Christmas is just a few short days away. It’s freezing outside and you are probably thinking about turning on the heat in your office in an attempt to stay warm. The last thing on your mind is air conditioning. However, air conditioning is exactly what we are going to talk about. It may seem counter-intuitive to you, but in the HVAC maintenance industry we are now thinking about cooling! We work one season ahead – and are now planning for Spring. That means focusing on chilled water and cooling.
Plan Ahead for Spring with Chiller Preventive Maintenance in the Winter
Chillers are a key component of air conditioning systems for large buildings. They produce cold water to remove heat from the air. They also provide cooling for process loads, such as file-server rooms. As with other types of air conditioning systems, most chillers extract heat from water by mechanically compressing a refrigerant.
Chillers are complex machines that are expensive to purchase and operate. A preventive and predictive maintenance program is the best protection for this valuable asset. Plus, because chillers commonly use more energy than any other piece of equipment in large buildings, maintaining them properly and operating them intelligently can yield significant energy savings.
Here at Crockett Facilities Services, Inc. (CFSI), we are performing preventive maintenance now on chillers to ensure they will be working properly and efficiently come spring time. Now is the perfect time to do this, with plenty of lead time to trouble shoot any issues and order parts. It is far better to find an issue now than in the middle of summer, when you need to cool your building. Nothing is less productive than hot employees. Just read our previous blog post, “How your HVAC System can impact Office Productivity.”
Chiller Preventive Maintenance from CFSI
We are checking chillers for proper operation, checking the oil levels and changing the oil, punching the tubes, taking the heat exchanges apart, replacing gaskets, and ensuring there are not any blockages in the tubing. It’s critical to test the tubes – thin tubes are subject to leaks. It’s also a good time to run Eddy current tests.
We perform a comprehensive list of maintenance tasks on chillers, including these key ones:
- Check oil temperature
- Check dehydrator or purge system
- Run system control tests
- Check refrigerant levels
- Check compressor for excessive noise/vibration
- Check sensor and mechanical and safety limits
- Clean dehydrator float valve
- Analyze compressor oil
- Replace oil filters
- Inspect utility vessel vent piping and cooler and condenser tubes
- Run an insulator test on the centrifugal motor
- Inspect and clean the economizer gas line, damper valve and actuator arm
To learn more about the benefits of Chiller Preventive Maintenance, please contact Crockett Facilities Services Inc. (CFSI) by calling 202.600.2787 or email sales@crockett-facilities.com. CFSI provides 24/7 commercial mechanical and HVAC services throughout Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. So give us a call today to find out how our MSCA GreenSTAR certified service technicians can improve your HVAC performance and energy efficiency.
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