Integrated loop systems are used to combine individual heating and/or cooling systems into one complete assembly without actually uniting all the mechanical components (boilers, chillers, pumps, etc.) in one central station. In essence, such systems consist of a number of separate plants, installed in more or less widely dispersed buildings, but all hooked up to a common auxiliary single-pipe loop from which they normally may be kept shut off. Each building has its own heating and/or cooling plant, unitary or built up, which is more or less sufficient to supply the required thermal load but does not have any standby thermal equipment or even spare accelerating pumps. Some of the buildings may have a certain surplus capacity, others may have little or none at all. In fact, the loop systems exists mainly for the purpose of analizing the load demands of all consumers and of providing the necessary redundancy in case of a breakdown in any of the individual building plants. Such a system can truly be called a "decentralized central system." [1-31