Advanced Chiller Analytics: How Smart Monitoring Transforms Central Plant Performance

June 17, 2025

By Antoine Vandyck and Todd Addis, PE

The Challenge: Complex Chiller Systems Need Smarter Solutions

Commercial chillers are the workhorses of modern HVAC systems, consuming massive amounts of electricity to produce the chilled water that keeps buildings comfortable. These machines generate chilled water using electricity, which may seem straightforward at first, but the process can quickly become complex, especially in buildings with multiple production sources, variable demand and operating modes. The slightest grain of sand can dramatically reduce the efficiency of the equipment.

The problem? Many facilities face challenges in deriving actionable insights from their chiller data and maintaining a comprehensive overview of the entire cooling system. Traditional monitoring methods often burden operators with overly technical diagnostics, missing key efficiency opportunities.

Chiller Analytics That Actually Work

Central Plant Performance: Beyond Basic Monitoring

Modern chiller analytics platforms transform raw operational data into clear, actionable insights through sophisticated KPI dashboards. The core metric—tracking the ratio between electricity consumed and chilled water produced—provides facility managers with an immediate understanding of system performance.

Key efficiency tracking capabilities include:

Real-time EER monitoring: Compare actual Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) against design specifications and historical data to benchmark the equipment together
Temperature differential analysis: Monitor the differential between supply and return temperatures
Multi-chiller optimization: When facilities operate multiple units, smart analytics ensure the most efficient chillers run at the most appropriate times

Operational Intelligence: Maximizing Equipment Lifespan

Beyond monitoring efficiency metrics, advanced chiller analytics provide operational insights that maximize equipment lifespan and minimize total cost of ownership through intelligent decision-making.

Strategic Equipment Staging When facilities operate multiple chillers, analytics platforms automatically determine the optimal combination of units to run based on real-time efficiency data and load requirements. This eliminates guesswork and ensures the most cost-effective equipment operates during each load condition, reducing wear on less efficient units while maximizing energy savings.

Predictive Maintenance Through Pattern Recognition Daily runtime heatmaps reveal equipment usage patterns over 30-day periods, enabling facility managers to distribute operational hours evenly across their chiller fleet. This data-driven load balancing prevents premature wear on frequently used units while identifying underutilized equipment that may need attention.

Short Cycling Prevention One of the most damaging operational patterns—frequent starting and stopping throughout the day—significantly reduces both efficiency and equipment lifespan. Advanced analytics automatically detect these patterns and trace them to root causes: improper temperature setpoints, inadequate load calculations, or programming errors. By identifying and resolving short cycling issues, facilities can extend equipment life by years while improving operational efficiency.

Whole-System Optimization

Chilled Water System Integration Effective chiller analytics monitor the entire cooling ecosystem, recognizing that chiller performance depends on proper water loop operation. Temperature differential monitoring identifies when return water temperatures are too high or too low—both conditions that force chillers to work harder and waste energy. By optimizing these differentials, facilities can achieve significant efficiency gains without equipment modifications.

Heat Rejection Optimization Cooling tower performance directly impacts chiller efficiency, yet many facilities monitor these systems separately. Integrated analytics platforms identify when cooling tower issues are causing mysterious chiller efficiency drops, enabling targeted maintenance that addresses root causes rather than symptoms. This systematic approach prevents reactive troubleshooting and reduces overall maintenance costs.

Precision Diagnostics: Where Complexity Meets Clarity

Clockworks Analytics fault detection and diagnostics solution performs comprehensive fault detection across 60+ diagnostic checks, monitoring critical aspects of chiller and heat pump operations. This sophisticated diagnostic engine automatically identifies issues that traditional monitoring systems miss entirely.

Comprehensive Flow and Valve Monitoring:

Detects flow and pressure anomalies in evaporator and condenser
Identifies valve position discrepancies and isolation valve conflicts
Monitors differential pressure tracking across all water loops
Flags minimum flow violations that can damage equipment

Advanced Efficiency Analysis:

Tracks real-time EER (Energy Efficiency Ratio) and NPLV calculations
Performs heat balance verification to ensure thermodynamic consistency
Automatically flags when chiller efficiency drops below expected performance thresholds

Critical Temperature and Pressure Diagnostics:

Monitors evaporator and condenser approach temperatures for optimal heat transfer
Detects refrigerant pressure anomalies that indicate system stress
Tracks temperature setpoint deviations that indicate suboptimal operation or proactive maintenance tasks
Identifies superheating and subcooling issues that compromise life cycle

System Integration Monitoring:

Detects equipment coordination problems (cooling tower fans running when chillers are off)
Monitors free cooling valve operation and mode switching
Identifies compressor staging operation improvement
Tracks part-load performance issues

Each diagnostic check includes automatic cost calculation capabilities, transforming detected faults into quantifiable energy savings opportunities. When the system identifies efficiency degradation, it calculates the financial impact as avoided costs—turning abstract performance issues into concrete ROI justifications for maintenance actions.

Real-World Impact: Healthcare System Success Story

A leading healthcare provider exemplifies the transformative power of advanced chiller analytics across multi-building portfolios. By having implemented comprehensive monitoring across their campuses, their facilities teams now detect inefficiencies and identify faults before they can impact critical operations.

In healthcare environments, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Chilled water systems are critical in maintaining precise temperature and humidity control in operating rooms, sterile processing areas, and pharmacies—spaces where even minor environmental deviations can compromise patient safety, regulatory compliance, and quality of care.

The transformation has been remarkable:

Proactive maintenance prevents system failures that could disrupt critical care areas
Early fault detection eliminates costly emergency repairs and potential downtime
Continuous monitoring ensures stable and compliant conditions in sensitive patient-care spaces
Data-driven decisions replace reactive emergency troubleshooting with a more strategic approach to operations

This healthcare system shifted from crisis management to proactive operations and maintenance, improving energy efficiency while strengthening their ability to ensure safe and compliant healing environments. The result: enhanced system reliability that directly supports their mission of delivering exceptional patient care.

The Bottom Line: Measurable Energy Savings & Operational Efficiency

Advanced chiller analytics platforms deliver measurable results through executive-level reporting that tracks energy savings against established targets while enabling teams to maintain highly-reliable central plants in support of their buildings Facilities typically see immediate improvements through:

Optimized equipment staging and runtime patterns
Early detection and resolution of efficiency issues
Data-driven maintenance scheduling
Technician task prioritization based on energy impact
Reduction in risk of downtime or impact to critical operations

Transform Your Chiller Operations Today

Modern facilities can no longer afford to operate chillers based on guesswork or outdated scheduling approaches. Advanced analytics platforms transform complex operational data into clear, actionable insights that drive measurable energy savings while optimizing equipment operation.

The question isn’t whether smart chiller analytics can improve your facilities—it’s how much energy and operational efficiency you’re losing by waiting to implement them.

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