Yesterday was Earth Day, and here at Arista we work hard to be environmental leaders in the HVAC&R industry, both in our offices and in the field. We created our Blue Sky Initiative to inform our community about currently available clean and green practices. We believe that we can all be comfortable without sacrificing air quality or overtaxing our natural resources. In honor of Earth Day, this post is dedicated to one of the key ways regular HVAC maintenance can actually help promote a healthy environment!
Preventive Maintenance Agreements
Rooftop HVAC Units: Out of Sight Shouldn’t Mean Out of Mind
You probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the roof of your building. Why should you? It’s just there to keep you sheltered, safe and comfortable. As long as it’s not leaking, there’s not much to think about, right? Wrong. There’s something up there that desperately needs your attention: your HVAC rooftop unit.
An HVAC rooftop unit (known as an RTU) provides the heating, cooling and most of the ventilation for light commercial spaces, such as office buildings, stores and shopping centers, restaurants and schools. An RTU is a single assembled unit that includes a condenser and an evaporator coil for cooling, a heat source and a fan for forced air heating, and an opening for the intake of outside air.Read More
Clean HVAC System Condenser Coils = Lower Energy Bills
New York City air is rough on air conditioners. Especially on those hot days when your air conditioner needs to work at peak capacity, it’s easy to see the air quality problems in the brown haze that hangs over the city. The high levels of airborne soot and debris cause buildup on the outdoor components of your air conditioning unit, most notably the condenser coil.
Did you know that only 1/100th of an inch of dirt buildup on your air conditioner’s condenser coil reduces its efficiency by 5 percent? Buildup on the coils means your equipment has to work harder to cool your building, and when it works harder, it uses more energy. That means higher energy costs for you. If your air conditioner has not been serviced in a while, the buildup of dirt and debris on the condenser coils could be increasing your electric bill by as much as 20 to 30 percent.Read More
If I Have a Warranty, Why Do I Need an HVAC Service Contract?
Your last air conditioner broke down on the hottest day of the year, and now you’ve got a brand new system installed. You’re probably breathing a sigh of relief and thinking you’re good to go. But there is one more thing you need to take care of, and it may be the reason your old system failed in the first place. You need to set up a service contract for your new system that covers regular preventative maintenance with a qualified HVAC service provider.
Many business owners make the mistake of thinking that they don’t need a service contract because their equipment’s warranty covers them in case anything goes wrong. The truth is, warranties typically only cover product defects. If you want to keep your system running smoothly and efficiently for many years to come, you need the regular maintenance that is covered under a service contract.Read More
HVAC System Maintenance: Why Your Mechanical Contractor Can’t Get the Job Done
It’s 92 degrees in the shade, and the temperature hovers at a tropical 85 in your building. Your employees are calling in sick and your customers are walking out the door. You’ve put in three calls to your air conditioning service provider, with no response.
This frustrating situation is probably all too familiar if the mechanical contractor that installed your HVAC system is still servicing it. If this is the case, chances are you have experienced these warning signs that your mechanical contractor is providing sub-par service:Read More
10 Myths About Your HVAC System Debunked
Properly running, maintaining and getting the most out of your HVAC system is a top priority of any building manager or owner. And yet, there are a host of misconceptions that can railroad that objective and affect the bottom line.
Just like the tooth-fairy and the alligators in the sewers, the following 10 myths are the source of some serious confusion. Understanding them is the first step to getting the most out of your heating and air conditioning.Read More
