Mechanical room

A mechanical room, boiler room or plant room is a room or space in a building holding the mechanical equipment and its electrical equipment, unlike rooms made for human occupancy or storage. The size of the mechanical room is usually similar to the size of the building. A small building or home may have a utility room or laundry room. In larger buildings, mechanical rooms can be of very large size, often requiring multiple rooms throughout the building, or even occupying one or more complete floors (see: mechanical floor).

Mechanical room in Federal building, Los Angeles, California

Mechanical room

Equipment

Mechanical rooms will have the following equipment:

• Air handlers
• Boilers
• Chillers
• Heat exchangers
• Water heaters and tanks
• Water pumps (for domestic, heating/cooling, and firefighting water)
• Sprinkler piping and pumps
• Back-up electrical generators
• Elevator equipment
• Back-up batteries
• Other HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) equipment

Equipment in mechanical rooms are operated and maintained by a engineer or a maintenance technician. Modern buildings use control systems to manage HVAC systems, lighting, communications, and life safety equipment. Often, the control system hardware is located in the mechanical room and monitored or accessed remotely on a computer or tablet.

Rooms with only electrical or electronic equipment such as circuit breakers and switchgear are not called mechanical rooms but are instead called electrical rooms.

Related pages

• Noise pollution
• Electrical room