Heating and cooling your place of business or commercial property takes up a significant amount of your monthly expenses, which makes keeping your commercial HVAC systems in peak condition all the more important. Through regular maintenance, utility bills stay low while also ensuring the comfort of everyone inside the building — customers, tenants, and employees.
As a business owner or commercial property manager, it pays to understand the factors that affect the efficiency of commercial HVAC systems. Climate Systems Heating and Cooling takes a look at some of them.
1. Refrigerant Issues
Leaking refrigerant lines are a typical problem with rooftop air conditioners. Low refrigerant not only affects indoor comfort but also causes strain on the interior components. This, in turn, forces the units to draw more power. When you notice your AC systems aren’t providing sufficient cooling, make sure to call your local HVAC technician to check if there is a refrigerant issue. They will seal the leaks and recharge the ACs with refrigerant.
2. Outdated AC Systems
Energy efficiency and performance drops significantly in the last years of commercial HVAC systems’ life span. Even well-maintained units will lose efficiency with age, and may no longer work as well as newer models. Their heating and cooling capacity uses more energy. If the systems are nearing or already 15 or 20 years old, you should think about replacing them.
3. Poor Venting
To circulate heated or cooled air throughout the building, most businesses and commercial buildings use ductwork. When ductwork develops leaks, however, the air coming from the furnace or AC will begin to escape, resulting in a considerable increase in heating and cooling expenses. This ductwork has to be either repaired or replaced.
How You Can Save Energy in Your Place of Business
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Program your thermostats. After everyone goes home, you don’t need to heat or cool the office any further. Programmable or smart thermostats can help maintain the temperature during “off” hours, even if your team’s hours vary.
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Use energy-efficient office lighting. Your business’s lights aren’t cheap. Up to 40% of your business’s energy may go to lights. You may save money by using lights wisely.
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Turn down the heat. Climate control is another technique to save money on energy bills. Air conditioning can add 30% to your energy cost if left on all day. Even an additional one degree of warming can boost winter energy costs by 8%.
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Turn things off. Instead of standby mode, encourage employees to switch off their laptops. Unplug printers, chargers, and other workplace technologies. Even a blinking light eats energy from a phone or TV.
Climate Systems provides sustainable commercial heating and air-conditioning solutions for light commercial buildings in the Greater North Pittsburgh area. As a Carrier® Factory Authorized Dealer, we are qualified in the most sophisticated and effective options in heating, cooling, and indoor air quality. We adhere to strict HVAC maintenance procedures and extend our standards of excellence into every facet of our services. Call (724) 935-3900, or fill out our contact form to request a service appointment.
