Maintenance

With many people there is a big misconception about preventive maintenance.  We will try to make it very easy to understand as to why routine maintenance is so vital and necessary for your heating, air conditioning and ventilation equipment.  While it is true that the maintenance being performed is only as good as the technician performing it, this is one critical area you have to ask yourself…..does the technician being sent out seem and appear to be competent and honest and does the time being spent on the inspections seem to fall in line with the equipment.  To inspect a unit properly it will take a minimum of ½ hour for smaller equipment and then range up from there.  Blind loyalty seems to get in the way when people have issues with their HVAC equipment.  Just because you have been using them for many years does not mean they are doing a good job with your equipment or charging you fairly.

Air filters should be replaced typically four times per year (depending on your indoor air quality).  Condenser coils should be split and cleaned a minimum of one time per year.  We have posted some pictures on our “wall of shame” to show typical things we come across.  These two items are the most detrimental to your HVAC equipment.  While performing inspections there should also be some type of form showing refrigerant pressures, temperatures, superheat, sub-cooling, amp draws…etc.  If you do not see these you might as well just get a generic service ticket saying “performed pm inspections” and hope they did their job.  There are a lot of games played in our industry and many customers get overcharged for services, in some instances, that are never properly performed.  To sum up maintenance in a simple way we have three things for you to consider:

1. Protect your investment

   HVAC equipment is expensive, if good preventive maintenance is performed you should get the estimated life expectancy from that equipment.  If not, repairs will likely exceed your budget and you will end up spending two to three times more than normal in repairs during the “expected” life expectancy or just replacing the equipment prematurely.

2. Protect your productivity

   When proper comfort levels are achieved it is a proven fact that employee productivity is at its best.  If you would like to test this shut off your air conditioning or heating for a day and see the results in your office for yourself.  Moral will not be the only thing that is down and this equals big dollars for any company out there.

3. Prevent costly breakdowns, Be Smart

   When is your HVAC equipment going to fail?  Most likely when it is working the hardest and the temperatures outside are extreme.  That, unfortunately, is the worst time to call an HVAC company to come and fix it because it is their busiest and “most expensive” time and will also take them the longest to respond to your needs..  If you are proactive in your approach to maintenance on your equipment you will reap the benefits not only from a monetary standpoint, also from an employee productivity standpoint.  If a breakdown does occur during the extreme weather conditions wouldn’t it be nice to know that at least you did everything you could to prevent it?

   Don’t just take our word for it!  This and much more can be confirmed on the internet.  Just type in HVAC maintenance in any search engine and see what comes up.  The smartest companies consider this a long term investment and our records from our many years in this field confirms this, good maintenance will save you a lot of money.