Fault detection and diagnostics that names the fault and the fix.
FDD finds equipment that has already stopped working as designed. Aqueduct compares each unit's live component states, such as fan status, damper position and supply air temperature, with what its sequence expects, and routes the diagnosis to your CMMS.
Something already broke. Find it, name it, route the fix.
How a fault is detected
- Component states
The equipment twin shows each unit as its parts: control panel, economizer, cooling, heating and fans, each with live status.
- Rules per sequence
Expected behavior per mode, such as mechanical cooling running while the economizer should carry the load.
- Control quality KPIs
Setpoint attainment, comfort compliance and sequence exceptions per unit, each banded good, watch or attention.
From fault to work order
- A plain-language diagnosis
What failed, on which unit, and the evidence behind it.
- A ticket in your CMMS
Diagnosis, location and recommended fix, routed to the system you already use.
- Closure checked
The unit's KPIs must return to normal before the fault counts as fixed.
How common faults are.
of air handlers showed a reported fault on any given day, across 60,000+ pieces of HVAC equipment.
Source: LBNL, 2023median savings from fault detection and diagnostics in a DOE campaign of about 6,000 buildings.
Source: US DOE Smart Energy Analytics CampaignAn example
Illustrative: an air handler's blower stops while its schedule calls for it to run. Airflow drops, zone temperatures drift and the sequence exception count rises. Aqueduct diagnoses a failed blower, routes the ticket, and confirms airflow is back after the repair.
Limits
FDD works on the points it can read: a unit with no fan status or supply temperature can only be judged by its energy draw.
It finds faults after they happen; spotting wear in advance is predictive maintenance. Aqueduct routes the work, and your CMMS and technicians manage it.
Related
Common questions
Aqueduct fault detection catches a failure that is already present, such as an economizer stuck closed. Predictive maintenance finds early wear before a failure. Most sites run both. See predictive maintenance.
Air handlers, rooftop units, chiller plants, VAV boxes and other equipment reachable over BACnet or Modbus through a field device network controller. Coverage depends on which points each unit exposes. See HVAC R.
No. A BMS alarm reports a point out of range. Aqueduct fault detection explains which component failed, what it costs and what to do, and the BMS alarms keep running. See keeping your BMS.
Very common. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory research found them on a large share of air handlers on a typical day. Aqueduct FDD is built for faults like these, which can run quietly for weeks before anyone complains. See FDD.
See Aqueduct on your own facility.
Bring a site, a utility bill or a question. We will show you where the loss is.