600
700
800
Capacity in U.S. gpm

From a pump energy standpoint at full load, little difference

exists from a primary/secondary scheme. At all part loads,
variable primary ow will use less energy than any primary/
secondary scheme.
From an operational standpoint, we now have a scheme
that makes low T
T a nonissue. We can over-pump the

Mixing Chilled Water

All primary/secondary systems have a mix point at the decoupler whenever the secondary ow exceeds the primary.
Mixing chilled water is almost never a good idea. It raises the
temperature and increases pump energy. Chilled water supply
temperature has to match the coil selection temperature so
cooling coils can dehumidify properly and so the coils can develop the intended T. Although for many hours in the year the
coldest water wont actually be required for either temperature
or humidity control, if the system can tolerate warmer water,
the better way is to raise the chiller setpoint.
On a related note, raising chilled water supply temperature
42

ASHRAE Journal

10
900

1000

1100

1200

0
1300

chiller if we need to, and stage chillers on ow and load,

rather than just ow. This is a far cry from saying that low T
is solved.
Installed Cost: 0.867 of baseline.
Operating Cost: 0.937 of baseline.
Payback: Immediate.
as an operating strategy can increase efciency, increase capacity or lower demand. During the summertime, when raising supply temperature would save kWh and demand, thats
when the coldest water is needed to dehumidify properly.
All chillers will be more efcient at warmer evaporator water
outlet temperatures. For example, a 4F (2C) rise in supply
temperature will roughly equal a 3% efciency increase, some
of which will be given back by increased pumping energy for
all variable speed distribution systems. Caution: if youre raising supply temperature to save demand charges, remember
that although chillers have a 3% lower kW/ton at 4F (2C)
higher evaporator temps, they also have 6% greater capacity
and a net increase in total power consumption.

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Chiller
Isolation
Valve

Flow Meter

Chiller
Chiller

Supply

Chiller Min.
Flow Valve

Chiller
Isolation Valve
DPT
DPT

Chiller
Coil

Supply
Chiller Min.
Flow Valve
DPT

Chiller

Variable Speed

Coil

DPT
Return

Variable Speed
Primary Pumps

Primary Pumps

Return

Figure 4: Variable primary ow, Version 1 (1996).

Figure 5: Variable primary ow, Version 2 (1997).

Advantages: Save rst cost; save operating cost; low T

a nonissue.
Disadvantages: Increased control complexity (see Ghost
Energy sidebar).

1999: Pressure-Independent Flow Control Valves (More

Optimizing)

1997: The Good Idea Needed Optimizing

Too many small things popped up that negatively impacted

reliability, control and the ability to ne tune the system. Flow
meters did not perform as intended due to water quality issues,
piping layout, and instrument accuracy.
Realizing that the most accurate and well-documented orice
in the mechanical room was the chiller barrel, the solution was
to install a differential pressure transmitter across the evaporator barrel and write a simple algorithm to control the chiller
minimum ow valve (Figure 5). This allowed more stable
control, more nite control at low ow and a small increase in
pump efciency.
Installed Cost: 0.864 of baseline.
Operating Cost: 0.937 of baseline.
Payback: Immediate.
Advantage: Better reliability.
Disadvantages: None.

What Is Low T?
T
T?

It is a phenomenon that occurs in most chilled water

systems when the return water coming back to the cooling
plant is not as warm as it is designed to be. For example, if
the design called for chilled water supply to the system to
be 45F (7C), and the return to be 55F (13C), then any
time return water was 54F (12C) or cooler, the plant would
be suffering from low T. Usually worse at part loads, it is
frequently seen at full load also. It dees the fundamentals of
heat transfer, since theoretically, at all part-load conditions,
the T
T should be above design rather than below it.
Why is Low T
T a Problem?
It limits the capacity out of your chillers. Generally, the
most expensive piece of equipment in a building is the
chiller. In a primary-secondary pumping arrangement
with the primary pumps sized for the chiller capacity at

