Appendix B: Electrical Assessment
Brown County Library
Central Branch – Building Assessment
Lighting Controls
Description
The current lighting control system consists of circuit breakers in the main
branch panels for each floor. By turning on each noted breaker, banks of
lights come on throughout the main floor space as well as provide power to
the lighting in the offices. Currently, either maintenance or security
personnel are responsible for turning on and off all lighting in the facility. The
offices also have local light switches that turn on and off the lighting. Only a
few locations exist where occupancy sensors turn on and off the lighting.
Recommendations
The lighting control system as it exists today would not meet the current
energy code. The energy code mandates that all lighting in a facility be
automatically controlled such that lighting can be automatically turned off,
either at a predetermined time or by a device such as an occupancy sensor.
For a facility of this size and use, a low voltage control system may be more
appropriate due to the large open spaces on the lower, first and second
floors. A recommendation would be to provide a low voltage lighting
controller on the main usage floors and provide occupancy sensors for other
spaces throughout the facility.
Emergency Lighting Controls
Description
The current Emergency lighting control system will energize lighting upon
loss of building power, however, the emergency lighting in the stairwells will
only be 'on' if the keyed switch in the main stairwell on the north face of the
building is in the 'on' position, otherwise all stairwell lighting will be off.
Recommendations
The emergency lighting located in the stairwells should be unswitched and
should operate during any kind of event requiring emergency lighting. This
lighting should be taken off the keyed switch or be connected just ahead of
the switch. An occupancy sensor could help to turn off lighting if this is a
concern.
Appendix B: Electrical Assessment
Brown County Library
Central Branch – Building Assessment
Main Disconnect Switch on Main Service
Description
The main power disconnect switch for the building located on the incoming
service switchboard in the buildings basement is in need of replacement.
Due to the age of this device, it is no longer readily available from the
manufacturer (Sq-D). The replacement of this disconnect switch is very
important for several reasons; 1) Circuit Breaker may not operate properly
when a fault occurs (may not open if experiencing a fault) 2) May not reset
(close) after opening 3) May not protect against external fault which may be
as high as 100,000 AIC
Recommendations
Due to the age of this equipment, the cost of replacing this device will be
extreme. A cursory review of this scenario with the equipment manufacturer
has suggested that a complete replacement of the main service switchboard,
including all circuit breakers and main switch will be approximately the same
as replacing just the main breaker. This equipment should be replaced.
Exterior Emergency Lighting
Description
There are no exterior emergency lighting fixtures
Recommendations
This is a Life Safety concern. At the time this facility was constructed, the
facility met the building code as it pertained to exterior emergency lighting. In
today's code, a minimum of a two lamped emergency fixture is required at
each required emergency exit for a building.
Emergency Lighting
Description
Interior Emergency lighting does not meet code minimums of an average of 1
footcandle (fc) and a minimum of .1 fc along all paths of egress.
Recommendations
This is a Life Safety concern. Additional emergency lights should be located
throughout the facility to provide the code mandated emergency lighting
required to safely get library patrons and personnel safely out of the building.
Key areas would be each of the office and workroom areas as well as
Children’s, Popular Library, Reference, and second floor book areas.
Appendix B: Electrical Assessment
Brown County Library
Central Branch – Building Assessment
Rooftop Disconnect Switch
Description
Disconnect Switch on Exterior Rooftop Unit is rusted badly
Recommendations
The disconnect switch on the condensing unit located on the roof should be
replaced.
Branch Panels
Description
All building branch panels are manufactured by Square-D and come in
various sizes due to the requirements of the loads each panel is serving.
These panels are original to the building and are approaching 36 years of
use. It was noted that these panels have not been through a preventative
maintenance program (cleaning of panel board interior, checking breakers).
Circuit breakers should be tested and cleaned periodically to insure proper
operation.
A panel board and it’s integral bus bars have a useful life of approximately 25
years and can last much longer (these are fixed pieces of metal which
generally will not undergo any changes over time). However, the circuit
breakers that are connected to the bus bars and protect the loads on a circuit
have a useful life that can be much less. Circuit breakers life span is
influenced by the stability of the electricity that flows through it, the amount of
current the load is drawing, the heat generated on the circuit and whether or
not the circuit breaker has previously tripped.
Recommendations
A building preventative maintenance plan should be created to include the
cleaning and testing of the circuit breakers in each of the panel boards once
every five years. A qualified Electrical Contractor or Testing Agency should
be engaged to test and clean this equipment.
