[Sherman Logan]

The biggest thing that hurts hospitals is under sizing the capacity of the A/C plant itself as an initial cost cutting measure in construction.

Can't speak to UK hospitals or buildings in general, but in USA, at least in FL, a much more common problem is oversizing rather than undersizing AC systems for the load.

Doing so greatly reduces the ability of the system to control humidity, which, regardless of what this article implies, is much more important to the health of the occupants (and the building itself) than the temperature.

BTW, in any large building, opening windows around the perimeter will do little or nothing to control temperatures in the center of the building.

[cva66snipe]

IF an owner is smart they will oversize meaning going as far as installing an extra chiller. Back ups are a good idea. Places like Chiller ON Call may have their portable units tied up elsewhere. I worked in a facility where it was undersized slightly. Most of the time it could keep up but some days it was touch and go and I had them closing curtains in patients rooms.

You do not want the windows open for several reasons. Safety is one. And it is called Air Conditioning for a reason. Ozone levels in a city are an issue and cause issues for patients with compromised breathing. You want the air filtered as much as possible and the proper humidity maintained to lessen encouragement of unwanted bacteria etc.

Any maintenance man can walk up to their chiller and make it operate at reduced capacity as if the building were under capacity. The way you'll know if you are cooling too much when using multi chillers is simple. The will be running at low capacity or cycling on low chill water temp.