44

ASHRAE Journal

When designing, a myriad of operating conditions need to be

considered that could affect the system, such as full load, part
load, one pump out, startup, shutdown, etc. One particularly
vexing condition is rapid increases in load.
If the chiller plant were operating with pump speed and
minimum ow valve in control, a large air-handling unit starting could cause a sudden increase in demand for chilled water.
This might cause a chiller to trip on low ow if the minimum
ow valve could not open up fast enough and the pump speed
could not increase fast enough.
The initial solution was to slow down the rate at which
air-handling unit control valves open and close to avoid sudden ow variations. It was felt that slow acting valves would
eliminate most of the problems. However, a better design would
eliminate all of the nuisance trips, to be as operator friendly
as possible.
After much product research in various valve and actuator
styles, an interesting device with its origins in the oil eld industry appeared most promising. A pressure-independent ow
control valve (see sidebar Pressure Independent) became

the design T, chiller plants will be limited on ow rather

than load unless the T
T is at design.
It wastes pump energy. In a 10F (5.5C) T
T design, if the
water is coming back at 7F (4C) T, then the system
is pumping 30% more than it should, and theoretically
using 220% of the pump energy that it should.
The piping/pumping system may be unable to meet the
building load.
Possible Causes of Low T
Dirty coil, air-side or water-side;
Poor coil selection;
Changing design conditions;
Laminar ow on waterside;
Coil unequal air distribution;
Three-way valves;
System DP above valve shutoff head;
Piping conguration, etc.

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November 2005

the standard for chiller minimum ow protection, and a big

drop in spurious trips was seen. The piping schematic did not
change from the 1997 version, but operation became much
more stable.
Installed cost: 0.865 of baseline (increase vs. 1997).
Operating cost: 0.937 of baseline.
Payback: Never, but, highly worthwhile.
Advantage: Better reliability.
Disadvantage: Slight price increase.
2001 and 2002: Two Changes in Two Different Steps,
Both Involving Cooling Coil Control Valves

First, the pump speed differential pressure transmitter (DPT)

was relocated from across the terminal unit branch main (where it
had been from 1990) to across only the most remote control valve.
The theory is that best control and most energy savings would be
seen by monitoring as close to the control device as possible. And
additional energy savings is possible since, in the original scheme,
the DPT setpoint was typically around 25 ft (75 kPa) (coil = 10 ft
[30 kPa]; control valve = 10 ft [30 kPa]; and valves/strainer/pipe
= 5 ft [15 kPa]). In the new location, the DPT setpoint would only
need to be 10 ft (30 kPa), meaning that the variable speed pumps
would spend more hours running at lower speed.
This was an example of what Albert Einstein called a
schlembe: an improvement that made things worse. Without
the dampening effect of the coil, piping and the mains, even small
changes in valve position resulted in wild variations in differential
pressure and constant speed swings at the pumps. As with the
chiller minimum ow valve, slowing down the valve response
slowed the DPT swings but could not eliminate them.
Conventional control valves could not control accurately or
respond quickly enough to allow reasonable control, hence the
second improvement. The success that was seen with the pressureindependent control valves (PICVs) in chiller minimum ow
service again was seen when PICVs were installed on all the air
handler coils ((Figure
Figure 66).
). In addition, with the control valves actually controlling correctly, cooling coil T
T was now at or above
design, occasionally signicantly above design.

Two things were immediately evident: the pumps could be

accurately and smoothly controlled at a much lower setpoint,
hence more energy savings; and low T
T no longer existed.
All previous efforts were about making low T
T a non-issue,
this change solved it. With PICVs on all the cooling coils, the
system nally obeyed the fundamentals of heat transfer. At all
part-load conditions, return water is consistently above design,
with no change in room comfort level.
From a rst-cost standpoint, PICV are about 50% more than
conventional control valves. First-cost is always a concern, as
owners and construction managers look for value engineering
items. On a 100,000 ft2 (9290 m2) building, PICVs will add
about $20,000 to the cost, which is 0.16% of the total project
cost and 0.7% of the HVAC package. These certainly are not
signicant percentages.
From our energy savings point, the ghost energy was eliminated (see Ghost Energy sidebar), and control was much
smoother. However, calculated payback was 12 years, prompting a reevaluation of other parameters to lessen the rst-cost
impact. One suggestion was that since low T
T was no longer an
issue, piping mains could be downsized. Building load diversity
was showing up as much greater ow diversity. Resizing and
recalculating the mains is worth about half the premium for the
PICV, bringing the payback to six years.
Serendipity is nding something good that you werent
looking for. So, solving the low T
T was serendipity. However,
it presented another concern. With the PICVs on all our cooling coils, the chilled water T
T was now consistently at 16F
(9C) and occasionally in the 20F range (11C) (12F [7C]
design). Most chiller manufacturers will say that, when used
in a variable primary ow system, that chiller minimum ow
should be 1.5 gpm/ton (0.03 L/s per kW). That equates to
a chiller T
T of 16F (9C), which means that at many load
conditions, considerable water is being bypassed when the
chiller was heavily loaded. The chiller industry may need to
better dene minimum ow so a chiller can run fully loaded
with almost any T,
T, without introducing another kind of ghost
T
energy (unnecessary bypass water).