Arc Fault Protection
Description
Flash Protection ratings are not identified on panels. This is a more recent
addition to the National Electric Code (NEC) in 1999 and is now being
enforced by Local Authorities Having Jurisdiction.
Recommendations
An Arc Flash Study involving all branch panels including the main service
switchboard should be completed such that Arc Flash Hazard identification
may be placed on each piece of electrical equipment. This identification will
help any qualified or maintenance personnel review the potential hazards
prior to working on these pieces of electrical equipment. These pieces of
identification provide assistance in determining severity of potential
exposure, planning safe work practices, and selecting personal protective
equipment.
Appendix B: Electrical Assessment
Brown County Library
Central Branch – Building Assessment
Stairwell Exit Lighting
Description
Exit Lighting in the stairwells is not adequate.
Recommendations
In general, exit lighting in the stairwells is found on the floor exiting to grade.
What has been provided in some instances is a luminescent sticker located
on the exit door. A requirement of an exit sign is that it produces 5
footcandles of illumination 1 foot from its face. These luminescent signs do
not provide this. Exit lighting if on other floors that do not exit to grade should
clearly identify the path of egress.
Data / Communications IDF
Description
The Intermediate Distribution Frame (IDF) currently located on the second
floor, just out of main circulation is located in an area that is not secure. This
equipment provides connections to the Libraries computers and telephones.
Recommendations
The IDF should be relocated to a room that is locked and is not open to the
public.
Elevators
Description
Elevators are not reliable - may stop working prior to letting passengers off at
predetermined floor.
The inconsistent operation of the elevators may be an effect of overheating
of the elevator controllers. The elevator controllers are remotely located in
the basement which can be accessed through the periodical storage location.
The doors on each of the elevator controllers are currently left open to allow
for circulation of air so that the equipment won't overheat. However, the heat
in this room builds up and may contribute to the stoppage problems for the
elevators. These elevators are very old. The elevator manufacturer has
stated that the useful life of the elevators is 20 years. These elevators are
nearing 37 years of operation.
Recommendations
Provide additional room make-up air to allow the equipment to operate within
the temperature tolerance for the equipment.
A comprehensive study by qualified elevator maintenance personnel should
review the existing elevator configuration and provide recommendations
based upon findings. These elevators are Dover (now Thyssen Krupp)
elevators. The nearest Dover representative is located in Madison, WI.
Option 1:
Provide additional make up air into the elevator equipment room.
Appendix B: Electrical Assessment
Brown County Library
Central Branch – Building Assessment
Option 2:
Replace the two elevator controllers with new control panels and connect to
existing elevators.
Option 3:
Modify the existing staff/freight elevator to accept library patrons with
disabilities.
Interior Building Lighting
Description
The building lighting system incorporates a few different technologies. For
nearly 70% of the lighting fixtures, 4 ft. T12 lamps are used in combination
with energy saving ballasts. These lamp and ballast combinations are
primarily found in the indirect lighting found between the double tees in the
precast concrete structure. These fixtures provide a gentle illumination
throughout the facility but utilize much more energy than what is necessary
due to lamp and ballast technology from 20-30 years ago and the fact that
the lighting is located inside of the double tees of the precast. T-12 U tube
lamps are utilized in the fixtures of the corridors of the third floor. T8 FO32W
lamps are used in the leased area on the third floor. On the second floor, in
the offices and on the first floor in the primary circulation areas, it was noted
that light fixtures used louvers that contain 1"x1"x1" parabolic louvers that
direct the light from the lamps inside the fixtures straight down to the floor
without allowing the light to spread out . This could be seen in our
walkthrough's with a light meter. Directly below one of these paracube
fixtures a reading was registered of 56 footcandles and two feet over a
reading of 20 footcandles registered.
Recommendations
The building lighting systems should undergo a retrofit. At a minimum,
lighting systems should be changed to incorporate T8 lighting technology
with electronic ballasts (potentially 32W lamps or even 25W lamps with high
performance electronic ballast). Color temperature of the lamps should be
looked at which can allow for a space to look brighter (3500 degree Kelvin is
an accepted standard, but 4200 degree Kelvin may make a space look
brighter). Additionally, a study should be completed to determine a more
efficient way to distribute lighting throughout the library. Recommendations
to include lowering the existing light fixtures located inside each of the double
tees or changing those fixtures all together and replace with a fixture that
offers both up lighting and down lighting which allows some of the light to
come out of the bottom of the fixture. Additionally, the paracube fixtures may
be appropriate for some of the library spaces, but should be looked at for the
main circulation area on the first floor and throughout the offices on the
second floor.
