You have done your due diligence, had a walk through of the facility with your HVAC contractor, finalized schedules and responsibilities. Here are some tips on how property managers, facility managers and building owners can be proactive on the HVAC Maintenance, repair or service schedules and avoid waiting chargers, losing on their precious time and eventually have a smooth operational process.
1. Safe and Proper Building Access
Proper and safe access to the work area provided by the building user, including the temporary interruption of a security system (where applicable) should be cleared properly before your contractor can begin the scope of work.
2. For Outdoor/Roof-mounted units:
Designated safe access to the roof-top units, including the unlocking of respective access doors, ladders and hatches.
Designated safe method of waste or garbage removal from the roof to the waste bin.
Notify your operations accordingly about the service and possible temporary interruptions while the HVAC contractor is doing the preventative maintenance checks and simulations.
3. For Overhead Unit Heaters, and Process-Related Ventilators (Working At Heights)
Access to an operational scissor-lift at your facility. Working with ladders has been prone to accidents/incidents due to the limitations of the service technician to ensure 3-Point Contact while servicing overhead equipment – OHSA Clause 25(2); 27(1, 2); 28(1,2); OHSA Reg 213/91; Reg 851(73)
Safe access to the service work area. Facilitate the removal of materials that may affect or block the service work area.
Proper communication of the activities with your internal departmentsabout the service being performed or scheduled.
4.Proper and adequate Lockout/Tagout Provisions for individual equipment.
All Energy Sources like Electrical, Gas, Pneumatic, Hydraulic should have proper isolation/disconnect/lockout procedure performed prior to servicing particular equipment.
The gradual temperature drop that we are experiencing everyday, is hinting us to brace ourselves for what is coming in the following months. As we do that, let us also ask a few questions about the HVAC contractor we are going to hire for the Preventive Maintenance and winter breakdown calls.
So, let us begin with the following questions:
How long has your HVAC contractor been in Business?
It is always a good metric to know how many years has your contractor been serving their clients, how many different kinds of industries they cater to, and what expertise they have in the commercial and industrial HVAC sector. Commercial HVAC equipment, unlike the residential furnaces, have sophisticated controls and specific troubleshooting and maintenance standards. The air-cooled and water-cooled chillers, industrial boilers, process cooling equipment, process gas ovens, heat pumps, roof top packaged units, precision air conditioning for server rooms need an experienced pair of hands to be worked upon.
The Technology Web
You may not look at your HVAC contractor as a tech company but in today’s world it is almost a necessity to have web notifications of all tasks, services, reminders, pending approvals at a touch of a button. A customer online portal ensures that you don’t always have to unlock your phone and dial a number for a breakdown issue. You may be in an important meeting and still do the same online.
What is the Organisational Structure?
A properly organised operations and business team, with adequate number of field technicians can ensure proper prioritization of the services offered. Make sure you have more options from the same HVAC contractor in case of multiple breakdowns at different locations. Your valuable business can be at stake if it is dependent on a one-man show and they get too busy on another job.
Contractor Referrals
Your contractor can also play an important role in growing your organisation by supporting your building facility’s operations and making sure things get attended to and fix as soon as they come up. Just like before hiring a new employee, ask for referrals from your HVAC contractor and talk to them about the service experience.
In our recent blogs we talked about Pre-Winter Maintenance, HVAC & Back to school and some common maintenance issues. This time lets get into deciphering the Comfort and Health aspect of indoor air by focussing on the indoor air quality. We live in a world now, where ensuring healthy environment for our employees, family and friends alike is the top most priority.
The Physiology of Comfort
It isn’t rocket science to understand that the heat generated and dissipated by the human body will vary based on factors like age, gender, activity level, clothing and size. But at the same time, it is a complex problem to solve or estimate the individual comfort needs. The fundamental factors that would determine a person’s comfort level are the temperature, humidity levels and the velocity of surrounding air. And while considering the processes within the human body, an individual’s metabolism rate, blood circulation and even hydration levels would be the determining factors to assess the right temperature & humidity settings.
Indoor Air Quality
ASHRAE standard “Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality” outlines the minimum ventilation rates and other measures required to ensure that there are no known contaminants at harmful concentrations in the space so that not only the occupants are comfortable but the environment is free from hazardous and discomforting odours from contaminants.