Pressure-Independent Control Valves

The ow-to-position response of valves (called valve authority) is characterized by ASHRAE as either quick opening,
linear or equal percentage. Almost all valves used for temperature control systems are specied as equal percentage.
Chapter 42 of the ASHRAE HandbookHVAC Systems and
Equipment shows how ow in different valve styles reacts
to changes in position.
It also has a chart illustrating a phenomenon called authority
distortion. The chart shows that any valve will only perform
as advertised if the pressure differential across the valve stays
constant, which almost never happens. From full load to part
load, pressure differential across a control valve can vary signicantly. For example, 50% valve position may equal 10%
46

ASHRAE Journal

ow at design differential, or it may equal 50% ow at part

load (authority distortion = 0.1, see S42.9, Figure 19).
A pressure-independent control valve automatically and immediately responds to variations in pressure. It is a relatively
recent innovation for hydronic applications. A perfect analogy
is the variable-air-volume (VAV) box. Years ago, when VAV was
in its infancy (a great idea but inconsistent space control), the
invention that made VAV the smart choice for most modern
buildings was making the VAV boxes pressure independent.
The addition of a ow ring in the box inlet meant that the box
could maintain constant airow into the space regardless of
anything that was happening on the upstream side. A pressure
independent control valve has a similar device at the inlet.

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November 2005

348 gpm, 42.8F

DPT
277 Ton
Chiller

Chiller Min.
Flow Valve

Chiller
Isolation
Valve

230 gpm, 42.8F

118 gpm

Chiller
Isolation
Valve

57.3F

Chiller Min.
Flow Valve

Chiller

DPT
Coil

277 Ton
Chiller
DPT

DPT

DPT
Coil

Chiller
DPT

64.4F

Variable Speed
Primary Pumps

Variable Speed
Primary Pumps

Figure 6: Version 3 with PICVs (2002).

Evap.
Cond.

Dedicated Heat
Recovery Chiller
Hot Water Return

Installed Cost: 0.872 of baseline (increase).

Operating Cost: 0.900 of baseline.
Payback: Six years.
Advantage: Better control; energy savings; eliminate most
ghost energy and low T.
Disadvantage: Slight price increase.
2003: Dedicated Heat Recovery Chillers (DHRC) Became
Standard on All Four-Pipe Projects

Heat recovery chillers are not intended to replace the main cooling plant, only to replace summertime boiler operation. They are an
environmentally conscious way of controlling humidity, decreasing
greenhouse gases, and providing domestic water heat.
The ideal location is where it will see the warmest entering
evaporator temperature, which is before the chiller minimum
ow bypass ((Figure
Figure 77).
). Typical sizing for a 100,000 ft2 (9290
m2) school might be a 200-ton (703 kW) main cooling plant
and a 30-ton (106 kW) DHRC.
Even though it is called a chiller, its summertime function is
to make hot water, and cooling is a by-product. That reverses in
the winter when it makes chilled water with the rejected heat
as a by-product. This is distinctly different than a heat pump,
which has reversing valves on the refrigerant side. In a DHRC,
the evaporator is always the evaporator; the condenser is always
the condenser. The control parameters differ from summer
(condenser control) to winter (evaporator control).

Figure 7: Dedicated heat recovery chillers (2003).

Consider the operating economics of heat recovery chillers

as applied to any concurrent heating/cooling load (the heating
may include domestic water heating or swimming pool water
heating). The utility rates shown are typical of central Indiana
before Hurricane Katrina.
Option 1: Run boilers and chillers.
Chiller: Air-cooled screw at 1.25 kW/ton (0.36 kW/kW).
Electricity at $0.07/kWh = $0.729/100 MBtu.
Boiler: Condensing boiler at 92% efcient gas at $0.85/
therm = $0.924/100 MBtu.
Total Option 1 = $1.653 for 100 MBtu of heating and
100 MBtu of cooling.
Option 2: Its cool enough to run economizers, but there is
still a heating load.
Chiller: Off.
Cooling = $0.00.
Boiler: Condensing boiler at 92% efcient gas at $0.85/
therm.
Heating = $0.924/100 MBtu.
Total Option 2 = $0.924 for 100 MBtu of heating and
100 MBtu of cooling.
Option 3: Heat recovery chiller.
Chiller: Modular scroll at 1.2 kW/ton (0.34 kW/kW)
(55F [13C] Evap EAT, 120F [49C] Cond LWT); at

