Whilst manufacturers offer product support for up-to 10 years, after they remove the systems from the current price list; when support is withdrawn this includes spares, repairs and technical support and thus can put a buildings Heating and Ventilation plant control at risk.
In addition, whilst the obsolete BeMS appears to be working correctly, consideration should be given to the controls philosophies they are operating. When these system were installed the emphasis may have been more around the temperature control of the main plant rather than the energy consumption and therefore the legacy systems could be operating inefficiently when compared to newer similar systems. It should also be considered that over the life cycle of a BeMS, the buildings day-to-day use may change and the BeMS may not have been updated to reflect the evolution of the usage.
It is possible to re-engineer the BeMS however, consideration needs to be given to the age of the system before commencing this work as it may take the same time (and even greater cost) to re-engineer an obsolete system; as opposed to deploying a modern secure and efficient system. Re-engineering an obsolete system does not remove the fundamental risk and impact of a system failure; it simply updates the functional control.
Upgrading your obsolete BeMS will unlock the features that are not available on the legacy systems; such as improved reliability, ability for more complex controls, enhanced energy saving capabilities, security, variety of integration options, web page hosting at controller level, reduced need for a system head-end PC to name but a few.
If your BeMS has been installed for more than 8 years we would recommend that a health check survey be carried out; at global associates we offer a free system review / health check for your BeMS and provide a report on the life cycle stays and recommendations for system improvements.
In Summary a BeMS health check can provide the following benefits:-