Common Contaminants
Carbon dioxide (CO2) and Carbon monoxide (CO) are the two most common contaminants found in occupied spaces. CO2 levels increase when spaces are overcrowded as humans and animals exhale CO2 and carbon monoxide levels tend to generally arise when there is incomplete combustion of hydrocarbon from fuel and also smoking by occupants.
Adding an industrial set up to the above scenario will considerably alter the air quality by adding more harmful gases to the air and may lead to headaches and nausea as common symptoms.
VOCs, Mold and Particulate Matter are the next set of contaminants which can increase in concentration by a number of factors like use of building materials and finishes, cleaning agents, fungi growth, soot, smoke and decay of organic material like vegetables.
In totality, proper indoor air quality not only helps productivity in a work place by avoiding the sick building syndrome, a condition where the occupants feel physical problems because of the environment they are in, but also organizations also stay away from untoward situations like lawsuits, strikes and non retention of workers.
Adequate ventilation in the space helps the air quality by increasing the air changes and replacing the stale air by outside fresh air in the contained space.
Controlling Contaminants
For maintaining good Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) ideally the following strategy might be very effective. Source elimination or modification to meet the desired goal, use of more outdoor fresh air to increase ventilation rates, space air distribution and schedules maintenance of the HVAC equipment.
HVAC Preventive Maintenance Programs
Preventive maintenance programs can enormously reduce or keep the checks on ensuring the HVAC equipment are running at optimum capacity. The number of checks needed in a building and the equipment installed can be so many that it may be a cumbersome job for property managers and building owners to allocate enough time to. In these scenarios it is very efficient to get a dedication, professional and skilled HVAC contractor to maintain and repair your HVAC equipment.
At Air Track Inc, we offer Energy Saving Preventive Maintenance Programs to suit your needs. Maintenance programs help in controlling the operating costs over the life of an equipment. Call us at 905 330 4056 for all your industrial and commercial HVAC needs.
We specialize in installation and maintenance of HVAC equipment including but not limited to: Gas Heating, Electric Heating, Heat Recovery Wheels & ERV, Boilers, Air Conditioning, Chillers, Heat Pumps, Dehumidification, Humidification, filtration systems & Full line of controls and electrical.
Timely preventive maintenance of HVAC equipment avoids major, expensive and catastrophic damages to it and keeps the property owner proactive rather than being reactive towards this important cause.
Listed below are the most common HVAC repair issues that occur and may show up during maintenance. At Air Track HVAC Solutions, we specialize in installation and maintenance of HVAC equipment including but not limited to: Gas Heating, Electric Heating, Heat Recovery Wheels & ERV, Boilers, Air Conditioning, Chillers, Heat Pumps, Dehumidification, Humidification, filtration systems & Full line of controls and electrical.
In addition to this HVAC systems are responsible for more than 40 percent of total energy use, so keeping it running properly and problem free is the first step in achieving peak efficiency.
Missing, defective or insufficient air filters are the main cause of dirty cooling coils. This results in restricted cooling, plugged motor passages, dirty blower wheels, loss of airflow and refrigerant flooding in most cases. Compressor and bearing failure, motor failure, increased energy consumption and insufficient air flow are the possible outcomes of leaving this untreated.
Defective Drive Belts
Improper tightening of belts and not replacing worn out belts results in loss of airflow, sheave wear and refrigerant flooding. Major Pulley replacement, motor failures, noise and compressor damage may occur because of the defective drive belts.
Refrigerant Leaks
Improper charging of the system, improper leak detection, no action on detected leaks, leaking seals and gaskets and loose expansion joints are some of the causes of refrigerant leaking outside the system into the conditioned space or the environment. This results in short cycling of the compressor, system freeze up, lack of cooling effect and loss of lubrication in the system. Refrigerant leak into the environment may lead to potential EPA violations, compressor failure and substantial additional costs and energy consumption.
Ignition Problems
Ignition issues could arise from various factors like dirty burners, flame sensors or pilots.
Clogged Drains
Improper inspection of drain pans, dirty cooling coils and lack of cleaning of drain pans may lead to clogged drains. The water builds up in the unit may lead to localized flooding in occupied areas and also creates a potential for mold. The damage to other equipment in the occupied space, ruining of ceiling tiles and lack of indoor air quality are the possible outcomes of this very common problem.
