Office air conditioning comfort issues can seriously impact your business
In the dog days of summer, your office air conditioning is working harder than anyone else to keep your commercial space comfortable. But if your air conditioner can’t keep up with the cooling demand, some parts of your space will be too hot, while others are too cold.
Did you know that office temperature has a direct impact on productivity? Uncomfortable employees get less done and that leads to a decline in profits.
If you don’t do something to address your office air conditioning problems, your employees will start taking matters into their own hands. That can cost you even more.
Have you noticed your workers making their own air conditioning improvements?
If you take a walk around your office, you may notice some of the following DIY office air conditioning improvement measures enacted by disgruntled office workers:
- Portable heaters and personal fans. Check under the desks when the office is empty. When some people are hot and others are cold due to less than optimal office temperatures, the losers in the thermostat wars will resort to making themselves more comfortable even if it drives up your electric bill and causes even more office air conditioning problems.
- Blocked air vents. Taping something over the vents to block or redirect air flow is a common sight in a building with office air conditioning temperature variance issues. Some passive-aggressive types may even try tying ribbons to the vents to show you how air is blowing on their heads. Unfortunately, blocking vents can compound the problem.
- Moved furniture. Some office workers will even go so far as to rearrange the furniture in order to redirect the flow of air according to their preference.
These do-it-yourself solutions are a bigger problem than you think, especially because they are not compatible with office safety guidelines. Personal heaters, for example, are a fire hazard can even lead to small power outages requiring maintenance staff to continually reset breakers.
That’s why it’s important to stop office workers from tampering with the office air flow to fix your air conditioning problems. Instead, take action to get to the root of the problem — and the sooner the better. It’s entirely possible, and even affordable, to make your office temperature more comfortable and worker-friendly.
Learn more: Air Conditioning Maintenance Doesn’t Cost. It Pays.
3 common causes of office air conditioning problems
Easy fixes to your HVAC system can bring more consistent comfort to the tenants, workers or customers in your building.
Here are a just a few of the likely causes of temperature variance that’s causing those office air conditioning battles:
1. DIRT. The problem could be as simple as clogged ductwork, dirty air filters or grime-covered coils. You system might just need a good cleaning.
2. SPACE CHANGES. The problem could stem from changes to your building layout and usage, if your air conditioning system hasn’t been updated to accommodate the changes. If you’ve done renovations or even just changed cubicle layouts without adjusting the ductwork, your air conditioning may need design changes to improve cooling in the modified space.
3. WORN PARTS. If you haven’t had regular service, you could have worn parts that are no longer working efficiently. HVAC systems are composed of hundreds of component parts and possibly thousands of feet of ductwork and venting — any part of which could be contributing to temperature extremes. This is much more likely to be the case if you haven’t had your system serviced in a while.
Learn more: 8 Ways AC Preventative Maintenance Keeps the Repairman Away.
Call in the professionals to take control of your air conditioning
To improve your office air conditioning system start with a thorough inspection by an experienced professional.
When you consider all of the benefits that arise from a more comfortable work environment, it’s safe to say that the savings and revenue generated by a happier workplace could cover the cost of any system updates you might need.
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To learn more about how air conditioning temperature variance is costing your business and how to fix the problem once and for all, grab a copy of our free guide to Improving an Imperfect World: Mitigating Office Temperature Extremes.
