Critical Fans – high rise office buildings

Working to Achieve

Working to achieve safer and more reliable building operations through condition-based monitoring supported by the Machine Sentry® platform.

The Challenge

At AVT Reliability, we’re always looking for ways to make condition monitoring safer, smarter, and more efficient, especially in environments where access is difficult and risks are high.

In a recent high-rise office building managed by a leading property management company, several critical fans posed unique challenges.

One elevator fan, mounted high on a wall inside a mechanical room, required a ladder and removal of a belt guard to access for vibration check, a process that was inefficient and exposed staff to safety risks.

A supply fan in a restricted area was also difficult to monitor with portable vibration tools, leaving gaps in data and raising the chance that early signs of wear could be missed.

Our Approach

To overcome these challenges, AVT Reliability proposed a smarter and safer solution: installing Machine Sentry® Fixed (MSF-2) wireless vibration sensors on the most hard-to-access fans.

The installation included:

• An elevator fan mounted in a confined mechanical space.
• An air supply fan located in a hard-to-reach area of the building.

The sensors remove the need for ladders, guard removals, or direct contact with moving parts.

Data is now collected remotely during quarterly visits, with optimal placement ensuring accurate results seamlessly integrated into the Machine Sentry® platform.

The Solution

With the MSF-2 sensors in place, vibration data is automatically collected on a monthly schedule and stored in the cloud-based Machine Sentry® system.

This provides:

• Continuous visibility of asset health, ensuring early detection of bearing wear, imbalance, or misalignment.
• Improved safety, with manual inspections in hard-to-reach areas reduced or eliminated.
• Greater efficiency, freeing on-site staff from the time and risk of manual data collection.

Our analysts review this data during routine site visits, giving the property manager assurance that potential issues will be identified before they disrupt building operations.

Follow-Up

This project demonstrates how permanent wireless sensors can deliver real value for commercial property managers:

• Peace of mind that even difficult-to-access assets are continuously monitored.
• Reduced risk for employees and contractors tasked with routine inspections.
• Tenant confidence in building infrastructure and uninterrupted operations.

High-rise building management is often overlooked in traditional reliability programmes.