Your HVAC Spring Cleaning Checklists Redux
Spring is just around the corner, and that means summer can’t be too far behind.
As winter makes it exit – not soon enough for some of us – it’s time to turn your attention to keeping your HVAC system humming right along through the hot summer months.
Last year we offered you three comprehensive checklists of tasks and tips to ensure the cooling system in your facility is operating at 100%.
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HVAC Coil Corrosion: Should You Be Concerned?
Coil corrosion is an expensive problem in the HVAC industry, leading to coil replacement or entire system replacement. Corrosion results in failure, and is responsible for about 40% of equipment failures in industrial applications, according to CED Engineering.
As the authors of an article in Reliable Plant explain, coil corrosion comes in the form of either pitting or formicary deterioration. Corrosion may occur as quickly as a few weeks after an installation or it may take up to four years to present itself.
Pitting corrosion is most often caused by exposure to fluoride or chloride. Fluoride is present in municipal water supplies, while chloride is found in a variety of products including snow melt, detergents, cleaners, carpeting and fabrics. Pitting occurs when chloride or fluoride ions are transported to the metal via condensate. The ions attack the metal, forming pits that form pinholes, causing the coils to leak refrigerant.
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3 Steps to Revamp Your HVAC Preventative Maintenance Plan
Our HVAC Maintenance Checklist is another of our blog’s most popular posts, and this follow-up ends the series for “Top Posts” (since the blog started in 2008).
In the previous HVAC maintenance checklist post we pointed to the Buildings magazine article, “Revamp Your Preventative Maintenance for 2009.” Even though it’s three years later, the information is as relevant as ever. The magazine recommends focusing on three steps in laying out a preventative maintenance program: inventory and inspection; preventative maintenance program software; and employee involvement.
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Top 3 HVAC Industry New Year’s Resolutions
It’s that time of year again—time to finalize resolutions for the new year that some of you probably will not keep. And in most cases that’s OK. It may not be crucial that you hit the gym six days a week or lay off the chocolate. But there are some resolutions that are critical for you and your HVAC career.
Below are three such resolutions and how to act on them now.
- Establish an emergency-preparedness plan for your facility – Unfortunately 2011 included a number of natural disasters that effected facilities in the US and around the world. Although you should always plan for such disasters, facility emergency-preparedness will become a front burner priority for many facility managers in 2012. Once you have a plan in place, you can manage and resolve emergency situations more effectively. Don’t put off developing an emergency-preparedness plan for “another day.” Do it today and you’ll sleep better tonight.
- Overhaul your facility’s HVAC maintenance checklist – Many facility managers talk about overhauling their buildings’ preventive maintenance plans to achieve maximum effectiveness. However few actually follow through. Here’s a resource to help you rebuild that important document.
- Advance your HVAC career – There are many online resources to help you advance your HVAC career. But getting that industry certification or extra know-how to advance your career has been just out of reach for whatever reason. To make things easier for you we’ve created a map that centralizes the top career development resources in the industry. The resources are broken out into three categories and home to live links to key resources.
This downloadable map also:
- Offers option to add or update links so you can help maintain and develop the live document.
- Allows you to share it with your colleagues and your boss—maybe he’ll even cover all the costs to get that LEED certification you’ve been putting off.
Don’t wait any longer! Make those 2012 resolutions to create an emergency-preparedness plan, overhaul your facility’s HVAC maintenance checklist and bolster your HVAC career. Once you check these off your list, focus on laying off those chocolates and joining that gym.
Here are some additional steps you can take in 2012:
- Check out our learning center on how best to maintain all your facility’s existing equipment.
- Subscribe to our blog to get the latest HVAC maintenance news and insight.
- Stay up to date on facility maintenance tools such as chiller tube cleaners, boiler tube cleaners, hose/pipe cleaners, descaler systems, test instruments, industrial vacuums, commercial pressure washers, and drain cleaners.
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Top 10 HVAC Maintenance Posts of 2011 from the Just Venting Blog
Today, we’re bringing you a rewind of the most popular HVAC maintenance posts of 2011. Enjoy these reader favorites from the Just Venting blog as the year winds down.
Number 10 – Dust & Soot Vacuums Are More Versatile Than You Might Think
Our 10th most popular post for 2011 is a good reminder that sometimes certain jobs require specialized tools. In this instance, when you are using tools that emit particles such as sawdust, concrete or particle dust, a specialized vacuum can really clean up the mess and protect the air. This guide gives you some food-for-thought on which vacuum to use when.
Number 9 – How to Prevent Legionnaires Disease via Cooling Tower Cleaning
This past year marked the 35th anniversary of an outbreak of pneumonia among people attending a convention of the American Legion at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia and also the first reported incident of Legionnaires Disease. The source of the infection was determined to be the hotel’s air conditioning system cooling tower. When the normally present bacteria became airborne, it can cause illness in the elderly and people with compromised immune systems. This is exactly what happened that fateful day 35 years ago. This tutorial walks you through the best prevention methods for your facility.
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Top 3 Facility Maintenance Safety Checklist Items – Part 2 of 2
In part one of this two part series we discussed the importance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when performing routine facility or building maintenance tasks. Today’s post focuses on the remaining two safety checklist items: equipment safety and hazard awareness. Our goal is to make certain your work environment is as safe as possible and HVAC maintenance equipment is used safely and effectively. Like we said before, YOU are the most irreplaceable piece of facility maintenance gear you have!
To get you in that “let’s be careful out there” mood, here’s a sensationalized look at what could happen if your work environment is not safe.
Equipment Safety
So what’s the one thing you can do to make sure your equipment is safe to use? You should inspect your tools before you put them into action. Here’s a list of basic items to check:
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How to Develop an HVAC Maintenance Checklist
[Editor's Note: If your looking to boost your HVAC career download our 2012 interactive infographic: HVAC Career Development Map]
The purpose of an HVAC maintenance checklist and having a functional preventative maintenance system (PMS) is to be proactive versus reactive regarding system maintenance. The bottom line: HVAC equipment is mechanical and mechanical equipment can fail. Planning ahead and knowing how to properly develop a checklist and prepare PMS schedules is essential to timely scheduling, accomplishment, and documentation of work responsibilities. It is important to remember, though, that developing an HVAC maintenance checklist and its scheduling is only one part of PMS management. Knowing your systems end-to-end and being aware whether it’s time for coil cleaning, cooling tower maintenance, duct work cleaning and boiler cleaning is required as well.
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