Condensation Emancipation
I know you’re thinking more air conditioning lingo and what the heck is he talking about this time? I’m talking about your condensate drain pan and piping. The air in your house, office or business is recirculated through the air conditioner. When the air conditioner is running, the recirculated air passes through the evaporator coil. The recirculated air is usually between seventy and eighty degrees and in a perfect world the temperature of your evaporator coil should be thirty five degrees. When the warm air hits the evaporator coil, the moisture in the air condenses into liquid water on the coil surface. This water is called condensate. The condensate water drips down into a pan, out the air conditioner and is piped away.
The only time you learn about this is when your condensate drain is clogged and its either getting the ceiling or carpet wet. A condensate overflow always leaves an unsightly stain that is difficult to remove.
There have been many attempts to alleviate this problem by air conditioning technicians in the past. The old school way is to install a pan underneath your air conditioner in order to collect any water from a clogged drain. This does not work well. The pan just keeps filling up with water until it gets stagnant and stinky and then you have a whole host of other problems to deal with.
Take a look at the picture below. You’ve probably seen a pipe like this sticking down from the ceiling or out the side of a building. This is called a secondary or overflow drain pipe and reroutes the water in case your drain gets clogged. The idea is that if and when someone sees water dripping that they will investigate and eventually call for service. This is also not the most reliable solution.
I recommend the condensate overflow switch. A lot of the newer units come with this as an option or as a main feature. If not, we can easily install one in the field. The condensate overflow switch is a sensor that mounts to the top of the drain pan inside your air conditioner. If water touches the sensor, it shuts the unit down. Your office becomes hot and stuffy and you call for service. This way there are no ceiling stains or carpet stains or buckets on the ground. It’s simple and easy to install. Depending on the application, the cost to install one of these is as low as $300.
You should also be having your air conditioner regularly maintained. During maintenance check ups, we always “clear the drain line” to make sure you won’t be having this problem
Call today for your maintenance check up and condensate overflow sensor! Keep those nasty stains and smelly water away!
858-581-6868
Dirty Filters
Take a look at this photograph. How many times have you been in someones office and looked up to see a dirty air conditioning grille or diffuser. It blackens the grilles, ceiling tiles, lights and worst of all this is what you’re breathing. It is an unsightly mess that you’ve got to get cleaned up. You’re not doing any maintenance at all. Why is that?
For a lot of people, it’s that they just don’t think of it. Most air conditioning equipment is out of sight and out of mind. You only notice the air conditioning when it’s not working, but by then it’s usually too late.
Let’s do a simple example and say that you’re a retail store open seven days a week from morning and into the evening. Having the store cool and comfortable is important because it helps keep customers in your business. You received a quote from the local a/c company on regular maintenance. Four filter changes a year came to a total of $500 and the service included a number of other maintenance items. You decided to forgo the maintenance because it was an unnecessary expense. I’ll just change the filter myself, you thought. However, in the past year the filter has not been changed by you or anyone else and the dust starts pouring into the store through your diffusers.
It’s memorial day weekend and you’ve sent out lots of advertising. You’ve got a big sale going on and it’s going to be a money maker. At 1:00pm in the afternoon, the air conditioning goes down and the store goes to 85 degrees in the next half hour. Customers are not staying in the store because it’s too hot. You put in an emergency call to your service company and they say it going to be about three hours before a tech can arrive. The tech arrives and has to do the maintenance on the unit before he can even diagnose the problem. You are now paying for low cost maintenance at emergency overtime rates. The tech reports to you that he had to change the filters, wash the coils, clear the drain. Since the unit was so dirty, the compressor was running at high amps and looks like it may have overheated a couple of times. We’ll see how it goes, but it might end up needing to be replaced due to internal damage. The bill the tech gives you is for $832 and the compressor if it fails will be about $1500 or so your told.
I have seen this situation many times over the years. Is it avoidable? Sure. I liken it to changing the oil on your car. You definitely don’t want to fry your engine, so you make sure those oil changes get done. The same goes for your air conditioning systems. They need periodic maintenance also.
Let us help you out. Call and make an appointment today. 858-581-6868
Maintenance at The Lofts
Systems Operation Services was awarded the HVAC maintenance contract at The Lofts 777 6th Avenue in San Diego, CA. The contract is being managed by NN Jaeschke of San Diego.
SOS To Do HVAC Work at Hometown Realty
Systems Operation Services was awarded the air conditioning work at the tenant improvement being done by White Construction for Hometown Realty in San Marcos, CA. This will be our first project with White Construction and we’re looking forward to working with them.
S.O.S. Completes Work at Vons Coronado
S.O.S. recently completed all of the air conditioning work at the Vons grocery store in Coronado, CA. The store was originally built in the 1960’s and had never been remodeled. The citizens of Coronado had been waiting for this to happen for years. Finally, their dreams come true with a great deli and bakery added to the store. We replaced a fifteen ton Trane gas electric air conditioner. We added two ductless split system air conditioners. We installed new kitchen hoods and ventilation to the new deli and bakery.
SOS Replaces Units For Energy Rebate
S.O.S. was awarded the replacement of two rooftop package heat pumps by Heiman Construction for Rexford Industrial down in National City, CA. The existing units were manufactured by Day ‘n Night 22 years ago. The new units will be manufactured by Goodman manufacturing with a SEER Rating of 14 to qualify for the premium efficiency cooling program rebate of $100 per ton of air conditioning. The rebate program is administered by Conservation Services Group through San Diego Gas and Electric, SDGE.
Emergency Response
We were called out to an AM/PM in Ramona, CA on Monday January 25, 2010. We found an electrical surge had ruined all of the air conditioning and refrigeration units on the roof. We quoted, were awarded and ordered the new equipment on Tuesday. We were onsite Thursday performing. All equipment was operational by Friday at noon, so the store would be ready for the weekend! The store manager told me that the store had never been more comfortable and the cooler had never been colder. Next time your in Ramona be sure to stop by and get an icy cold Gatorade.
The Simplest of Rebates
SDGE manages its rebates on package and split air conditioning units for commercial businesses through a program called the Premium Efficiency Cooling Program. This program is administered by a third party called Conservation Services Group (CSG). Systems Operation Services has joined forces with CSG to provide rebates to commercial customers.
This is a simple process that we at S.O.S. can take care of for you. For instance, you’ve spent a lot on repairs to the office air conditioner over the last couple of years. You remember how uncomfortable everyone in the office was last August and September. What should you do? If the unit is old enough, then you qualify for a rebate by replacing the unit with a new hi-efficiency unit. Your comfort level goes up. Your worry goes down, Your utility bill goes down and your savings go up! I call that a win win win win!
How is the rebate calculated? It is a simple $100 per ton of air conditioning. If you have a five ton unit on the roof, then you get a $500 check from SDGE. How cool is that, literally and figuratively. I once had a customer ask, “If it was safe to put five tons on the roof.” I’m not talking five tons of weight, but five tons of cooling. Air conditioners are rated in tons and one ton equals 12,000 BTU’s per hour of cooling. You don’t need to worry about the roof caving in.
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