Facility managers need to prepare commercial facilities for the winter months to protect the buildings, prevent damage and hazards and to safeguard the building from inflating energy bills and costs. You also want to make sure that those visiting your buildings are comfortable and warm despite variants in temperature.
Here are the top six tips to preparing your facility for the winter, and to optimising your commercial air conditioning:
- Service the furnace. Be sure to keep on top of maintenance; to change filters and check for any carbon monoxide leaks.
- Look for air leaks around windows and doors. Check walls for cracks. And caulk around pipes, if necessary, where they come into the building.
- If your facility serves customers, maintain the heat at a comfortable level to allow them to keep their coats on. Your customers won’t get too hot and you’ll keep your facility’s heating costs down.
- Stagger equipment start times if motors are greater than 1 HP. Various pieces of equipment starting simultaneously could trigger an electrical demand peak. Stagger the start time by 30 seconds to avoid a peak and reduce costs.
- Select efficient settings for light and motion controls. Lighting systems should automatically turn on and off to accommodate your facility’s operating hours. Monitor and revise the schedule as often as necessary, particularly as operating hours change.
- Curtail access to your facility’s HVAC or automation system controls. Most systems allow you to set permission levels to control who can access them and make changes. If not managed correctly you are essentially enabelling any one to override the current settings and drastically affect your facility’s energy management.
Reach Out To JEC Air Today!
If you have any questions about your home or office air conditioning system in regards to maintenance orhavign your unit regularly serviced, visit our Servicing & Repairs page or call us on (02) 9674 3188 today!