Mechanical room
A mechanical room is a room or space in a building dedicated to the mechanical equipment and its associated electrical equipment. Unless a building is served by a centralized heating plant, the size of the mechanical room is usually proportional to the size of the building. A small building or home may have at most a utility room but in large buildings mechanical rooms can be of considerable size, often requiring multiple rooms throughout the building, or even occupying one or more complete floors (see: mechanical floor).
Mechanical rooms typically house the following equipment:
- Air handlers
- Boilers
- Chillers
- Water heaters and tanks
- Water pumps (for domestic, heating/cooling, and firefighting water)
- Main distribution piping and valves
- Sprinkler distribution piping and pumps
- Back-up electrical generators
- Elevator machinery
- Other HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) equipment
Rooms with only electrical or electronic equipment are not considered mechanical rooms but electrical rooms.