February 07th, 2024

Property Owners: HVAC Preventative Maintenance Is More Crucial Than Ever

Preventative maintenance is crucial for your HVAC system to function properly and avoid any costly repairs or replacements.
By regularly maintaining your HVAC system, you can ensure that it runs efficiently, lasts longer, and provides a comfortable environment for your home.
Another benefit of preventative maintenance is improved indoor air quality.
By regularly cleaning and replacing air filters, you can improve the quality of the air circulating in your home.
​This can help alleviate allergies and respiratory problems, as well as improve the overall comfort of your home.

The Top Reasons For Preventative Maintenance 
There are many valid reasons to avoid the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality when it comes to the maintenance of an HVAC system. Preventative maintenance is important for a number of reasons:

• Occupant Satisfaction
When residents are happy, they are comfortable and typically move less frequently. In busy seasons, HVAC contractors tend to carry a two- to three-week backlog, which delays emergency response times. This can damage customer satisfaction for occupied properties. 
Preventative maintenance allows residents to be notified in advance when system checks are scheduled. The alternative, waiting until a system fails, usually causes discomfort and disruption. Leaving an HVAC system to function until failure means it might stop working at the most inconvenient times, such as after business hours, in the middle of the night or in the middle of winter. Often, completing a few minor repairs or checks will ensure that tenants, who may have a small baby or live with an elderly parent, will not be left without heat during the coldest days of the year.`1

• Temperature Extremes
This year, and likely the years ahead, HVAC preventative maintenance has gained importance as we deal with temperature extremes — highs and lows — on a more regular basis. Weather extremes can become a safety hazard when a system fails on extreme temperature days, so property owners should be proactive. A property owner should not put off maintenance until it's 100 degrees outside and air conditioning units begin to fail. Checking an HVAC unit before the heat of the summer will identify any issues before they occur. ​

• Indoor Air Quality
Dust, dirt and debris can collect on HVAC machines and circulate through a building, diminishing indoor air quality.  According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration, Americans spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, where the concentration of some pollutants is two to even five times higher than outdoors. Add to that, over the past year of Covid-19, more people are staying at home, so there is an increased need for filtration. 
​
• Energy Efficiency
According to the U.S. Energy Department, roughly 117 million tons of carbon dioxide are released each year by air conditioners. An energy-efficient HVAC system will have a less negative impact on the environment. These proactive actions to be sure your HVAC system is energy-efficient can be simple things such as conducting regular filter changes and evaluating refrigerant types.
Ensuring energy efficiency can also provide lower electricity bills. If an HVAC system has dirty coils clogged with lint and dust, its capacity could be reduced anywhere from 20% to 40%. If the air is not flowing optimally through a system, it will work harder and be less efficient. 

---

How To Take Care Of Your HVAC System

There are, of course, some simple steps property owners and operators can take to maintain a healthy HVAC ecosystem:

• Regularly change the filter (every three-six months) to improve both system performance and energy efficiency by making the system have to do less work for the same result.

• Check and clean indoor and outdoor equipment to remove dirt and other debris, especially in street-facing units.

• Make sure there are no leaks in or around the unit, which could contribute to decreased unit efficiency and ultimately malfunction.

• Check and replace thermostat batteries, or replace the thermostat with a smart programmable thermostat, which can optimize temperature and unit performance.
​
• Inspect and clean water drains to ensure no obstruction is preventing your unit from optimum performance.

---

Investing in an HVAC system is the secret to building owners' success. By investing a small amount of time and resources regularly, the owner of a system can save money in the long run through improved energy efficiency, resident satisfaction, and air quality. It is common for property owners to view HVAC preventative maintenance as an upfront expense that can be set aside if necessary. However, preventative maintenance is the key to extending equipment life. Pay now or pay later, but paying a little bit now will get a building owner many more years of usefulness out of the equipment.