A new customer had both systems down in their restaurant. When we got there we found a 13 year old air handler that had been running without filters for a year. It was frozen up and the fan looked like this:
"Air conditioning maintenance is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do."
- paraprased from Edgar Degas
There are no shortcuts to proper equipment maintenance. We often get calls from owners and managers who have had equipment failures that jeopardize their business. When asked who their air conditioning company is they typically reply that they have a guy who comes by and cleans the units and changes the filters occasionally. Then they mention the name of a reputable company that was called the last time they had a major failure last year.
By saving some $600 a year for bi-annual maintenance and bi-monthly filter changes, this customer has incurred the following repairs:
Bearing replacement
Pull and clean blower wheel
Intensive evaporator coil cleaning
Intensive condenser cleaning
In addition, the system has been running almost 100% of the time to try and cool the space causing the utility bill for this 7.5 ton system to double. Also, the disrepair has more than likely shortened the life of the system from 18 years to 15.
When added up, the cost of not maintaining this one system for two years runs about $6,800. The cost of maintenance would have run about $1,200.
