Preventive Maintenance — Commercial Refrigeration and HVAC

Your commercial refrigeration and air conditioning equipment are mechanical devices that need regular preventive maintenance because they are running sometimes 24 hours a day. The cost of commercial air conditioning and refrigeration equipment replacement can be quite substantial when considering the number of units a typical business may have.  That is why preventive maintenance, which should include thorough cleaning and inspection of all parts of your commercial air conditioning equipment, is a must.  Preventive maintenance should include periodic cleaning of your air conditioning coils and regular changing of your air conditioning filters, along with a thorough inspection for other potential problems.

When this equipment fails, particularly in Florida, you may quickly lose expensive product or the capacity to handle everyday business activity. Your customers or employees may become uncomfortable with hot areas in your businesses. A commercial air conditioning or refrigeration system failure can result in customers leaving unhappy or frustrated.

This is why we offer and encourage you to maintain preventative maintenance for your commercial air conditioning and refrigeration equipment.  (We also suggest buying back up equipment, particularly for commercial refrigeration units that you use most often).

Save Money In The Long Run With Preventive Maintenance Plans

Cleaned and properly inspected commercial air conditioning and refrigeration units cost less to operate and last longer (numerous studies prove this). Additionally, a commercial air conditioning preventative maintenance agreement gives you piece of mind that someone is inspecting your important equipment for items that need attention to help minimize future failures and lengthen the life of this costly equipment.

During preventative maintenance, we inspect the coils to make sure they are clean and free of obstruction. During our preventive maintenance checks, we change filters, check refrigeration lines, inspect wires and connections for loose fits, and generally check all operating features to make sure your equipment is functioning optimally.  

You Simply Must Check Your Filters and Clean Your Coils!

Changing filters is something simple that you can and should do to lengthen the life of your equipment.    Most filters need to be changed every 1-3 months.  

After changing filters, cleaning your coils is the number one step to keep your equipment lasting as long as possible. Uncleaned coils will lead to early failure of your commercial air conditioning and refrigeration systems. Additionally, uncleaned coils also can lead to bacterial problems in the air, which can cause health problems for visitors to your business (and you!). Any dirty coil will also cause the energy usage to be much higher than normal (because the motors have to fight with dirt before it gets around to cooling your air). With ever increasing energy and other business costs, it is more important than ever to make sure someone is looking after your a/c equipment.

If you just want minimal maintenance, we offer a program that involves what we consider the minimum required maintenance for your commercial air conditioning and refrigeration systems, which includes changing your filters and visually inspecting all of the commercial air conditioning and refrigeration systems to determine if any obvious repairs are needed.

As a business owner you often do not have the time or experience to properly maintain this sometimes complicated commercial air conditioning or refrigeration equipment. It is in your best interest to minimize commercial air conditioning and refrigeration equipment downtime, extend equipment life, keep your air cleaner, and lower your utility bills by utilizing a maintenance agreement with Marathon Air.

If you would like to hire us to perform your HVAC preventative maintenance, please give us a call at (407) 877-2006.

How You Can Be Sure We Cleaned Your Coils

This sounds like a crazy thing to ask, but some contractors are so unscupulous that this has become a legitimate question.  First of all, you can trust us.  If you hire us to clean your coils, we will clean them thoroughly.  However, if you really want proof, there is sufficient lighting in the space, we will take before and after pictures of your commercial air conditioning coil.

If your commercial air conditioning unit just does not seem to be cooling sufficiently, you may have a dirty coil (or you may need an additional commercial air conditioning unit). We inspect your coil as part of most commercial air conditioning preventive maintenance agreements.

Maintaining and repairing commercial air conditioning equipment is the most costly operating expense for most businesses.  But you can dramatically reduce this cost by having your systems regularly maintained to avoid costly future repairs.

If you know or suspect that you have any of the above problems, please give us a call today.  We will set you up on a peace-of-mind preventative maintenance plan.  Then you can sit back and relax while we take care of this important aspect of your smooth business operations.

Commercial HVAC Preventative Maintenance Checklist

The best way to prevent future problems and reduce unwanted costs is be diligent about performing preventative maintenace on your a/c equipment, just like you change the oil in your car. Keep your cooling and heating system at peak performance by having Marathon Air perform annual or bi-annual pre-season check-ups. We recommend that you check the cooling system in the spring and the heating system in the fall. To remember, you could plan your seasonal maintenance during the time changes in the spring and fall.

Marathon Air’s typical preventive maintenance check-up may include the following (commercial maintenance agreements can be tailor-made to provide less or more annual maintenance and services):

• We check your thermostat to ensure that the cooling and heating components keep you comfortable when you are home and save your energy when you are not.
• We tighten all electrical wires and measure voltage and current on motors. Problematic electrical connections can lead to unsafe conditions and reduce the life of major components.
• We lubricate all moving parts. Without lubrication, certain parts cause friction in motors and increase the amount of electricity you use.
• We inspect and check the condensate drain pan in your central air conditioner and heating systems. A plugged drain line can cause visible water damage in your home or business (think water stained dry wall or ceiling panels) and negatively affect indoor humidity levels.
• We check the various controls of your a/c system to ensure proper and safe operation. This includes checking the starting cycle of the equipment to assure the system starts, operates, and shuts off properly.
• We check your air conditioner’s refrigerant level and adjust whenever necessary. Too much or too little refrigerant will make your system less efficient, which increases energy costs (resulting in higher electric bills) and reducing the life of the equipment.
• For an additional charge, which we highly recommend annually, we can clean your evaporator and condenser air conditioning coils. Dirty HVAC coils significantly reduce the system’s ability to cool your business or home.  Dirty coils also cause the system to run longer, increasing energy costs and reducing the life of your valuable equipment.
• Also for an additional charge, we can clean and adjust blower components to provide proper system airflow for greater comfort levels. Airflow problems can reduce your system’s efficiency by up to 15 percent.

What Can You Do?

We highly recommend that you inspect, clean, or change air filters once a month in your central air conditioner. We can show you how to do this. A dirty filter increases energy costs, makes coils get dirtier, soon, and will damage your equipment, leading to earlier failure.

WE GO THE EXTRA MILE