Keeping your business cool is essential for productivity and ensuring that employees and any customers or clients are comfortable. The issue is that the extreme Arizona heat can make maintaining a cool, comfortable indoor environment in your commercial building quite difficult and extremely expensive. The good news is that there are some fairly simple steps you can take to help keep your business more comfortable while at the same time ensuring your energy bills are as low as possible.
Be Mindful of Potential Heat Sources
Commercial buildings typically have far more potential heat sources compared to the average residential building. For instance, many businesses have numerous pieces of office equipment like computers, monitors and printers. All of these tend to get fairly hot over time and give off more heat than you may realize. Windows are also a huge source of heat gain in the summer since all of the sunlight constantly streaming through them quickly raises the temperature of the air in the building. Another issue is that many commercial buildings mostly use fluorescent light bulbs that also give off quite a bit of heat.
Take steps to combat these heat sources and minimize the amount of heat gain they contribute. This is a great way to keep your building cooler and reduce how much you pay to cool it. That can mean setting your computers and other office equipment so that they automatically shut down or go into standby mode after sitting idle for a certain amount of time.
Another useful option is to install curtains or blinds on all of your windows so that you block out the sunlight during the day and greatly reduce heat gain. Of course, keeping all of your windows covered during the day may not be possible or something you want to do depending on what type of business you run. In either case, you should instead consider covering all of the windows with UV-blocking film. That way you can block out almost all UV rays so your building doesn’t heat up as fast while still being able to see through your windows.
Another step you should definitely take is to replace as many of the fluorescent lights inside your building with LEDs since they give off almost no heat. Switching to LED lights will also provide the added benefit of helping to lower your electricity bills since LEDs are far more energy efficient than fluorescent lighting.
Make Sure You’re Programming Your Thermostats Correctly
It depends on the size of your building, the type of HVAC system you have and what type of business you operate. As such, you may just have a single thermostat or multiple thermostats in various locations. In either case, it’s important that you’re using the right temperature settings so that your HVAC doesn’t run more than it needs to. That often means turning the temperature up quite a bit during the weekends when the building is unoccupied. You generally don’t want to completely turn your AC off when the building is unoccupied. However, you definitely want to increase the temperature so your AC doesn’t run unnecessarily.
Another thing we’d recommend is locking your thermostats so that only a few authorized people have access. That way you won’t have to worry about anyone adjusting the thermostat settings and causing your AC to run more than needed.
An even better option is to replace your old thermostats with smart thermostats. With a smart thermostat, you can monitor and control the temperature in your building remotely using your phone or any other mobile device. You can also set the thermostats so that only authorized people can access them. Another advantage of smart thermostats is that they allow you to monitor the energy usage of your HVAC system. Doing so makes it easy to see exactly how your temperature settings are impacting your energy bills. Many smart thermostats can also connect to door and motion sensors. That means the thermostat can automatically turn the temperature up whenever the last person leaves for the day. This is so that your air conditioning doesn’t continue to run all the time when it’s not needed.
Don’t Forget to Replace the Air Filters in Your HVAC System
One of the biggest keys to minimizing energy usage and keeping your building comfortable is to replace your HVAC air filters regularly. Generally speaking, you’ll usually want to replace the filters at least every three months. That said, many commercial HVAC systems use higher-efficiency air filters that trap much more debris. In that case, you’ll likely need to replace the filters as often as every month or two since they’ll get dirty and start clogging up more quickly.
Running your HVAC system with a dirty filter makes it cool much less effectively and puts a lot of extra strain on the system. That’s because it becomes more and more difficult for the HVAC blower to draw air through the filter the dirtier it gets. If you don’t replace the filter regularly, you’ll also face higher energy bills and a greater chance of your HVAC breaking down.
Get Your HVAC Professionally Serviced to Ensure It’s Ready for Summer
All HVAC systems require regular maintenance to continue functioning properly. However, maintenance is especially critical for commercial systems since they are often quite large and powerful. Tasks like cleaning the blower, evaporator coil and condenser coil are essential for ensuring an HVAC system has proper airflow and can transfer heat from inside to outside effectively. Another essential part of servicing an HVAC system is to inspect and test all of the various components. This is to ensure that nothing needs to be replaced and the system doesn’t need any repairs. That way you can get any issues fixed before the summer heat sets in to allow your HVAC to cool as efficiently as possible. This will reduce the chances of it breaking down over the summer.
Consider Upgrading Your Aging HVAC Equipment
Replacing a commercial HVAC system can be fairly expensive, but it will also provide many benefits. If your existing system is more than 10 years old, it likely isn’t nearly as energy efficient as whatever new system you install. Most commercial cooling units have a lifespan of around 15 years, and you always run the risk of your HVAC suddenly giving out if you wait too long to replace it. Having your air conditioning fail in the middle of the summer is a major headache. This is especially true in Arizona since a lack of air conditioning can make your building so hot that it’s unsafe to be inside. That means that if your AC were to suddenly fail, you could be forced to shut down for a few days until you can get it replaced.
At Emergency Air Heating Cooling & Plumbing, we have more than two decades of experience helping residential and commercial customers in Chandler and the Phoenix area with all of their HVAC and plumbing needs. Our certified technicians service and repair all makes and models of commercial cooling and heating equipment. If you need to replace the HVAC in your commercial building, we offer a range of highly efficient options from top brands like Carrier and Bryant. For more information on the ways we can help you ensure your business stays comfortable this summer, contact our expert team today.