System Control Tech

Energy Efficiency through effective control strategy

Chilled Water Systems

How to Program Chilled Water Systems with CCT

The primary source of cooling in many large commercial applications is the chilled water system.  These systems provide cold water to air handlers and other HVAC equipment within a building.  If the system doesn’t operate properly, the HVAC system will not be able to provide effective cooling.

Chilled water systems can be very simple or very complex in their operation depending on the needs of the overall HVAC system.  Some systems may have multiple chillers and multiple pumps that are staged to operate based upon the building load. Other systems may be very simple with a single chiller and pumps. 

Learn the details of the chilled water system

Each type of system can be unique in its programming needs to perform the designed operation.  Correctly programming a chiller system is critical in having a system that operates correctly and reliably. 

It is important to spend time studying each of the components within the system and learn their function within it. If the system you’re programming is on a new construction project speak with the engineers about their goals within the system.

Changes are a part of life and as a new construction project progresses, it is possible to see necessary changes to be made within the chilled water system design. When choosing the controller be sure to give yourself room to expand to meet those design changes.

Consider how the chilled water system programming will integrate with the rest of the overall energy management program of your institution.

Johnson Controls CCT

The Controller Configuration Tool from Johnson Controls automates much of the programming process by allowing the user to select the hardware that is in the system and the software configures a baseline control logic based upon those choices. 

The software allows the user to select the number of chillers and pumps within the system as well as the control type for each pump. 

Selecting the type of controller is made easier by allowing the user to see the exact number of input and output hardware points are on each of the controller types. 

Once the baseline programming is configured and loaded into the controller, testing and finalizing the system operation can begin. 

4 thoughts on “How to Program Chilled Water Systems with CCT

  • Hey there I am a former JCI controls technician and I have seen your Youtube videos over the past several years. Thanks for putting all this information out there for other guys/gals to understand some of the intricacies of building automation. I may have messaged you some time ago asking about your expertise with Metasys User Interface (MUI) and whether or not you have a firm understanding of how to implement it. I, like you, work for a university in their facilities management department. We just recently upgraded our Metasys server to 10.1 and at the same time transitioned from ADS to split ADX. I also learned recently that eventually JCI will be doing away with the site management portal in future releases. My question to you is do you currently use MUI at your site? And if so, did you yourself configure it or did you have JCI build the database? I would like to recommend to my management that we begin that transition to MUI, and inevitably I will be tasked with leading that project. I have read the SCT help pdfs, but I am failing to fully grasp the best way to retrofit an existing SMP site to MUI. We have nearly 150 NAEs across two campuses and several dozen buildings. Do you happen to have some sort of unofficial guide or training videos about how to configure the spaces and equipment trees and serving/served by relationships?

    Thanks in advance!

    Reply
    • Hello Alan. There’s a lot to mention so hold on tight. Thanks for visiting my website by the way. I only recently relaunched it. We currently do have the MUI, or I should shay have been setting it up. As far as the best way to configure everything, we have a service contract with JCI and have been using those service hours to get it set up. I’ve done a little to it myself but it’s difficult to do such a large system and still keep up with other job responsibilities. That would be something to consider on getting your site done. You will need to have new graphics made for your site since older graphics will be going away. There are a lot of changes to Metasys coming, some of which I talked about in recent videos. I will be doing some videos on MUI in the near future but there’s still a lot I need to learn about setting it up myself. Good luck and I hope this helps.

      Reply
    • Alan. I wanted to let you know that I’ve started uploading videos on MUI that show some of the fundamental elements of setting it up. You can find them on my YouTube channel.

      Reply
    • Hi Alan. I currently work for JCI as a Systems Tech and know how to configure the archive database in SCT, equipment and serving spaces, as well as MUI from the ground up through turnover fairly well. There are quite a few steps involved however, not too difficult to learn. Feel free to reach out to me and I will be more than happy to gather some more resources for you.

      Reply

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