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/

Here are some Commercial HVAC Maintenance tips for this fall

Fall is on its way, and winter will be here before you know it. During the cold-weather season, you put your commercial HVAC system through a lot of abuse. Make sure your heating system is up to the task. A little bit of preventative maintenance now safeguards your business against productivity losses and the expense of emergency repairs during winter weather extremes.

These Fall HVAC Maintenance Tasks Ensure Reliable, Efficient Operation

• Air filter replacement
  Dirty air filters force your system to work harder, expending more energy to heat your workplace. Changing filters at least once a month reduces energy use, support healthier indoor air quality, and extends the lifespan of your system.
• Supply register adjustments
  As heat rises, this will help your system warm your workplace more efficiently. When the weather cools, open a few supply registers on the first floor and close a few on the upper floors of your multi-story commercial building.
• Thermostat calibration
  Thermostat calibration by your local HVAC professional ensures efficient operation and even comfortable temperatures throughout your building.
• Humidification system pre-check
  Ask your commercial HVAC technician to verify the function of your humidistat and humidifier before turning it on for the season. Your humidifier is essential to indoor air quality, helping you control the spread of viruses and bacteria and ensuring a comfortable environment in the winter season.
• Professional system inspection
  Complete your fall HVAC maintenance checklist by scheduling a professional inspection. Our HVAC professionals have the experience and equipment to manage maintenance you cannot, such as verifying proper refrigerant levels, checking thermostat function, and performing essential cleaning and maintenance tasks. They can also identify potential problems before they result in system failure and lead to skyrocketing repair costs.

Looking for More Bang for Your Commercial Heating Buck?

These optional upgrades may be a worthy investment.

• Programmable thermostat
  A programmable thermostat can cut heating costs dramatically. Today’s smart learning models cost little more than traditional thermostats. They also do a lot of the programming work for you, and allow you to adjust the temperature more easily on or offsite, so you can put an end to thermostat wars in the workplace.
• System replacement
  If your commercial heating system is more than 10 years old, you could save significant money on your monthly energy costs by upgrading your system to a newer, more energy efficient model. Older gas furnaces and heating systems installed more than 10 years ago operate at a fraction of the efficiency of today’s Energy Star rated systems, which boost efficiency ratings up to 97%. Between monthly savings and tax incentives, an upgrade may be a wise investment.

As with cars and other machinery, routine maintenance is the best way to safeguard the performance and lifespan of your commercial HVAC system. Ensure your commercial heating system is up to the task with the help of H & H Commercial Services today.

This blog was originally posted at https://hhcommercialonline.com/here-are-some-commercial-hvac-maintenance-tips-for-this-fall/

5 Things to consider When Designing HVAC for Hotels

Pleasurable customer experience is integral to return visits from guests, and your commercial heating and cooling system plays a significant role in managing guests’ comfort expectations. However, to help your business maintain its bottom line, HVAC performance must also be efficient and reliable. When selecting a system for your property, how can you be sure to choose a system that is responsive to the needs of your guests and your business?

Don’t Overlook These Features When Choosing an HVAC System for Your Hotel

• Systems that Utilize Heat Recovery to Provide Hot Water
  Like heating and air conditioning, heating water can be another significant cost for hotels. However, systems with heat recovery options can help you mitigate these costs, repurposing heat used in the operation of your HVAC system to produce hot water year-round.
• Quiet Operation
  Selecting a commercial heating and cooling unit with quiet operation is crucial to positive guest experience. The less noise produced, the better for guests. Quiet systems also reduce the likelihood of “problem rooms,” in which guest request to be moved to a new location due to noise produced by your HVAC system. To further aid in these efforts, some systems even allow for the reduction of default noise thresholds by setting a time band, in which you can minimize noise values at certain times of the day/night.
• Modular Rooftop Units
  Because the demand your hotel puts on your HVAC system will vary from season to season, and this variation can dramatically effect efficiency, it is important to take this account when choosing a system style. Modular rooftop units are an ideal solution for meeting the changing needs of the hotel environment, helping you manage varying loads and improve the energy efficiency of your building. Extremely flexible, you can add to or take away from these systems as your needs change throughout the life of your business. Learn more about these popular systems.
• Water Flow Variation Control for Improved Performance
  For optimal efficiency, varying the water flow in your system based on actual load demand is an essential aspect of highly efficient system design. Variable water flow systems reduce energy consumption, modulating the quantity of water flowing through the system, and ensuring the most efficient performance possible.
• System Monitoring
  Monitoring the operational performance of your commercial heating and cooling system offers additional opportunities for savings. Adding monitoring technology that records your systems’ performance in terms of energy consumption and collecting useful data could enable you to make changes based on the observation of data specific to your hotel. This offers opportunities for energy savings, simplifies maintenance, and can allow you to identify operational issues before they result in a downed system. In some cases, they could even qualify you for tax incentives.

