Save Money with Commercial HVAC Maintenance

The results are in: studies show that preventative maintenance on your commercial HVAC system is worth the investment. According to the Building Efficiency Initiative, less than 50% of companies surveyed perform preventative or predictive maintenance on their critical HVAC systems. Think of your heating, cooling, and ventilation systems as the circulatory system — the heart, blood, veins, and lungs — of your commercial enterprise. Poor circulation can cost your business money and your employees their health and well-being. You owe it to your business and your employees to treat your system to regular check-ups.

Industry resource, Buildings magazine, notes that HVAC system maintenance is nothing compared to what you’ll spend in the event of a catastrophic system failure and that by tracking system indicators (as you would if you have established a comprehensive HVAC maintenance plan), you can identify potential emerging problems before they reach a crisis point. “Some aspects of a maintenance plan are simple – change the oil, change the belts, change the filters. But, to keep a system operating at maximum efficiency, you’ll need to expend more elbow grease beyond the basics from time to time. Air-handler coils need to be cleaned periodically to keep heat transfer at maximum amounts. Boilers need to be cleaned annually; even 1/16-inch of soot and ash on heat-exchange surfaces in an oil-firing boiler can reduce efficiency by 10 percent.”

Whole Building Design Guide reports that “Heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC systems) account for 39% of the energy used in commercial buildings in the United States. Consequently, almost any business or government agency has the potential to realize significant savings by improving its control of HVAC operations and improving the efficiency of the system it uses. The use of high-performance HVAC equipment can result in considerable energy, emissions, and cost savings (10%–40%).”

The US Department of Energy states that the average commercial building wastes a whopping 30% of the energy that it consumes. That’s a lot of money floating in the wind. Keep those dollars in your budget with proper HVAC maintenance.

Plan on changing air filters on a quarterly basis. Ideally, filters will be changed monthly during peak heating and cooling seasons. Dirty filters cause commercial HVAC systems to work harder by restricting airflow and may result in a 5-10% energy loss. Dirty air filters also lead to poor air quality and may reduce the productivity of your employees.

Programmable thermostats and zone heating systems can save your business hundreds of dollars each year while simultaneously saving the environment.

Enjoy up big savings by removing microbes, ensuring an adequate air flow rate, and achieving optimal refrigerant levels (Building Efficiency Initiative).

Professional HVAC technicians can reduce energy waste by using foil tape or blown-in sealant to seal your ducts and by wrapping ductwork in insulation.

Qualified technicians will develop a maintenance plan that could include regular filter maintenance, duct cleaning, moving part lubrication, sensor testing, and thermostat installation, calibration, and maintenance.

Think of preventative HVAC maintenance as you would a routine oil change in your car. Just as you wouldn’t risk your engine’s integrity by running on old, dirty oil, you shouldn’t put your costly HVAC systems at risk by neglecting them. Commercial HVAC systems have more than 100 components — and the potential for accompanying performance issues — that can degrade performance (Building Efficiency Initiative) and cost your business money, so contact Evolution Maintenance today! We can keep your HVAC running at peak efficiency. Contact us today!