Why Do HVAC Preventive Maintenance?

This is a question I get a lot, so I think it’s appropriate to revisit it now, just before the winter heating maintenance season really gets rolling. If you’re considering skipping maintenance this year, there’s a few things that you should know before you decide:

  • Deferred Maintenance can Shorten Unit Life-Span. An HVAC unit can last decades if properly maintained. Skipping PMs for too long can not only cause unit or component failure, but also create additional wear and tear that can actually take years off the life of your unit.
  • How important are your units to you, to your tenants, your product? Much of the benefit of preventative maintenance is the “prevention” part – meaning if you do it, bad things are less likely to happen. But how do you calculate the cost-benefit of something that may or may not happen? Tough call. So how important is it to YOU? Will your employees or tenants get up and leave if it’s cold? Will you lose thousands of dollars of product if your refrigeration goes down? If heating fails on the coldest darkest night in winter, will your pipes burst all over your expensive computer equipment? Obviously, no one can predict the future and tell you if/when the worst may occur. Preventative maintenance is an insurance policy to mitigate the risk. Only you can decide your risk tolerance.

I believe that preventive maintenance is just smart business. And not just because it happens to also be part of MY business. Whether you call us or have your own in-house staff take care of it, preventative maintenance can actually save you money, not to mention headaches. Your units, your energy bill, and your employees, tenants or tomatoes probably won’t actually thank you, but they SHOULD!

It’s not too late, schedule your PMs today: 508-763-3738 or karen@advanceair.net.

Seeing is believing. The left side is a cleaned coil, on the right is what it looked like before. It's not hard to imagine that level of dirt clogged into the coil can impact the efficiency of it's operation, and the strain put on the compressor as a result!
Seeing is believing. The left side is a cleaned coil, on the right is what it looked like before. It’s not hard to imagine that level of dirt clogged into the coil can impact the efficiency of it’s operation, put additional strain on the compressor and reduce cooling capacity! (I don’t have any great pictures of dirty oil burners to share, unfortunately. Though I have seen some of the techs after they’ve cleaned one. They look a little bit like the right side of the filter when they’re done!)