An empirical model of a chilled water coil was developed with the technique of system identification. The coil model was used to develop a simulation of a direct digital controller to predict the system response to inputs with P, PI, and PID control algorithms. The response of an actual chilled water coil was measured and compared to the predicted response for the model The model was found to be effective in predicting the response for different values of gain for each type of control algorithm. When the model was used, a set of gains was found that gave a favorable response for the system.