A Daikin VRV 3-pipe heat recovery system with a multi-branched selector box for each apartment. The system was installed and commissioned two years ago.
Fixing a Faulty Pipe Heat Recovery System, Daikin VRV
System
Customer Challenge
An apartment resident opened an urgent service ticket advising that the living room and bedroom units were not heating properly. He also indicated that it sometimes felt like the units were cooling when they were supposed to be heating.
Traditional Course of Action
1
Schedule a site visit
2
Travel to site
3
Connect a service tool, and collect a current, limited operational data
4
Analyze the collected data
5
Find the fault and fix it
6
Collect new data and verify the fix
Remote Service Course Of Action
As the site was connected to CoolAutomation’s Predictive Maintenance Suite, the HVAC engineer was able to initiate an anomaly test remotely. Several comprehensive remote tests indicated a cross-communication wiring between different ports on the branch selector box. As a result, when the living room indoor unit was switched ON, the refrigerant was flowing to another indoor unit.
As an immediate temporary solution, the engineer suggested that the two crossed units should be operated simultaneously until the engineer visits the next day.
An engineer then traveled to the site and corrected the fault.
Engineer time on site for fault correction: 45 minutes.
The Result
1
Remote Diagnostics
Access the system remotely from the comfort of the office to test the system and find fault
2
Less Than 1 Hour of On-Site Junior VRF Engineer Time
Send a junior VRF engineer on-site =for 1 hour to perform the fix
3
Remote Fix Verification
Verify the fix remotely
Traditional Vs Remote HVAC Service - Comparison Table
| Traditional HVAC Service | Remote HVAC Service |
|---|---|
Extended on-site data recording until the error reoccurs (which will not not happen unless both internal units are operating) | Offsite remote system test and fault identification |
Multiple trips to the site are expected |
Less than 1 hour of on-site time by a junior VRF engineer |
Analysis of raw data with minimal assistance from tools, involving a senior VRF expert on-site for a considerable amount of time | Remote fix verification |
On-site fix | |
On-Site verification test |
Benefits
Minimal customer disturbance
Only one trip, versus multiple trips
Simplified data analysis