California MEP Services

To provide suitable indoor conditions for humans, a building requires mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. MEP engineering is the professional field that deals with these building systems, making sure they are designed correctly and according to local building codes. In fact, the word MEP is an acronym with the initials of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

• Mechanical systems accomplish functions such as ventilation, air conditioning, space heating, water heating, and fire protection.
• Electrical systems deliver voltage safely to all devices that run with electricity, including lighting fixtures and home appliances. Since many components of mechanical systems also use electricity, both systems are in constant interaction.
• Plumbing systems ensure the building has a constant supply of potable water while gathering wastewater and removing it through public sewage.

To create a suitable indoor environment for human occupants, you must deliver the right temperature and humidity conditions, along with a constant supply of fresh air. A constant water supply of adequate temperature is required, and there must be an electricity source for modern devices. The job of MEP engineers is to ensure these conditions are achieved in built environments, at an optimal cost and according to code.

MEP engineers combine technical knowledge and computer-based modeling to design mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. Ideally, MEP systems should accomplish their intended function while minimizing ownership costs – upfront investment, operation, and maintenance.

MEP Engineering Designs Are Unique For Each Building

You may have heard architects and engineers mentioning that each project is unique, and the same applies to the MEP systems within. In other words, providing recommendations for mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems is not possible without a detailed analysis of building needs. Before designing MEP systems such as space heating, air conditioning, domestic hot water, and electrical installations, there are many important questions to answer. The following are some examples:

• How much heat output does the building require in the winter?
• How much cooling is required during summer?
• What is power consumption of the building’s electrical systems?
• How much water does the building consume each day?
• What fire protection measures are required?

Professional MEP engineers can answer these questions and design building systems according to the needs of your property. Of course, if you are working with qualified professionals, the MEP design will also meet all local building codes.

How MEP Engineers Can Reduce Building Ownership Costs

MEP systems are characterized by having an ongoing cost after their installation: lighting systems consume electricity, most heating systems burn natural gas, and plumbing installations use the local water supply. Since all these inputs are billed, you can achieve significant long-term savings if MEP installations are designed for efficient operation.

When planning a new construction or a building renovation, it is strongly recommended that you hire MEP engineering services from qualified professionals. You save time on paperwork and permits by getting your project approved quickly, drawings and specifications are clear for contractors, maintenance becomes simpler, and you get ongoing savings from reduced utility bills.

Mechanical Engineering Design Services By NY Engineers

Humans spend most of their time indoors in modern society, and it is easy to overlook all the technologies that make indoor spaces suitable for occupancy. Mechanical engineering deals with a wide range of building systems that make built environments habitable. Their functions include delivering potable water, renovating indoor air, and keeping temperature at healthy and comfortable levels.

Building mechanical systems are characterized by requiring plenty of space – they include some of the largest equipment pieces in a building, such as chillers and boilers. As a result, one of the main challenges in mechanical design is using the available space as efficiently as possible.

Mechanical systems also offer a variety of configurations, and the best option for your project may change depending on specific building features. For example, some building designs use the same boiler for space heating and domestic hot water, while others have a separate unit for each purpose.

Importance Of Equipment Capacity In Mechanical Engineering

Due to their large size and the variety of equipment used, mechanical installations come with a considerable upfront cost. A critical aspect of mechanical design is to specify systems of optimal capacity for the building:

• Undersized mechanical installations cannot accomplish their function effectively. For example, undersized air conditioning systems do not provide enough cooling during summer, and a space heating boiler that is too small will not reach comfortable temperatures during winter.
• Oversized mechanical installations add unnecessary expenses and do not perform better. In fact, oversizing causes some maintenance issues, since mechanical equipment runs in shorter cycles and wears down faster.

When dealing with mechanical systems, having an optimal capacity always yields superior results than oversizing and undersizing. By working with qualified mechanical engineers during the project design phase, you can ensure all your key equipment is properly specified.

Improving Building Performance With Mechanical Engineering

As you might expect given their size, mechanical systems represent a significant operating expense for building owners. However, if these installations are designed for efficient performance, the long-term savings potential is huge. In most residential and commercial buildings, heating and cooling systems alone consume more energy than all other building systems combined.

