PH-79-13-1 -- Dos and Don'ts of TAB for the Designer PDF

Of all parties involved (designer, installer, balancer, and operator) in the Testing, Adjusting, and Balancing (TAB), of environmental systems, the designer is the one who is most able to influence the entire spectrum of tasks which are necessary to project success. This results from the designer being the only one who has responsibility for the total job and its successful operation. The responsibility of the designer includes developing engineering plans, making complete arrangements for having the construction work done, and for writing specifications for TAB work. Finally, the designer must review and approve TAB reports which prove the adequacy of the design or leads to corrective actions which result in satisfactory job perfbrmance. Since the designer must assume all of these tasks, it is important that he perform each of these satisfactorily to insure total job success.

To aid the designer in knowing and fulfilling all of his job requirements, it seems advisable to postulate some cautionary measures regarding TAB planning. The following ideas are formulated to acquaint the designer with common pitfalls (Don'ts) to be avoided and good engineering practices (Dos) which will enhance the likelihood of job success.