Ensure your hotel’s HVAC system design will offer maximum performance and reliability for years to come. Contact H & H Commercial Services to learn more about available options for your business today.

This blog was originally posted at https://hhcommercialonline.com/5-things-to-consider-when-designing-hvac-for-hotels/

A Complete Guide to Indoor Pool Room Humidity Control by H & H

 

A pool room is a delicate ecosystem. Housing a large body of water, this environment contains much higher humidity levels than those in typical residential and commercial structures. Without careful pool room climate control, this temperamental environment can quickly fall out of balance, becoming uncomfortable, and shortening the lifespan of your pool room structure and furnishings.

Problems that Occur with Improper Humidity Levels in the Natatorium

When the air and water temperature difference is greater than 2 degrees, or relative humidity levels surpass 50-60%, condensation can buildup on pool room surfaces causing a number of issues:

• Uncomfortable climate
  High humidity levels can ruin the pool room experience, creating an uncomfortable environment. Humid air laden with pool chemicals and mold/mildew can also pose a health risk aggravating respiratory conditions such as allergies and asthma.
• Corrosion
  Chlorine-based pool chemicals, in combination with nitrogen compounds in sweat and bodily fluids, create volatile chloramines. In pool rooms with lackluster ventilation and poor humidity control, through evaporation and condensation cycles, these chemical-laden droplets are deposited, corroding stainless steel surfaces in your natatorium and reducing their lifespan.
• Structural damage
  As humidity levels rise from temperature or pool heating, increasing water vapor causes moisture droplets to accumulate on pool room surfaces. Over time, these damp components grow mold, mildew, and bacteria, rotting your furnishings and structure from the inside out.
• Mold
  Visible mold on surfaces indicates the need for immediate attention.
• Moisture infiltration
  High relative humidity in the pool room can infiltrate into nearby areas in the building, creating odors and promoting mold, mildew, and bacterial growth within.

Benefits of Proper Pool Room Dehumidification 

The protection offered by a properly designed dehumidification system ensures the structural longevity of your natatorium and guest comfort year-round. By removing humidity, rather than using ventilation as a means for climate control, you can keep your natatorium a comfortable temperature without putting excess strain on heating and air conditioning, reducing energy costs. In the winter, you can also lower pool heating costs, repurposing the heat created in the dehumidification process, ensuring an enjoyable pool room experience without breaking the bank.

Methods of Pool Room Dehumidification

The pool room dehumidification experts at H & H can help you find a system that ensures a comfortable natatorium climate while controlling energy use. Our superior system designs help you avoid high evaporation rates and issues with structural heat loss that can inflate operational costs, maintaining steady, constant temperatures and humidity levels. We offer a variety of dehumidification system styles, including

• Ventilation-Based Dehumidification Systems
  These affordable systems remove moisture by diluting it with outside air. They cost less up-front, but are more energy intensive. Options include:
  • With Heat Recovery
    Adding a heat recovery system to repurpose heat from exhausted air can reduce operational costs for a minimal additional investment.
  • With Heat Recovery & Cooling Coil
    These systems offer more economical heating and cooling, providing year-round comfort.
• Mechanical Pool Room Dehumidifiers
  Mechanical pool room dehumidifiers are highly effective, operating much like heat pump style HVAC systems. Options include:
• • With Mechanical Refrigeration & Hot Gas Reheat
    Best for small to medium sized pool rooms, these systems gather heat from excess moisture in natatorium air rather than external sources. Though a higher initial investment, they offer energy efficient comfort control.
  • With Hot Gas Reheat & Pool Water Condenser
    If you’re looking for superior energy efficiency, this is the system for you. They redirect heat from natatorium air, using it to heat natatorium air or pool water using a water condenser.
• Hybrid Systems
  Hybrid combinations of the above technology can be combined to create a system custom-tailored to your natatorium needs.