Condensing Boilers and Heat-Recovery Chillers

A condensing boiler is one that is built to withstand the
corrosive conditions of cool ue gases. It operates at temperatures signicantly cooler and at efciencies signicantly
higher than would be found in conventional boiler systems.
The most important factor of boiler efciency is entering water temperature (EWT), see Figure 6, p. 27.4, 2004
ASHRAE HandbookHVAC Systems and Equipment. Most
conventional boilers have a minimum EWT low limit of 140F
(60C) to prevent condensation on the re side. This is one
of the key factors that has pushed HVAC engineers to the
standard 180F (82C) hot water systems.
Condensing boilers are, by denition, meant to condense,
so that the latent heat from the ue gas is sent into the hy48

ASHRAE Journal

dronic loop, rather than pushed up the stack. Therefore, a

heating system designed around condensing boilers operating
in the condensing mode all the time (135F [57C] maximum
leaving water temperature) will be more efcient in the boiler
room and throughout the system because parasitic losses are
less. It is the difference between component efciency, measured under ideal conditions, and system efciency measured
under actual operating conditions. Payback on condensing vs.
conventional boilers typically is two to four years.
Once the heating plant is designed around the lower water
temperatures, the viability and applicability of heat recovery
chillers operating at 120F to 130F (49C to 54C) condensing temperatures is evident.

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$0.07/kWh.
Cooling = $0.70.
Boiler = Off.
Heating = $0.00.
Total Option 3 = $0.70 for 100 MBTU of cooling and
125 MBTU of heating.
At these utility rates, a couple of interesting conclusions can
be drawn from this.
1. Recovered heat will always be cheaper than any boiler or
water heater arrangement.
2. It is cheaper to run the heat recovery chiller than to run the
economizers if you have a need for the rejected heat.
The potential economic benets of heat recovery have been
known for several generations, but a reliable control arrangement and a way to use the low-grade heat recovered from condensers were never easy (see Condensing Boilers sidebar).
The operating cost justication comes from eliminating
summertime reheat and minimizing the amount of economizer operation. As illogical as it sounds, the cooling control
sequences should be rewritten to make DHRC the rst call
for cooling instead of economizers for VAV and multizone
systems.
If the facility has an indoor swimming pool, the payback is
immediate, since a pool dehumidier (arguably the most expensive and complicated refrigeration device in any building)

Ghost Energy
Ghost energy refers to unintended and unnecessary energy
usage such as reheating or overcooling for no psychrometric
or comfort benet. At least three kinds of ghost energy exist:
ghost cooling, ghost heating, and ghost pumping. The term
originated with the observation that, if low T
T occurs (which
it does), and if the fundamentals of heat transfer say that it
shouldnt (which they do), then the Btus must be going somewhere (which they are). A leaky preheat valve, for example,
can create signicant ghost heating and cooling demand.
Excess ventilation, which comes with a need to dehumidify
or preheat, is also a kind of ghost energy.
Ghost cooling can be caused by authority distortion of
pressure dependent valves, which appears to be a prime
cause of low T. The actuators, especially on quarter turn
valves, are not nite enough to react quickly to variations in
system differential. The result is that VAV leaving air setpoint,
nominally at 55F (13C), is now running at 54F or 53F (12C
or 11C) (ghost cooling). No one in the space will notice the
difference, but there would then be an implied reheat load
(ghost heating).
There is ghost pumping for the additional chilled water and
heating water ows along with ghost heating and cooling.
is no longer required. The same function and same economy
can be had with conventional air-handling devices.
Installed Cost: 0.999 of baseline (no pool) or 0.830 (with
pool).
Operating Cost: 0.800 of baseline.
Payback: 4.6 years (no pool) or 0.5 years (with pool).
Advantages: Lower operating cost; some cooling redundancy, some chillers available in winter.
Disadvantages: Potentially higher rst cost; control complexity.

Advertisement formerly in this space.

2005

The next generations are already on the drawing boards.

Stay tuned.
Conclusion

In the quest for less expensive to build, it may seem that

modern chiller plant design has come full circle. When adjusted for ination, current chiller schemes cost as much as
15-year-old designs unless a pool is part of the project. Less
expensive to operate has been achieved, since it now costs 20%
less to operate a comparable building. The easier to maintain
is harder to track and quantify, but it is patently obvious that
newer systems are more complicated.
Increased control complexity is a disadvantage of almost
every one of the improvements. Much more is required of
the temperature controls people, and the complexity that is
inherent in a more sophisticated design mandates building
commissioning.
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