Owning and operating a commercial building of any size can be a costly endeavor, especially if you don’t keep up with maintenance or any repairs. Anything on the exterior of the building as well as the interior should be functioning and well maintained. This includes everything from the parking lot to the walkways and exterior structure of the building and roofing system, as well as any interior features such as electrical wiring, lighting, and your HVAC ducting.
Then there is plumbing, the walls and flooring on the inside, and any obvious damage that could cause an injury to anyone walking within to be concerned with. There is seemingly no end to what you need to pay just keeping those repairs made. However, if you pay attention to regular maintenance, your repair and/or replacement costs can be kept quite low. This is the case with your HVAC system, so let’s look at 4 of the main reasons why maintenance is so important for commercial buildings.
1. Increased Lifespan of a Costly HVAC System
If there is one way to extend the lifespan of a costly commercial HVAC system, it would be to have it inspected annually so that it can be kept in good condition. A commercial HVAC repair and maintenance service would come at least once each year to inspect your unit. This would include both the air conditioning as well as the heating functions of your unit.
The HVAC technician will also check such things as the pressure of the refrigerant, the air filter of the system, its drain pans, condenser coils, and the evaporator. All the moving parts on your HVAC system will be inspected as well. If any part, no matter how small, needs to be repaired or replaced, it will be seen to at that time. To avoid doing so would significantly put a drain on your system, reducing its lifespan because it is being forced to overwork.
2. Reduced Number of Repairs
If you have your HVAC unit inspected at least annually, you will be assured that all parts are working well at that time. For this reason, many commercial building owners schedule a biannual inspection. One small part in poor repair can cause major issues to the whole unit, so it is prudent to repair them as soon as possible upon inspection.
Perhaps it’s better to think of it as the domino effect. If one small part malfunctions other parts will try to substitute for the work not being done by that part. Many of the more technologically advanced systems allow for a bypass that will help compensate for a single part’s failure, but even then, the draw on energy will be quite noticeable.
3. Improve the Quality of Indoor Air
This is an aspect of HVAC maintenance that has been uppermost on many people’s minds since the advent of Covid-19. No, changing the air filter probably won’t entirely prevent the spread of a tiny coronavirus, but there are other illnesses that can be spread through a malfunctioning air filtration system. Think back to Legionnaires’ disease that caused illness and death to many attending a convention of the American Legion in Pennsylvania. The year was 1976. It was found that an atypical form of pneumonia was spread through the convention, carried on small droplets of water through their HVAC system.
It is not known to be communicated from person to person, but it can very well be spread in droplets of water filtering through an HVAC system in ill repair or without adequate air filtration. This particular disease of the lungs can also be spread through workers, via a community water system. It has been on the rise again since 2000, so it is vital to ensure your commercial unit is functioning well in terms of air filtration.
4. An Increase in Energy Efficiency
To better understand how a malfunctioning HVAC system could affect energy efficiency, let’s take the example of a car driving steeply uphill in a mountainous area. The levels of oxygen in the air are much lower at high elevations and since most vehicles on the road today use a combustion engine, oxygen is required for the efficient use of fuel. If the air and gas filters in the vehicle are clogged, the engine needs to work even harder yet. This leads to a drain on the fuel and a higher cost of operating that vehicle when climbing uphill.
You are looking at the same concept of what happens to your commercial HVAC system when it is in ill repair. Whether it’s a case of clogged air filters or parts working harder to keep the system running, it will put a drain on the system leading to higher consumption of electricity. By keeping your HVAC system well maintained and repaired, you will likewise be keeping operational costs lower.
It’s All About Your Bottom Line
In the end, it really is all about your bottom line. Yes, you will be spending a small amount today to have that unit inspected, maintained, or repaired, but that cost will be insignificant in comparison to what you would spend for the failure of an entire unit. As mentioned above, keeping an HVAC system well maintained can extend its lifespan by many years.
It is up to you to determine whether or not you want to schedule an HVAC inspection once each year or biannually. You might think that newer units don’t need to be inspected that regularly simply because they are new, and this could very well be the case. However, it may not be after all. Even new equipment is known to fail due to the failure of small parts in need of replacement or repair. The cost of a professional inspection and maintenance is far less in the long run than replacing that unit long before its time. If you want to keep your costs low and the operational lifespan long, then it behooves you to have your commercial HVAC system inspected at least once annually.
