Dubai, UAE: Occupants of a building with VRF systems cannot enjoy the full benefits of the systems if the building has a poor maintenance structure, said Hassan Younes, Technical Director & Partner of Griffin Consultants. The building will have poor energy efficiency, so it is important to make sure the building owner understands that FM is an important factor for the lifecycle of the building. The need for a good FM is especially important, because a VRF system has controls, he added.

Nabil Shafa Amry, Manager (MEP), La Casa Architects and Engineering Consultants, said that maintenance of VRF systems should be carried out only by trained people. “It is a normal system, but its controls and protocol are different, and so people must be trained,” Amry said. “If any building has good FM, it is good marketing for the building. So that’s why training of technicians is very important.” Amry said that it was important for the FM structure to have a good team trained for this type of system. “FM teams should be certified by manufacturers of VRF systems, who are authorised to give after-sales service,” he said.

Giving a broad view, Scott Coombes, Director at AESG, said that FM was a crucial function in a building, because in Dubai, for instance, systems are overdesigned to capacity and so are poorly run, in terms of efficiency. They are overdesigned, so that they can cope with that one day in summer when the temperature is 50 degrees C and with full occupancy, Coombes said. So they can cool but are not efficient.

(The writer is the Editor of Climate Control Middle East and the Editorial Director & Associate Publisher of CPI Industry.)