Winter is Coming! Get the Best Winter Maintenance Tips Here

Winter creates a slew of maintenance challenges, making issues that arise difficult to contend with. For this reason, preparing your building for winter weather is crucial to safeguarding your business from unanticipated maintenance headaches and costly emergency service repairs. Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to avoid common issues with a bit of preventative maintenance.

6 Simple Commercial Maintenance Tips to Ensure a Trouble-Free Season

1. Inspect your heating system early in the season.
   Your heating system is vital to continuing business operations in winter weather. Make sure it is prepared for the task with preventative maintenance early in the season. Fall maintenance ensures your rooftop unit or heat pump will function properly when you need it most. It can identify serious safety issues such as cracks in your furnace’s heat exchanger and venting issues that could lead to carbon monoxide buildup in your building. As a bonus, clean, well-tuned heating systems will also help you keep your energy costs in check.
2. Replace ailing systems.
   Systems over 10 years old are notoriously inefficient. Today’s Energy Star systems offer impressive performance, boasting efficiencies over 90%, quickly recouping their cost in energy savings. They could also qualify your business for local tax and utility energy efficiency incentives. Upgrading now, before the busy winter season, could save you the headache and expense of long wait times.
3. Address duct leaks.
   Properly insulated, tightly connected, sealed duct systems ensure warm, conditioned get where you need it most – inside your building, not your attic.
4. Prepare your cooling system for winter weather.
   Just because you don’t use your commercial cooling system over the winter doesn’t mean you can just let it sit. To protect equipment, it must be properly shut down and winterized. Draining your cooling tower, emptying the condensate drain trap on your chiller, and taking the steps necessary to address off-season equipment can prevent extreme damage.
5. Re-tune your thermostat.
   Verify the proper function of your thermostat, calibrating it for winter use. This “brain” of your commercial heating system can provide serious energy savings when adjusted to a cooler but comfortable winter setting compared to the summer. For every degree dropped, you can save an average of 1% on your heating costs. Ancient thermostat? Programmable smart thermostats are an inexpensive upgrade, and they can help you save, lowering the temperature when your building is not in use and preventing frequent setting adjustments by warring employees. Talk to your local HVAC commercial pro about the best options for your business.
6.  Check for air leaks and heat loss.
   Carefully inspect areas around doors, windows, electrical, plumbing, and venting, checking for costly leaks that can let warm, heated air escape. Seal them with the appropriate caulk or weather stripping. Make sure your attic, basement, and walls are insulated to the proper thickness, adding insulation when necessary.

Freezing buildings don’t entice customer purchases or employee productivity. Protect your bottom line and ensure a comfortable winter environment with the help of H & H Commercial Services today.

This blog was originally posted at https://hhcommercialonline.com/winter-is-coming-get-the-best-winter-maintenance-tips-here/

Tips to Winterize Your Commercial HVAC System

Preparing your commercial heating system for the cold weather season is an important task. With proper prep, you can save a significant amount of money on your monthly energy bills, ensuring a comfortable environment for employees and customers. Set your HVAC system up for success with these tips for winterizing your commercial building.

Change HVAC Filters 

Dirty air filters force your HVAC system to work harder to move heated air throughout your building, raising energy costs and reducing the lifespan of your system. Fortunately, air filters are easy and inexpensive to replace.

Reduce HVAC System Stress

Scheduling routine preventative maintenance in the fall, before temperatures plummet, is key to achieving the highest possible level of performance and efficiency. Your local commercial HVAC technician will be able to thoroughly inspect your system controls, equipment, and ductwork, cleaning, making corrections, and performing repairs that will ensure reliable performance through winter’s worst weather. They can also verify your ventilation system is up to snuff, properly venting harmful gases such as carbon monoxide to the outdoors, ensuring health and safety.

Adjust Your Thermostat

Thermostat settings should change from summer to winter. Just a few degrees of adjustment can save you some significant dough. You can also eke out added savings with a programmable thermostat, adjusting settings for when your building is vacant and preventing thermostat tampering.

Prevent Heat Loss

Insulate your ductwork with rigid fiberboard or blanket insulation and inspect it for leaks. Your ductwork transports heated air throughout your building, so connections must be tight and sealed with duct mastic or metal tape. Vents and registers must also be secured. It’s important to remember: Any heat loss via your ducts translates to higher heating bills.

Guard Against Building Air Leaks

Air leaks waste a significant amount of energy and negatively impact indoor comfort. Be sure to check areas surrounding windows, doors, plumbing, electrical, and venting, preventing the loss of conditioned air with weather stripping, caulking, spray foam, sweeps, and other devices. A commercial energy audit can help you identify overlooked leaks, including small, hidden ones that are robbing your building of heat and draining your bank account.

Add More Insulation

Make sure the walls, ceiling, floors, and foundation of your business are well insulated to prevent the transfer of heat from warmer to colder areas. Incorporate more insulation in areas where there is insufficient or absent insulation. Roll blanket insulation between beams and joists, spray foam or loose-fill insulation into hard-to-reach areas, and don’t forget to insulate your pipes, especially in areas of your building that get especially cold.

Inspect Roofing

Insect your rooftop for visible damage or holes that could leak when ice and snow melt. Look closely around flashing and seals surrounding vents, pipes, and chimneys.

Keep your employees and customers warm and safe this winter. Prepare your commercial business for the cold weather season with these winterization tips and schedule your fall preventative maintenance checkup with H & H Commercial Services today.

This blog was originally posted at https://hhcommercialonline.com/tips-to-winterize-your-commercial-hvac-system/