What is a Service Failure Alarm?

A Service Failure Alarm is an alarm generated by an asset (such as a space, piece of equipment, or system) indicating that the asset's output is insufficient to fulfill its intended purpose (service).

Consider a chilled water (CHW) system.

• A high CHW supply temperature would be a service failure alarm because it indicates reduced cooling capacity (the purpose of the CHW system).
• A CHW DeltaT alarm would NOT be considered a service failure alarm because this alarm could be  caused by problems other than the output of the CHW system (for example an increase in the downstream load). 

Why Service Failure Alarms are Important

Service failure alarms indicate the potential for business impact and increased operational risk. Addressing them quickly mitigates risk and prevents upstream failures from propagating downstream to critical spaces. These alarms indicate an asset is down and is in need of timely action to restore service. This is different from an Air Handler filter alarm which may be active even though the unit is still providing service (temperature, pressure, flow).

How Are Service Failure Alarms Determined in Virtual Facility?

An alarm is categorized as a Service Failure either by manual selection or by its Priority. On the Alarm Details page, you can set “Is Service Failure Alarm” to true or false. Alarms with a Priority of High or Highest automatically inherit a value of True for this field.

Spaces

For a space, Service Failure Alarms are a function of the Space Type and are usually one of the following parameters:

• Temperature
• Relative Humidity
• Flow (typically in the context of ventilation and air change requirements)
• Pressure

Some Space Types, such as operating rooms, are tightly controlled and require compliance with design guidelines such as ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170 as part of successful service delivery. A Server Room is a good example of a tightly controlled space that considers only temperature and relative humidity alarms as a service failure. Other alarms could be treated as service failures as well.  For example, a room might have a Leak Detection point that is considered a service failure.

Virtual Facility leverages industry standards and guidelines for default classification of which alarms are  Service Failures for the Space Types in your application. If desired, the VF defaults can be overridden to support your unique environmental needs.

Equipment

Equipment has a wider array of potential alarms than spaces. Identification of which alarms are Service Failures Alarms is highly dependent on the type of equipment. Let's look at an example of an Air Handling Unit.

Air Handling Unit Alarms

Sample of Service Failure Alarms for an Air Handler - not all inclusive.

A Dirty Filter Alarm is an example of an alarm that would generally NOT be considered a service failure.