Thanks for asking a really good question, this motivated me to organise my thoughts on things to check.
Generally, I find IES to be pretty poor when it comes to warnings, errors and reporting. I go through the following checks numerous times through an energy model process. Compared to EnergyPlus, where standard reporting of wanrings, errors and model integrity are produced automatically, IES leaves much to be desired (in my experience)
That said, the best checks to do at the early stage are those that you have to do at the end, i.e
* for LEED, check everything that goes into the building summary report
* sensitivity tests are a good way to spot things that aren't set up right. The pity of these, in my experience is that they are done at the end of the energy modelling process, when they are most useful more early on.
In IES, here are some checks I do
Basic Checks
- Site orientation
- Application of correct gain and variation profiles ( no people in ceiling voids !)
- Variation of loads (diversity) within air handling unit group (this is a NABERs thing)
Gains and Temperature Checks
- select all conditioned zones, range check temperature from 8am to 6pm mon-fri - are hours out of range reasonable ?
- do likewise on all zones that should be unconditioned - to check that these are not mistakenly conditioned and using energy..
- check magnitude and variation of internal gains
- check solar gains are reasonable - i.e east/west facing zones are getting sun at right times
- run the 'Cooling Report' check the cooling loads are reasonable <150 Watts/sq.m for a perimeter and ~60 Watts/sq for internal (or as appropriate to your project)
ApacheHVAC Checks
- airflow rates across the supply air fan - do these respect minimum outdoor air flow rate ?
- airflow rates across the supply air fan - is there an increase of outside air for the economy cycle - check against outdoor temp and humidity ( i copy results to excel)
- air temps across cooling and heating coils - check simultaneous heating and cooling is not occuring
- volume flow rates and supply air temperatures to VAV boxes - variation and magnitude - should find some that are maxxing out on a hot day
- select a hot day, chart the cooling loads in all zones, find a zone that appears to be at peak cooling capacity, check air flow rate is at maximum and supply air temp is at minimum.