Indoor building conditions are determined in great part by mechanical systems, which means they influence human health. Have you heard about buildings suffering from any of the issues listed below? They can all be prevented with a good mechanical design.

• Excessive air moisture leads to mold growth, which may cause allergic reactions and asthma flare-ups. Mold can also damage building elements such as furniture and insulation.
• Mechanical equipment that is oversized or poorly placed often causes serious noise and vibration issues.
• Excessive heating or cooling can make indoor environments uncomfortable and unhealthy.

Working with professional mechanical engineers also makes buildings safer. When heavy equipment is in operation, you will want to ensure it does not pose a risk for occupants. Mechanical engineering also plays a role in fire protection design, when specifying critical components such as fire pumps and sprinkler piping.

Electrical Engineering Design Services By NY Engineers

Electricity is fundamental in the modern world, providing an energy source for many building systems, home appliances, and even our mobile electronic gadgets. With electrical engineering services, you can make sure your building has a safe power supply. Ideally, electrical installations should also be designed for efficient operation, reducing power bills in the long run.

The National Electrical Code (NEC) from the National Fire Protection Association, also known as the NFPA 70 standard, is the main reference document for all electrical installations in the USA. Local electrical codes are normally based on the NEC, adding specific requirements for the corresponding state or city.

Electrical engineers are highly familiarized with the NEC, since it provides the requirements for sizing all types of electrical components, from the main service equipment to the smaller circuits powering receptacles and lighting fixtures.

Main Design Challenges In Electrical Engineering

A modern building typically uses thousands of feet of wiring to deliver electrical power to all the appliances and equipment found inside. These circuits must meet a long list of technical requirements, and the following are just some examples:

• They must deliver a voltage supply that is suitable for each load. The required input voltage and the number of conductors change depending on the electrical device being powered.
• Each wiring circuit must be specified with conductors large enough to carry the expected current, but not oversized to avoid unnecessary expenses. In addition, each circuit must be protected by a breaker of adequate capacity.
• When a building uses appliances designed for different voltage levels, the electrical installation must include transformers to carry out the required voltage conversion.
• To meet the NEC requirements, most circuits must be installed in conduit. There are many types of conduit available, each suited for different environments. Conduit diameter is determined based on the number of conductors carried and their size.

These requirements can be considered an extremely brief introduction to the requirements and specifications found in the NEC. Electricity may seem like an overwhelming topic at first, but there is no need to worry if you are working with qualified electrical engineers.

Reducing Your Power Bills With Electrical Engineering Services

In new constructions and building renovations, electrical engineers are normally hired to design a safe and code-compliant installation. However, you can also rely on electrical engineering services to reduce your power bills. This can be accomplished by lowering the power consumption of your building, or by generating your own electricity on-site.

• Energy efficiency measures have the goal of reducing your power consumption without affecting the performance of building systems. There are many possibilities, ranging from LED lighting upgrades, to speed controls for fan and pump motors.
• Renewable generation systems produce electricity on site, reducing the net consumption measured by the local utility company.

Energy efficiency and renewable generation achieve synergy: while energy efficiency reduces the amount of electricity needed, renewable generation provides an on-site supply. Electrical engineering consultants can perform an energy audit of your property to identify the most promising energy efficiency measures and to suggest any renewable generation systems that are viable for your property.

California Fire Sprinkler & Protection Engineering By NY Engineers

Building systems make indoor spaces suitable for occupancy, but short-term disruptions can normally be tolerated. A blackout is inconvenient, but it does not pose an immediate threat in most cases. The same applies if space heating is turned off for a quick inspection, since the building does not become cold right away. However, fire protection engineering is a different story, since fire can have devastating effects in a short time.

Humans stay away from fire instinctively, but the risks of smoke are often overlooked. Smoke limits visibility, making evacuation more difficult, and it is lethal when inhaled in large amounts. For this reason, smoke accumulation is also considered a serious threat in fire protection engineering.

Fire protection systems must be capable of detecting fire and smoke, warning occupants, and activating automatic measures to prevent or mitigate damage. Automatic sprinklers are among the most effective fire protection measures, since they can quench most fires when they are still small.

