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Fault Clusters

Clusters group faults that share a root cause. The trigger is the fault that usually fires first; members refine the diagnosis.

CLU-01 — Simultaneous Heating & Cooling

TriggerAHU-0016
MembersAHU-0004, AHU-0005, AHU-0012, AHU-0025, AHU-0029, FCU-0001, AHU-0032
Playbooksimultaneous-hc
Prevalencecommon
Energy impact15-40% of AHU energy

CLU-02 — Missing Reset Strategy

TriggerAHU-0023
MembersAHU-0024, AHU-0019, AHU-0031, AHU-0035
Playbookmissing-reset
Prevalence74% of buildings (PNNL 151-building study)
Energy impact5-20% of site energy

CLU-03 — Economizer Failure

TriggerAHU-0017
MembersAHU-0009, AHU-0011, RTU-0004
Playbookeconomizer-failure
Prevalence54% of RTUs (Cowan 2004)
Energy impact5-20% of cooling energy

CLU-04 — After-Hours Operation

TriggerAHU-0018
MembersSYS-0003, SYS-0004, AHU-0026
Playbookafter-hours-operation
Prevalence~15%
Energy impact3-16% of site energy

CLU-05 — Zone Heating & Cooling Conflict

TriggerVAV-0006
MembersVAV-0003, SYS-0007
Playbookvav-min-flow-reheat
Prevalencecommon
Energy impact5-20% of zone energy

CLU-06 — Chilled Water Plant Inefficiency

TriggerCHW-0001
MembersCHW-0002, CHW-0003, CHW-0004, CHW-0005
Playbookchiller-efficiency
Energy impact5-15% of chiller energy

CLU-07 — Unnecessary Plant Operation

TriggerSYS-0001
MembersSYS-0002
Playbookunnecessary-plant-operation
Energy impact100% of plant energy while active

CLU-08 — Schedule Dysfunction

TriggerAHU-0018
MembersSYS-0008, SYS-0004
Playbookexhaust-fan-schedule-misalignment
Prevalence~15%
Energy impact3-16% of site energy

CLU-09 — Sensor Integrity Failure

TriggerSYS-0005
MembersAHU-0028, AHU-0002, AHU-0003, SYS-0006, SYS-0009, SYS-0010, VAV-0010
Playbooksensor-drift
Prevalence~15%
Energy impactprevents false alarms; sensor-dependent

CLU-10 — Condenser-Side Degradation

TriggerTOWER-0001
MembersTOWER-0002, CHW-0005
Playbookcooling-tower-performance
Prevalenceunpublished (library-authored family)
Energy impact~2-4% chiller power per degC of added lift (BEE 2006 §3)

Tower heat-rejection capability loss and chiller condenser fouling share causes (scale, fouling, airflow/waterflow deficiency) and one investigation path: the tower-side vs tube-side split. Fixing the condenser-side root typically clears the chiller efficiency symptom (CLU-06 overlap via CHW-0005).