Can I sign the integrated test if I only saw another hall?
No. Sign the test you witnessed. Do not copy a number from another hall.
Data center commissioning and turnover
Use this when a data hall is being tested and handed over. Davina will not give you a flow, a temperature, a redundancy level, or a pass number. Those are in this project’s commissioning plan and in the Owner’s Project Requirements.
- Read the commissioning plan and the room name before you sign anything. If the drawing and the gear disagree, stop.
- Know which level you are on. Do not sign a factory test, an installation check, a functional test, or an integrated test you did not witness.
- Do not copy a number from another hall, and do not invent a balance.
- Put the change on the as-built. A redline that stays in your notebook is not a record.
- Do not sign the owner-training line if the training did not happen.
- Until the contractor accepts the room, it is still a construction site.
What commissioning is
The Whole Building Design Guide quotes ASHRAE Standard 202-2018: commissioning is a quality-focused process for verifying and documenting that the commissioned systems are planned, designed, installed, tested, operated, and maintained to meet the Owner’s Project Requirements. The commissioning provider normally reports to the owner. Davina is not that provider.
On a construction job, that guide says the commissioning team observes the installation and witnesses startup and the first tests. Functional performance tests follow the commissioning plan. You sign what you saw.
Levels on a data hall
ASHRAE’s public page on data center commissioning describes the traditional levels. Level 1 is factory acceptance testing, before the gear ships. Level 2 checks that it arrived and was installed. Level 3 is the pre-functional check that components and subsystems are ready to run. Level 4 tests the functional performance of each system. Level 5 is the integrated systems test, with the systems working together under real-world and failure conditions.
Your plan can use other names. Do not skip a level because the schedule is tight, and do not sign a level you did not witness. The same page says cleaning, flushing, and passivating hydronic systems, especially technology cooling systems, should not be cut short to go faster.
Balances and point-to-point
Testing, adjusting, and balancing sets airflow, water flow, and pressures to the design. Davina does not have a flow to hand you. If this job has a balance report, that report is the number.
A first public-review draft of ASHRAE Guideline 1.6P describes that balancing work, and checks that components interface with each other, at Level 3. A draft is not a code. This project’s specification is the rule. Point-to-point means the point on the drawing lands on the point in the panel. Davina does not have your point list. Do not invent a pass.
As-builts and owner training
The Whole Building Design Guide says the systems manual described in ASHRAE Standard 202-2018 and Guideline 1.4 includes as-built drawings, test reports, and training records. Mark the as-built so it matches what was built.
That guide also says training should run through the job, and that at turnover the operators need to know why the system works and how to run it. ASHRAE’s data center page says watching the Level 4 and Level 5 tests is more useful than training videos alone, and that the methods of procedure should be checked before the hall is live. Do not sign a training line for a class that did not happen.
Common questions
What is the pass temperature or the pass flow?
Davina does not have one. It is in this project’s commissioning plan.