Pool Room Dehumidification Technology Brands

H & H offers a variety of pool room climate control solutions from industry-leading manufacturers DesertAire, Dectron and PoolPak:

• Dectron Pool Room Dehumidification Systems
  Dectron is a leading provider of dehumidification technology, serving industries across the globe. Their natatorium solutions include:
  • Dectron Dry-O-Tron
    Dectron Dry-O-Tron systems maintain pool room comfort and humidity, recycling and reusing your pool’s energy byproducts.
  • Dectron Eco-Tron
    Control humidity, exhaust and make-up air, and condition your natatorium space, using the efficient, energy recovery techniques of a custom-integrated Dectron Eco-Tron system.
  • Dectron Circul-Aire
    This single-source system is designed to meet strict ASHRAE comfort, humidity, ventilation, and air purification standards.
  • ThermoPlus Air
    ThermoPlus Air systems are uniquely designed for custom and specialty applications.
• PoolPak Dehumidification Systems
  Pool pack is another industry leader in the dehumidification market, providing high-performance, long lasting, energy efficient natatorium solutions, including:
  • PoolPak Small Application Systems
    Perfect for less expansive situations and available in a variety of sizes/configurations.
  • PoolPak HCDV and HCDH Series Systems
    PoolPak HCDV and HCDH series high-capacity, high-efficiency systems offer optimal heat recycling and reduced energy costs.
  • PoolPak Outside Air & Mechanical Refrigeration Systems
    These systems recycle heat created in the dehumidification process, capturing it from the exhaust stream and using it to heat the air or water in your natatorium.
  • Customizable Systems
    Choose from PoolPak’s MPK, SWHP, and VHR systems, creating a system custom designed to manage your dehumidification, heating, exhaust,t and purge control needs.
• Desert Aire Pool Room Dehumidification Systems
  Desert Aire dehumidification systems are designed to protect the health of pool room occupants as well as the structural integrity of your pool room and surrounding structures. They are designed to work in harmony water, air quality, and temperature control systems in your natatorium, including options designed to work with your unique environment:
  • Desert Aire ExpertAire Commercial Dehumidification Systems
    These systems deliver the highest moisture removal efficiency (MRE) ratings on the market and have the capacity to regulate the introduction of outdoor air to save energy.
  • Desert Aire SelectAire (SA) Series Dehumidification Systems
    SelectAire series systems are capable of meeting your most complex moisture mitigation challenges. They feature a unique, modular design, offering custom-tailored, flexible pool dehumidification solutions.
• • Desert Aire SelectAire Plus (SP) Series Dehumidification Systems
    These systems are designed for large, 50-meter+ pool applications. They offer unparalleled humidity control, featuring state-of-the-art system energy recovery technology, including a heat pipe, cutting edge fan design, superior cabinetry, and next-generation control features. Like ExpertAire commercial systems, SelectAire Plus systems offer the highest moisture removal efficiency (MRE) ratings on the market.

Ensuring Effective Design

There is no one-size-fits-all solution for pool room dehumidification. Well-designed pool room systems direct conditioned air away from the pool surface to exterior windows, preventing condensation. They keep temperatures comfortable and above dewpoint at around 82 degrees in the water and 84 degrees in the natatorium.  Properly designed systems circulate conditioned air down to the breathing zone, ensuring superior air quality and a comfortable environment. Each system is unique, affected by the size and shape of the pool and pool room, the type and frequency of use, agitation rate, and outdoor temperatures in your region throughout the year.

Ensure effective pool room dehumidification, an enjoyable swimming experience, and lasting natatorium design with the help of H & H Heating & Air Conditioning. Our pool room dehumidification experts have years of experience in system design, helping home and business owners keep their indoor pools in optimal condition all year long. Contact us for help finding the right system for your pool room and budget today.

 

This blog was originally posted at https://hhcommercialonline.com/a-complete-guide-to-indoor-pool-room-humidity-control-by-h-h/

Wondering How To Maintain Your HVAC System During Lockdown?

From office buildings closed to accommodate working from home to temporary bar and restaurant closures in COVID-19 hotspots, the on-again, off-again use of commercial heating and cooling equipment is becoming the norm. How does this practice impact your system? The commercial HVAC pros at H & H have the information you need to ensure your system survives the pandemic. 

Commercial HVAC Maintenance During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Whether your business has closed completely or is working on a reduced schedule with limited occupancy, your commercial HVAC system still requires routine service and maintenance. Regularly scheduled maintenance must be performed whether or not your system is in use to ensure optimal performance and lifespan. Now, before occupancy returns to normal, is the ideal time for service and maintenance. 