Detection: The Starting Point In Fire Protection Engineering

When fire is detected inside a building, occupants must be warned as soon as possible. To achieve this, fire protection engineers specify heat and smoke sensors, which trigger alarms automatically. Manual devices to activate the fire alarms are also provided, in case someone sees a fire that has not been detected by sensors yet.

In the USA, the main reference for fire alarm design is the NFPA 72 National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code. Consider that local building codes may include additional requirements, so it is important to work with fire protection engineers who are familiarized with them.

Automatic Fire Protection Measures

When fire protection systems are well designed, most incidents are controlled without intervention from the local fire department. Automatic sprinklers provide one of the most effective ways to protect buildings from fire, and their requirements are covered in the NFPA 13 standard. Contrary to popular belief, sprinklers do not shower your entire building when they activate; they respond individually to heat, which means only the sprinkler heads directly above the flames release water.

As mentioned above, smoke also represents a significant hazard, and its accumulation must be prevented at all costs. To address this issue, fire protection engineers design exhaust systems that use fans to purge indoor smoke.

How Fire Protection Engineering Assists Firefighters

Fire protection engineers also design measures that help firefighters, for cases where the automatic systems in a building are not enough to control a fire. The following are some examples:

• A fire command center inside the building, with auxiliary radio communication systems.
• Standpipes, which are used by fire trucks to pump water to any floor.
• When the building has a fire pump, the standpipe can deliver pressurized water without connecting to a fire truck.

Since fire protection systems are critical for building safety, they are normally subject to stringent requirements in building codes. However, the price of these systems is small compared with the cost of the avoided damage, so they can be considered an investment. Fire protection engineering safeguards your building and everyone inside.

California Value Engineering Design Services By NY Engineers

Although building projects involve many technical aspects, we must not forget they are business ventures, with investors who want to maximize the return on their equity. Value engineering is a useful method to improve the financial performance of building projects, turning them into more lucrative investments.

In simple terms, the goal of value engineering is to accomplish as much as possible with each dollar invested. There are two main ways to increase value in building projects:

• Reducing project costs without sacrificing building functions and performance.
• Improving building functions and performance without exceeding the project budget.

Value engineering often involves trade-offs, where some extra expenses are assumed on purpose to achieve even greater benefits. For example, improving the insulation and air-tightness of a building involves additional costs, but you reduce heating and cooling loads. If the cost savings from purchasing smaller heating and cooling equipment exceed the additional building envelope costs, value engineering has been applied successfully.

Value engineering requires ample knowledge of building systems, including how they interact with each other. To apply the method successfully, a project design team must have members from several technical fields – finding the optimal configuration for building systems is much more difficult when the design process is carried out by isolated teams.

Value Engineering Can Help You Optimize The Project Budget

Construction progress is often tracked based on the budget percentage that has been used already, but this practice can be misleading. For example, if a project has a budget of $10 million and the accumulated expenses add up $4 million, it does not necessarily mean that 40% of the work has been completed. Value engineering can tell you if the budget is being used correctly.

• If the accumulated progress should have cost less than $4 million according to the project baseline, funds are being wasted.
• The opposite can also happen with good project management: If the accumulated progress should have cost more than $4 million, funds are being saved.

Only value engineering can give you a realistic perspective of how efficiently a project is using its budget. Simply comparing the spent budget with the planned budget can lead to wrong conclusions; if a project has been wasteful, you can use 100% of the budget without reaching 100% completion.

How Value Engineering Complements MEP Engineering

MEP engineering ensures that built environments have suitable conditions for human occupancy, but the business aspect of property development is not addressed directly. You can have a project design that uses the latest technologies in its mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, but the business case is not favorable if the project cost exceeds your budget. When you combine MEP engineering and value engineering, a building project can achieve high performance in both technical and financial aspects.

With value engineering, your building project can maximize its benefits while staying under the available budget. Additional features do not necessarily represent a budget increase; if you can reduce the cost of building elements without affecting performance, those funds become available for enhancements to the same building or for other projects.