How To Beat the Summer Heat But Not Bust Your HVAC Budget
On our hot summer days our HVAC units are probably working harder than you’re used to. If you have a particularly noisy one, you may even hear it plodding along even though it’s on the outside of your building. 100-degree days can mean everyone in the office is looking and feeling sluggish, including your HVAC. If the humidity goes up as well, then your HVAC will struggle just as much as anyone else. And when your air conditioning unit struggles, your electricity and maintenance bills can skyrocket. Let’s talk about how you can prevent unnecessary loss of revenue and productivity due to a weak or ineffective AC unit.
Your HVAC unit is just a very large, high-tech heat exchanger. It deals with the air in two environments—the outside air, and the air in the space that needs to be cooled. It does this by taking the heat in the space and transferring it to the outside—so if the outside is already blisteringly hot, transferring heat there will be less efficient, and the unit will have to work much harder to sufficiently cool your space. Not only is there more heat to be removed inside the space, but the outside is also so hot that you can’t easily dump heat there.
Not only does your HVAC unit have to deal with that, but increased humidity also makes it difficult to dump heat to the outside. Excessively high humidity means your unit works even harder to get rid of damp, clammy air, and if your HVAC simply doesn’t have the cooling capacity to do it, you and your employees could be feeling both damp and hot in no time. Definitely not an ideal situation when the heat waves come.
That’s not to say that an overpowered system is any better—if the cooling capacity is too much for your space, then your system won’t be running in the range where it’s most power-efficient, wasting money along the way.
While HVAC systems are made to stand up to both cold and hot temperatures, they’re only able to do that if they’re well-maintained and operating optimally. Any kind of dirt, debris, or minor breakdowns before the heat comes, and you’ll quickly see wear and tear on your compressors and fans. If this happens, the unit could potentially experience overheating and overpressure, resulting in even more damage and possible need for replacement of the entire unit or system.
So, how do we prevent this? Proper maintenance is one method, but we think that’s not enough in this day and age. No, we need to be smarter and more proactive when summer comes and our HVAC systems are pushed to their limits. Simply putting the temperature settings to their lowest and then and forgetting about it just isn’t feasible as you’ll likely end up overworking your system.
Our solution that goes hand-in-hand with regular maintenance: Building Automation. An automated HVAC system can calibrate temperature settings and adjust them to maximize power efficiency of air conditioners and heaters, lowering electricity usage and saving money. If your HVAC is kept at its optimal setting continuously, it means that you can maintain a comfortable working environment around the clock – something your employees will certainly appreciate. Additionally, it can save on maintenance costs; a HVAC system that isn’t overly stressed will last longer than a used and abused system. Keep in mind, though, that contacting a professional for regular check-ups is always a good thing – if you need to keep an HVAC specialist handy, Level One HVAC are ready with our team of specialists.
If your building doesn’t yet have Building Automation, let Level One HVAC help you achieve both big savings and peace of mind this summer. Get in touch with Level One HVAC for design consultation, installation, service, and maintenance for Building Automation Services. Call us at (248) 486-6500 and we’d be happy to talk about what we can offer you! If you don’t have time for a call, you can simply fill in our online contact form and someone from our team of customer service specialists will get in touch with you at a time convenient for you.
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