Appendix B: Electrical Assessment
Brown County Library
Central Branch – Building Assessment
Lighting – Book Unloading
Description
The lighting levels in the book unloading area are not where they should be.
Lighting ranging from 68 footcandles directly beneath the light fixture to
below 7 footcandles along the room edges has been measured. For the
work that takes place in this room, lighting levels need to be more consistent
throughout the room (typically 35-50 footcandles).
Recommendations
Lighting in this space should be changed. A potential layout could be to have
two 1x4 fixtures with two lamps each located 6 ft on center oriented in the
north/south direction in this room.
Lighting – Stack Areas
Description
Lighting levels in the book stack areas on the second floor are lower than
industry standards. During our walkthrough on July 15, 2009 at 10:00pm, a
light meter was used to measurement horizontal footcandles. Results were
registered in the range of 4.6 - 22.4 footcandles in the low ceiling area just
west of the staircase and in the higher ceiling area in the northwest corner of
the building footcandle measurements were registered between 8.9 - 38.7
footcandles. Vertical footcandles were measured on August 19. These
results showed footcandles ranging from 1.4-3.1 footcandles at 12 inches
above the floor in the low ceiling area to 9.3-10.2 footcandles near the top of
the stack. In the higher ceiling area vertical footcandle measurements
registered between 3.2-5.4 footcandles at 12 inches above the floor and
16.8-18.4 footcandles near the top of the stack. The current lighting layout
does not meet the suggested recommendations for lighting in a library stack
environment (see below).
Recommendations
Lighting standards for library stack areas suggest vertical lighting levels no
less than 6 footcandles at 12” above the floor plane and a maximum of 35
vertical footcandles at any point along the stack face for a 6 to 1 maximum to
minimum ratio across the stack face.
Option 1:
Provide lighting between the stacks and provide a direct/indirect lighting
approach allowing light to wash the ceiling and allow a direct component (1015%) of light down between the stacks. In the low ceiling area, lighting
should hang between 12-18 inches below the ceiling.
Option 2:
Provide lighting between the stacks and mount light fixtures directly to each
stack, making the lighting integral to the stacks. Provide lighting capable of
direct/indirect lighting with 10-15% down lighting component.
Appendix B: Electrical Assessment
Brown County Library
Central Branch – Building Assessment
Exterior Lighting
Description
During a site visit on the evening of July 15, 2009 lighting measurements
were taken around the facility to determine lighting levels for safety and for
normal walking about the site. Along the south side of the building, lighting
was measured at between .2 - .4 footcandles, .1 - .4 footcandles was
measured along the walkway on the west side, .2 – 5.3 footcandles were
measured along the north side with levels of 1.1 – 3.4 footcandles measured
in the parking area and drive up area. Additionally, exterior lighting was
measured at 3.4 – 5.1 footcandles along the northeast corner of the building,
0.0 footcandles were measured from middle of the east side of the building to
the southeast corner of the property. The Illuminating Engineering Society of
North America (IESNA) provides a recommendation of between .6 and 1.0
footcandles along a walkway for commercial and intermediate areas. The
IESNA recommends lighting in the range of .6 to .9 footcandles for a general
parking area.
The parking lot lighting is adequate except for the southeastern corner of the
building. Additional lighting should be provided in this area. Also, during the
walkthrough, it was noticed that two fixtures had lamps that were not on (exit
door in northwest corner and a newer metal halide fixture under the canopy
along the north walk way).
Recommendations
Lighting levels should be increased around the perimeter of the building for
both security and safety. Additional light poles should be added near the
south entrance to the parking lot. The addition of two poles along the
entrance drive will add sufficient lighting to the area per IES
recommendations.
Option 1:
Trim some of the foliage in the immediate area. There are several trees that
are blocking lighting from being able to illuminate the area.
Option 2:
Replace the lighting technology from Mercury Vapor lamps and ballasts to a
different technology such as induction lighting or LED lighting. Both of these
style lamps have a lamp life that may approach 100,000 hours and could
provide more illumination to the walk ways.