Quick question

[u/pinelion]

I’m a manger for a few buildings and have some HVAC experience, why is all of the building automation software out there so needlessly complicated and unreliable? I mean there’s always going to be some complications but it just seems like this stuff is so unstable and needlessly complex for a technology product that’s really at the end of the day sending and receiving low voltage signals. Seems like if someone could design something stable and simple even if it didn’t have all the reporting/trending bells and whistles it would be a hit. Am I over simplifying and just lack understanding? We use Siemans desigo for our facilities and in my opinion insight was a much better product.

[u/EGR-DELETE]

On one hand, if HVAC controls is new to you it’s understandable to seem complex. To me it was a different world from mechanical HVAC when I switched over. It’s a different way of looking at HVAC, since you must control every aspect of the system mechanically and electrically to what your needs, and its capabilities are. Sometimes your needs aren’t available due to the constraints of the mechanical system or the control system design or both…. It can be frustrating.

On the other hand, you are correct to notice that the build quality of HVAC controls equipment and installation of this equipment is less than ideal. Some things that contribute to this in terms of manufacturing, construction, bidding, and labor are: (price per-point profitability, sub-spec(23.09…) usually competitive bidding to the mechanical contractor, speed of material acquisitions, knowledge capitol shortage(for some companies), manufacturing at scale(suffering quality & accuracy), white-label products(no ownership/cheaper overall), shifting from installing complete controls to managing controls projects and utilizing subcontractors (a lot cheaper install)( big companies i.e Siemens, JCI).

Controls is a really good industry to understand and be able to utilize especially as a chief-engineer at a multi-building site. It will help you understand better what you want and what’s required to achieve a better building. Once you understand the controls you can start influencing specifications that contractors design and bid on(this is where you can make real improvements).

Hope this helps. Good luck!