Lower Your Facility’s Carbon Footprint

Over the past several years, the term ‘carbon footprint’ has become increasingly familiar, from family transportation to commercial energy use. No doubt, lowering your carbon footprint has business benefits, from tax incentive and lowered utility bills, to ensuring an environment fit to support future generations of customers. How can your business take part?

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint and Boost Your Bottom Line with these HVAC Tips:
Commercial HVAC contractors know, HVAC energy usage comprises 40% of all carbon emissions, and 48% of energy use in the typical office according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. Yet there are many simple ways this number could be reduced, many of them quite simple:

• Change air filters regularly.
  Clogged filters restrict airflow, forcing your HVAC system to work harder to meet the heating or cooling needs.
• Upgrade to a smart thermostat.
  Are you running your HVAC system when your building is unoccupied? Upgrading to a smart thermostat can allow you to schedule heating and cooling based on a pre-determined schedule. The best part? Today’s latest smart thermostat models, such as the Nest thermostat and Honeywell Lyric, require no programming: Each uses different technology to record occupant behavior. After data has been collected, the thermostat develops a schedule maximizing HVAC efficiency, programming the system to run hotter or cooler in off-hours, depending on the season. Independent studies show such smart thermostat systems can save customers 10-15% on HVAC costs.
• Install destratification fans.
  The best commercial heating repair companies know destratification fans can reduce energy use 20% by blowing warm air down to ground level where it's needed, making them a great fit for commercial/industrial spaces with high ceilings.
• Reinvent ventilation.
  Many commercial building ensure indoor air quality and circumvent moisture problems with the help of ventilation fans. However these fans often run constantly – even when they’re not needed, resulting in an estimated 30% heat loss in commercial buildings and wasting energy on the heating or cooling necessary to keep the indoor environment to temperature. HVAC commercial repair company know there’s a better way: Equipping a building with sensors to measure indoor air quality and determine how much ventilation is truly needed.
• Upgrade your system. 
  Investing in new HVAC technology can have a tremendous impact on lowering your carbon footprint and energy costs. What systems offer the best investment? According to the EPA, properly designed and constructed geothermal systems offer the best efficiency and least carbon emissions of all central HVAC products. Ductless ‘mini-splits’ also offer significant savings, with SEER ratings pushing 30 versus the standard central system’s 13 SEER rating, and eliminating heat loss via ductwork. Not up for such a ‘newfangled’ system? Look for higher SEER, Energy Star-rated HVAC systems with a variable speed blower. Instead of simply on/off functionality, variable speed blowers allow your system to provide the exact amount of conditioned air needed when properly installed by your HVAC mechanical contractor.

Fight climate change and protect your bottom line. Discover new ways to reduce your carbon footprint with the help of the best commercial HVAC repair and service in Philadelphia. Contact H&H Commercial HVAC Services today.

This post originally appeared on: https://hhcommercialonline.com/lower-facilitys-carbon-footprint/

10 Tips for Industrial Chiller Maintenance and Efficiency

Industrial chillers are typically a plant’s largest energy expense. However dirty tubes, leaky refrigerant, and poor industrial chiller maintenance and care can quickly add another 8-10% to these already astronomical costs. How can you safeguard industrial chiller performance and your bottom line?

10 Tips for Industrial Chiller Maintenance & Efficiency

1. Log-it.
   Keep a daily log, including operating conditions, temperature, pressure, fluid levels, and flow rates. This will allow you to follow trends and identify issues before emergency commercial heating and air conditioning repair services are necessary. Pair with remote monitoring technology for up-close monitoring.
2. Clean it.
   Clean tubes facilitate the most efficient heat transfer. Contaminants such as scale and mineral buildup, mud, and algae effect how how chiller systems work, thwarting heat transfer and robbing performance and efficiency. Look for higher approach temperatures as a sign decreasing deficiency, cleaning tubes annually, at a minimum.
3. Treat it.
   The best commercial HVAC mechanical contractors in Philadelphia know, incorporating water treatment measures to eliminate scale, corrosion, and biological growth reduces maintenance and upholds efficiency.
4. Chill out.
   Lowering the temperature of water entering the chamber vastly improves chiller efficiency.
5. Go with the flow.
   A chilled water flow rate of 3-12 feet-per-second is best for prime operation. Too little and you run the risk of laminar flow, too much and vibration, noise, and tube erosion will result.
6. Charge it.
   A proper refrigerant charge from an HVAC service in Philadelphia is essential to chiller operation, as cooling is dependent upon the refrigerant moving through the compressor. Leaks decrease efficiency, forcing your system to work harder and producing less cooling power. Refrigerant leaks also introduce air and moisture into the system that further gum-up operation.
7. Purge it.
   Non-condensables such as air and water in the system reduce chiller performance as much as 4% at 60% load, and as much as 7% at 100% load. Purging minimizes these effects.
8. Analyze.
   Sending a sample of lubrication oil off to the lab for spectrometric chemical analysis once a year can help you determine problems in the system, and when it’s time to change the oil in the hermetically sealed unit.
9. Monitor operation.
   The operation of your chiller should be regularly checked to ensure proper, efficient operation, including the inspection of:
• Starters and motors.
• Safety/sensor calibrations of microprocessors to manufacturer recommendations.
• Wiring, connections and switchgear for hot spots/worn contacts.
• Electrical motor windings for insulation resistance to ground.
• Shaft seals and open drive motors for refrigerant leaks.
• Air vents and cooling capacity.
10. Be flexible.
    Opting for variable speed drive chiller motors for significantly improved efficiency and less energy waste. This also improves operation for chillers operating on backup generators, offering a softer start and lower in-rush of current.

Monthly energy bill a budget buster? Get to the source of the problem with the help of the expert services of H&H Commercial HVAC. Contact us to schedule your chiller maintenance and inspection today.

This post originally appeared on: https://hhcommercialonline.com/10-tips-industrial-chiller-maintenance-efficiency/