All these common problems can be avoided or are minimized whenever you have a maintenance plan in place. At Air Track Inc, we offer Energy Saving Preventive Maintenance Programs to suit your needs. Maintenance programs help in controlling the operating costs over the life of an equipment. Call us at 905 330 4056 for all your industrial and commercial HVAC needs.
We can already feel the mercury dropping, especially at nighttime, as we are back in schools and companies are planning to call people back in offices from the long work from home culture. No matter how long the transition takes, it is always better to be prepared and give your employees, students, customers & other civilians the best comfort conditions and your HVAC system plays an important role in this.
Since Canada is known for its crazy weather, there might be a weekend coming very soon where we realize we need heat from the hibernating Air handling units, boilers, heat pumps, roof top units or furnaces and the system is just not ready. This is without a doubt the best time to schedule the winter – prep HVAC maintenance.
It is always better to be proactive than reactive when it comes to the harsh winter weather. Also, considering the global supply chain crisis, every industry is scrambling to get the required parts and raw materials for their projects, the lead times can vary a lot when the need is urgent. Commercial and industrial HVAC industry is no different to this squeeze in supply of HVAC equipment.
Importance of Winter Maintenance for your HVAC system
The annual tune ups and calibration of your HVAC system is the most important thing in your “to-do” list in order to avoid any untoward situations later on.
The benefits are as follows:
Life of the HVAC equipment or Heater. All manufacturers consider the scheduled recommended preventive maintenance services into account when forecasting the life of the Heater, VRF, chillers, boilers or any other equipment which provides comfortable conditions for a facility. The heater is unlikely to make it that far without maintenance. You get the longest possible effective life for your heater with regular care.
Avoid warranty being void. Sometimes it might just be the unfortunate factory or manufacturing defect and a major costly part of the equipment can fail. When you apply for warranty claims you need to provide the manufacturer reports of timely maintenance of the equipment in order to get the parts replaced.
Maximum energy-efficiency. The regular tune ups of the HVAC system ensure the units are running at maximum efficiencies and thus reaching designed temperatures in minimum amount of time. This will bring down the operating costs to minimum and ensure longer life of the equipment as well.
Fewer repair calls. Being proactive with the scheduled maintenance most of the time results in fewer breakdowns and thus fewer repair calls.
Safer operation. Now that you have made the right choice of getting the equipment tested for pre winter maintenance, this ensures the chances for any major catastrophic event goes down and it is safer to operate.
Being in the HVAC industry for more than 20 years, we at Air Track consider it our duty to help & support all private and public industries, businesses and facilities to ensure a safe & speedy reopening based on the services we offer.
With our 24/7 response system, skilled & certified team members, we want to ensure that our customers get the best services in order for them to be at par with the recommended HVAC guidelines as per ASHRAE (American Society for Heating Refrigeration & Air Conditioning) & provincial Public Health Agencies (Public Health Ontario).
RECOMMENDATIONS:
As per Public Health Ontario the following are some key points about focus on HVAC Systems in buildings amidst COVID -19
Enhancing outdoor air ventilation and/or enhancing filtration where possible, and a well-functioning HVAC system should complement other public health measures by removing and diluting virus from indoor air, thereby lowering exposure to COVID-19.
Increase outdoor air ventilation (minimize recirculation)
Increase filter efficiency
Filtration is another strategy to remove virus and other particles from indoor air. Filters require appropriate maintenance and may also be upgraded where the system allows to maximize effectiveness. The effectiveness of a filter is rated by the Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV, ranging from 1 to 16), based on the fraction of particles removed from air passing through it under standard conditions.ASHRAE’s COVID-19 guidance suggests using MERV 13 or higher rated filters based on their ability to filter out virus-sized particles.
ASHRAE recommends operating the HVAC system in occupied mode when people are present in the building including periods when the building is occupied by a small portion of the allowable capacity.ASHRAE also recommends continuing to run the HVAC system in occupied mode for additional time pre- and post-occupancy before switching to unoccupied mode
Routine inspections and maintenance as appropriate for the system are necessary.
Access the complete report with the following URL link
Considering most of the HVAC equipment will be running longer than usual, wear and tear & breakdowns are a definite possibility and being proactive can help both the facility & the HVAC contractor strategize the best way forward. Air Track’s Preventive Maintenance Programs are well suited to provide timely scheduled inspections, service delivery on breakdown calls & recommendations on replacement of old equipment. Call us @ 905 330 4056 so we can evaluate your site.
