Repairing and upgrading your commercial HVAC unit is an excellent way to prolong its life expectancy.
Repairing and upgrading your commercial HVAC unit is an excellent way to prolong its life expectancy. However, eventually, even the short-term measures you try won’t be enough anymore. This situation leaves you with one question: is it time to replace your commercial HVAC for the good of the building’s environment?
Assess Energy Costs
First of all, take some time to think about how much energy your current commercial HVAC unit is consumes. Upgrades and repairs can help make your unit more energy-efficient, but that might not be enough to justify keeping it as it is, because at some point, one of the components or even the entire system could be made obsolete by a newer, better-performing model. Either way, this decision isn’t one you can make lightly.
Go over how the current unit has performed in the last few months and over the last few years. Then consider how long you’ve had your current HVAC unit – after about fifteen or twenty years, they begin to decline. If it is simply using too much energy, even when you have retrofitted it to use less energy than it does now, then replacement looks like your only viable option.
Evaluate Repair History
Several decades could have passed since you installed your current commercial HVAC unit and assembled the ductwork and system controls around it. Outdated technology is sufficient reason to consider replacing your existing system. While it’s true that repairs will keep the system running as smoothly as possible, once you look at the repair history of your HVAC, it can help sway your decision. For instance, think about the answer to this question: have you consistently had to fix the same issues within your system? You may hesitate to replace the system due to higher costs, but a faulty HVAC can do more harm than good to your business – for instance, poor indoor quality could affect customer perception of your business since they are uncomfortable whenever they visit. Cleaning and maintaining the system can fix the problem, but sometimes even timely preventive or corrective maintenance might not be able to save your system.
Consider Replacement Costs
By considering the repair costs over the time that you have had the commercial HVAC unit in place, you may find that it’s not worth it to continue preventative maintenance. After all, preventative maintenance can only do so much. If you have been spending much more money on making sure repairs are made, then that can hamper your company’s growth in other areas. Unfortunately, when it comes to considering replacement costs, there is no one measurement that determines when a commercial HVAC unit needs to be overhauled; this is because every manufacturer and model is different, with different maintenance needs and procedures. How often the system has been used, and to what levels, also makes a difference. In the end, you need to take all of these factors into account and make the most informed decision you can.
Crockett Facilities Can Help!
Crockett Facilities Services, Inc. (CFSI) is committed to helping building owners, property managers, engineers, and facility professionals lower their operating expenses through HVAC preventive maintenance. We can develop a cost-effective, customized preventive maintenance plan for your commercial building that will provide you with peace of mind, improved comfort, and energy savings.
To learn more about the importance of HVAC Preventive Maintenance, please contact us at 202.600.2787 or mford@crockett-facilities.com. Our PM contract customers receive priority service with 24/7 emergency service in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC.