Photo credit: Library of Congress
Ecmweb 16208 Interior Of Room B 3 Air Compressor Room Showing A Ca 1960s Worthington Air Compressor 1
Ecmweb 16208 Interior Of Room B 3 Air Compressor Room Showing A Ca 1960s Worthington Air Compressor 1
Ecmweb 16208 Interior Of Room B 3 Air Compressor Room Showing A Ca 1960s Worthington Air Compressor 1
Ecmweb 16208 Interior Of Room B 3 Air Compressor Room Showing A Ca 1960s Worthington Air Compressor 1
Ecmweb 16208 Interior Of Room B 3 Air Compressor Room Showing A Ca 1960s Worthington Air Compressor 1

Widen Your Scope of Work

Sept. 19, 2017
When approaching a contractor for an energy-savings project, don’t think too narrowly.

Let’s say you want to reduce waste heat resulting from bad bus connections.

Your first step consists of bringing in a contractor to conduct thermography on your busway. This is a good idea and will likely do more than just save you energy.

But this approach is actually too limited in scope.

A more productive approach is based on the fact that contractors do a variety of work in a variety of plants and facilities. You want to tap that experience and the knowledge gained from it.

Yes, have that busway thermography project on your list, but don’t bring it up in the initial discussion. The more productive approach is to focus that initial discussion on what kinds of energy waste sources the contractor has found in other facilities.

The next step is not to commission a study. The contractor wants your business, and is looking for opportunities to get it. So take a walk through your plant with a technically astute person from that firm. You should both be taking notes as the firm’s representative identifies potential issues.

For example, she may ask: “I see a lot of compressed air piping in this plant. When is the last time you had ultrasonic leak detection performed on it?”

You may realize the plant air system is a major energy user, but you may not have realized there’s a method for identifying leaks that cause it to use considerably more energy.

As the representative identifies each issue, ask her to estimate the severity and give you a numerical score of severity on a scale of 1 to 5. This will enable you to prioritize the work from the list you generate.

But don’t just go with all priority 1 issues with your first round of projects. Think in terms of bundling lower-priority projects where appropriate. The bundling enables you to knock those out while the contractor is there anyway.

For example, the busway is at least 15 years old and has never undergone thermographic inspection. So the project for addressing that is a priority 1. Get a time estimate from the contractor and try to determine how much of a full day you are using, and fill the unused time with other thermography projects that are lower priority.

There are no visible gaps in the building envelope, but it should be checked anyhow. It’s a priority 4 project, and it won’t take long. Since the thermographer is going to be there anyhow, schedule this work for the same day. What else would fill in unused time?

Taking the “fill-in” approach to optimize the contractor’s time (one mobilization and service call for multiple projects) saves the contractor money, and some of that savings will be passed on to you.

Another advantage is you get a full day’s work that you might be able to break down into separate invoices per project to stay within the plant manager’s expense approval limits.

About the Author

Mark Lamendola

Mark is an expert in maintenance management, having racked up an impressive track record during his time working in the field. He also has extensive knowledge of, and practical expertise with, the National Electrical Code (NEC). Through his consulting business, he provides articles and training materials on electrical topics, specializing in making difficult subjects easy to understand and focusing on the practical aspects of electrical work.

Prior to starting his own business, Mark served as the Technical Editor on EC&M for six years, worked three years in nuclear maintenance, six years as a contract project engineer/project manager, three years as a systems engineer, and three years in plant maintenance management.

Mark earned an AAS degree from Rock Valley College, a BSEET from Columbia Pacific University, and an MBA from Lake Erie College. He’s also completed several related certifications over the years and even was formerly licensed as a Master Electrician. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and past Chairman of the Kansas City Chapters of both the IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society. Mark also served as the program director for, a board member of, and webmaster of, the Midwest Chapter of the 7x24 Exchange. He has also held memberships with the following organizations: NETA, NFPA, International Association of Webmasters, and Institute of Certified Professional Managers.

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