It is such a bummer having invested in centralized or even stand-alone air conditioning units only for them to emit air that isn’t cool enough no matter how low you set the temperature. What is worse is they often leak, causing premature damage to your office’s interior. It is easy to say that you religiously follow the maintenance schedule and that no one abuses your air conditioning units, but you wonder why they exhibit signs of damage.
Contrary to this belief, there are small habits you do that lead to your air conditioning units acting the way they do. A common one is when you frequently allow the cool air to escape through opened windows and doors. However, these instances cannot be avoided, so you have to fortify your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. As a result, the air conditioning units will perform more efficiently than they used to.
Here are ways to save yourself from the hassle and heaping repair costs:
Make It Right From the Get-go
Ideally, your company should have made it a point during the construction of the building to have its air and water flows tested, adjusted, and balanced. The testing, adjusting, and balancing process helps the contractor determine how the HVAC system is best calibrated, given the building’s unique structure and environment.
Assess the Room’s Optimal Temperature
The efficiency of an air conditioning unit is determined by several factors; notable among these are the square footage of the room it is supposed to cover, human activity, and occupancy of the room. Many encounter a similar problem, wherein they press the button to reduce the temperature on the unit’s remote control frustratingly to no end, only for the room to stay humid as it was. They don’t realize that they are forcing a temperature that isn’t optimal for the room.
This tends to happen more with non-inverter types of air conditioning, which, when turned on, initially ramps up the inflow of cool air until it reaches the temperature you set it to. On the other hand, the inverter-type is better at regulating temperature once it reaches what you set it to. Still, you can calibrate your units so that they perform more consistently.
Thus, with the help of your company’s engineering personnel, you want to find out how many degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit a room ideally needs to maintain. They should set a room to a specific temperature and keep it so for a few days before trying another temperature setting until the most consistent cool is achieved. During this trial period, no one else must be allowed to manipulate the unit’s remote control.
Seal the Gaps
It should be common sense now that not only does cool air escape through gaps between the doors and windows and their jambs. The frame of the air conditioning unit itself could have been carved too big for its size that you could peak out through the unfilled gaps. A popular band-aid solution is inserting folded pieces of paper in between these gaps.
Still, proofing your rooms from escaping air is best achieved by applying a good coat of expanding foam on wall cracks and holes. On the other hand, you can install gaskets on door and window frames to seal the room shut from escaping air. Installing curtains and blinds on windows could also help preserve the cool air indoors.
Of course, do not forget to check your HVAC system for unsatisfactory ductwork. Repair the holes you might discover using duct tapes specifically made for HVAC applications, meaning those that would not flag off when the ducts process freezing or hot temperatures. Sealing these gaps not only helps your HVAC system regulate temperatures but also reduces the chances of condensation.
Amplify the Coolness
So you found your rooms’ optimal temperatures and sealed them shut but are not yet satisfied with the cool your air conditioning units emit. One fool-proof way to increase cool airflow in a room is by simultaneously running an electric fan with the air conditioning. Although it sounds more costly, the fan can prevent the air conditioning unit from using too much power.
Conclusion
So much money is lost when an establishment entrusts its HVAC system to guesswork instead of having it calibrated by qualified professionals. On the other hand, planning a facility’s layout concerning how rooms will be used is a tedious but, otherwise, necessary task decision-makers have to do to avoid extra costs on retrofitting work, including those for faulty HVAC systems later on.
