Are you confident that your commercial refrigeration and air conditioning equipment is running on maximum efficiency?
Your commercial refrigeration and air conditioning units are like organs in a body – though we don’t need to tell you that. That’s why, like how we humans visit doctors, it’s vital you take time out to do regular maintenance checks.
Not only can doing so save you money and minimise any potential risks that could occur, it reduces the likelihood of prolonged downtime for your business.
If you’re new to the maintenance of your air conditioning and refrigeration units, or you can’t physically see a problem, you might be feeling reluctant to call out an engineer to complete a site health check.
Luckily for you, we’ve created two online health checks designed to help you identify whether your equipment is running correctly and as efficiently as possible.
Air Conditioning Health Check
Air conditioning health checks are vital to keeping optimal performance and longevity of the machines. They should be carried out on an annual basis, at a minimum, to provide the best quality of service the machine has to offer throughout its lifespan, but they also prevent costly issues from occurring without notice.
Our health check has been designed to help you identify any potential issues with your air conditioning units ahead of time.
Commercial Refrigeration Health Check
Any business that uses commercial-scale refrigeration units knows how important it is to keep the units consistently working to their potential.
It’s always recommended to do a quarterly health check on refrigeration units as doing so will reduce the potential risks that could occur from failed components – for example, overheating or fungal build up.
Our health check has been designed to help you identify any potential issues with your refrigeration units ahead of time.
Commercial Refrigeration and Air Conditioning – The Warning Signs
Whether you didn’t quite get the answers you hoped for in our health checks or you’re simply curious about what you should be doing to prevent a complete breakdown of your equipment, you’ll find our handy tips and signals below extremely helpful.
Remember, whilst these are just some tips to help you maintain your equipment as well as spot signs of potential problems, it’s still important to get things checked by a professional.
Refrigeration
Temperatures
It’s always good to monitor the temperatures within the refrigeration units. Any sudden change or prolonged changes signifies that there could be a fault. Check if the compressor and condenser coils are clean. If these are not the issue, it is best to call an engineer to come out and have a look.
Curtains galore!
All cold rooms should have curtains within the doorways in order to keep a stable temperature. Why? This will reduce the rush of different temperatures of air getting into the rooms whenever the door is opened. For example, if the outside of the room is 20°C and the refrigeration room is around 5°C, you don’t want the hot air rushing into the refrigerated room. Not only does this reduce efficiency, but it also increases costs as the refrigeration units will be working overtime.
Remember to check to see if the curtains are damaged or left to one side as this will increase fluctuations of the room’s temperature too!
Leaks and puddles
Nobody likes a leak, but they often go unnoticed until a pool of water appears on the floor. If you spot more water than a drip, it’s best to investigate.
If you see pooling of water on the floor or over the heater or drain then this signals that there could be something seriously wrong with the heater or drain and unfortunately, that’s when you’ll need to get the help of a professional.
Inside the fridge
With your fridges themselves, there are three things you should look to keep an eye on. The first is the fans. Are they running constantly? It’s vital that the fans run constantly in order to provide better circulation of air as well as to ensure accurate control of temperature.
Second, how are your seals? You MUST check to see that the seals are in good condition as they could cause leaks of hot air to spill within the unit destabilising its temperature.
Lastly, is it icy? If there is ice around the doors or back of the unit and certain produce has become frozen, it means that you have the temperature set too low and needs to be increased to provide the optimal environment for fresh produce. Or, it could be faulty.
It’s a bit noisy!
If you can hear unusual noises coming from the refrigeration unit, there is likely something wrong with the fan. Similarly, when opening the refrigeration unit, if you can smell burning, it could be as bad as a problem with overheating or even an electrical fault.
It is advised that you call an engineer as soon as possible at this point to come out so that they can identify the fault and fix it if necessary.
Air Conditioning
It’s just not cool
If the air conditioning unit isn’t adequately cooling down your room, try checking to see if the doors and windows are shut. Maybe even lowering the thermostat by a couple of degrees could help.
If that doesn’t seem to fix the issue, try checking to see if you have a dirty evaporator filter. If you do, we’d recommend cleaning it. If the problem is still occurring, it could mean that your air conditioner is improperly sized for the space in which you want to cool down. That’s when you’ll need to look into getting the right equipment.
Dirty equipment
Let’s be honest, cleaning is a pain. That doesn’t mean it isn’t essential. If you start to notice that the filters are dirty and you don’t regularly clean them, you’re setting yourself up for a big and costly problem later down the line.
A clean filter is always good as it prevents the evaporator coil from collecting dust quickly. Over long periods of time, evaporator coils will still become dirty which will lead to reduced airflow and will, unfortunately, insulate the coils. The best way to avoid this? Clean the coils every year and regularly check them as some may collect more dirt than others.
What about the service?
It’s always good to have your air conditioning serviced at least once a year – or twice a year when using one system for heating and cooling. Why? It will allow your unit to operate at its optimal performance and efficiency, reducing costs, downtime and repairs. If you notice your service history book is looking a little thin, it might be time to make the call.
All too much? Why not book an on-site health check conducted by our team of commercial refrigeration and air conditioning specialists?