Service and maintenance is especially important if your system has been “off” for an extended length of time. Scheduling an inspection can help you avoid indoor air quality issues when restarting your system. It can also help you avoid the need for emergency repair service that can occur following neglected maintenance and long periods of inactivity. 

HVAC professionals don’t recommend turning off your equipment. Whenever possible, operating at a reduced capacity is best. If this is not possible, we recommend attempting to restart your system a week before reopening. Be sure to include a new filter, carefully monitoring your system after returning it to operation in case of service issues.

Maintaining Your Business – and HVAC System – Through COVID-19

If it’s business as usual for you and your employees, you should continue HVAC maintenance as normal, including regular air filter changes and coil cleaning. H & H remains open and ready to serve you throughout the crisis. You can rest assured of safety. Our staff is trained to take proper precautions, donning masks and gloves, maintaining distance, and limiting contact as much as possible when on your premises. 

We are also here to upgrade your system as you seek to reduce airborne COVID exposure. We can help you improve indoor air quality with UV light filtration, ionization, hospital-grade filtration, improved exhaust/fresh air intake, duct cleaning, and more. Our team has the industry expertise to meet your most complex heating, cooling, and indoor air quality needs, with the latest information on strategies to help you safeguard employee and customer health as the pandemic evolves.

The Benefit of Upgrading HVAC During a Shutdown

If your system is reaching the end of its life, it may be a good time to consider upgrading your heating and cooling system now. Upgrading your system while your business is closed or opened in a limited capacity ensures minimal impact on day-to-day operations.

For more information on maintaining your system during the shutdown, contact H & H Commercial Services. Fill out our online contact form or arrange a no contact virtual estimate today. 

This blog was originally posted at https://hhcommercialonline.com/wondering-how-to-maintain-your-hvac-system-during-lockdown/

Is The Summer Humidity Affecting Your Commercial Space? Consider This!

Are humidity issues impacting your bottom line? Moisture poses unique risks in commercial environments. Left unchecked, it could quickly result in damage to goods and equipment, unexpected downtown, health issues, and financial losses. Fortunately, whether you’re suffering early spoilage in your restaurant, moldy paper in your print shop, or corrosion and electrical problems in your machine shop, there are a number of dehumidification strategies to help you mitigate issues surrounding excess moisture. 

Ways to Combat Humidity In Your Commercial Business

Many business owners mistakenly believe commercial air conditioning will be enough to manage high summer humidity. While running your air conditioner can remove some moisture from the air, it doesn’t offer complete humidity control. What are the best ways to manage excess environmental moisture?

• Commercial Dehumidification Systems
  Industries that require strict moisture control need dedicated dehumidification systems, designed to meet their unique industry and building needs. Skillfully designed by a commercial dehumidification expert, these systems offer precise control of relative humidity, keeping humidity levels at 50% or lower during the summer to reduce the negative impact of moisture buildup and condensation. 
  
• Thoughtful Pool Room Design
  For facilities that house indoors pools, such as gyms and hotels, pool room climate control is an essential part of controlling humidity in neighboring areas of your property. Without proper humidity control in your natatorium, alongside an adequate pool room dehumidification system, excess moisture will invade the structure and interior of nearby gym and hotel areas. These issues are more than a matter of patron discomfort, as over time they can result in mold and mildew issues, as well as the decay of furnishing and building structure. 
  
• Outdoor Air Exchange
  If your space is contaminated by outside moisture from your rooftop air conditioner or makeup air from your building exhaust, a 100% outdoor air dehumidification system could help. These systems separate moisture from the outdoor air before it enters the building. Later, a recirculating dehumidifier can also be used to remove additional moisture from interior building air if further control is needed.   
  
• Proper Packaging
  Used in conjunction with a commercial dehumidification system, proper product packaging is another way to fight the effects of high relative humidity. For instance, storage of powdered foods for commercial purposes would be best in non-permeable containers, versus permeable or semi-permeable packaging.

Humidity issues making you sweat? The dehumidification experts at H & H Commercial Services can solve your toughest dehumidification challenges. Let us help you create the ideal climate for your business, ensuring your goods, equipment, customers, and employees are protected year-round. Contact us and schedule an on-site evaluation today. 

This blog was originally posted at https://hhcommercialonline.com/is-the-summer-humidity-affecting-your-commercial-space-consider-this/