Business owners have so many details to attend to and things to consider. From keeping up with the daily operations and ensuring customer satisfaction to protecting your property and investments, there are many demands on your time. In the midst of all of those demands, some important things can be overlooked. If one of the things you have overlooked is your building's air conditioning system, you may start to notice operational issues with the unit. Here are some of the signs of impending problems that you should watch out for.
Poor Air Quality
The air flowing through the vents in your building needs to be clean to protect your customers and staff from the potential of illness. Dirty air blowing through the air vents can lead to all sorts of health issues, including things such as allergic reactions and respiratory problems. When your staff becomes ill, that can lead to lost productivity and, therefore, lost revenue.
One of the most common causes of poor air quality in your building is poorly maintained filters in your air conditioning system. Every air conditioning system, including commercial air conditioning systems, has air filters placed just inside the air intake. These filters are designed to remove any impurities and particles from the air before it reaches the coils so that you don't end up with dirty coils and a frozen air conditioner or dirty air passing through the air vents.
Make sure that you clean the air filters or replace them every few months. Especially with a commercial air conditioner, you need to do this frequently because of the size of the system and the volume of air that passes through it.
Uneven Cooling
With the size of most commercial buildings, it can seem as though you're expecting a lot to have consistent, even cooling in the building. The fact is that a commercial air conditioning system should keep up with the demand of your property and cool it evenly throughout the space.
If you have sections of the building that are frigid while other areas are far too warm, that means that your air conditioning system isn't cooling efficiently. In most cases, it's not the fault of the air conditioning compressor itself but of the ducts in the building. If there are gaps, holes, or other leaks in the air ducts, that will keep the cooled air from flowing properly throughout the building, resulting in your uneven cooling condition.
The air ducts will need to be inspected to find the leaks, then sealed to prevent the problem.
Poor Cooling
If your building's air conditioner had previously been working well but is now not producing air as cool as it used to, this will lead to the compressor working much harder to try to keep up because it will continue to strive to meet the temperature set on the thermostat.
When your air conditioner must work so much harder to meet the thermostat's temperature, the excessive operation will cause the air conditioner to suffer wear and tear at a much faster rate. This will be costly for you over time.
If you start to notice that your air conditioner isn't keeping things as cool as it should be, but it is still running and working hard, that's an indication that the system is low on refrigerant. Since air conditioners are closed systems, a unit low on refrigerant means that the air conditioning compressor has a leak. You'll need to call an air conditioning repair technician to test the pressure in the system, identify the leak, and seal it.
The more you understand about what to watch for with your air conditioner, the easier it is to avoid costly disasters. Talk with a local air conditioning service company for more information.
