Service and Maintenance 33 A breath of fresh air at Man U


Barry Lea, chairman of Advanced Engineering, explains how his engineers encouraged preventative maintenance at Old Trafford.


WHILE THERE is one new regime at Old Trafford that still has to prove itself this season, the acr service and maintenance regime at the historic football stadium is a classic example of a highly effective preventative maintenance programme. When Manchester United Group Property Services contacted Advanced Engineering, the club asked if Advanced could evaluate the acr service and maintenance procedures throughout the Old Trafford stadium complex. The company has a long-standing offer to survey any site entirely free of charge, and the task was to improve the club’s existing air conditioning and refrigeration maintenance regime. In this case it meant viewing a wide variety of acr systems throughout the entire stadium complex, including kitchens, restaurant areas, VIP boxes and supporters’ areas. Manchester United agreed that in a building as large and diverse as Old Trafford, it was essential to prevent contamination from building up within the stadium’s air conditioning equipment. With such a large volume of people moving through the stadium each week, preventative maintenance is the key to a workable servicing routine.” Everyone who works with air conditioning systems knows that coil cleaning is one of the most important regular maintenance tasks.


Energy efficiency


When evaluating any air conditioning or refrigeration system, the effectiveness of that system depends on the efficiency of its aluminium finned coils and their ability to exchange heat.


Since a bigger surface area means quicker heat loss, the coils are designed to have the maximum possible surface


area for their size. Their cooling potential is enhanced further still by fans on both coils, which force air through the fins. Now, many thousands of cubic metres of air are drawn over the average AC system every day – depositing dust and other airborne particles as they go. This build-up of dirt, on either evaporators or condensers, leads to an increase in the difference between evaporating and condensing temperatures – in fact, for every 1°C increase in refrigeration, energy costs can be raised by as much as 4%.


Avoiding costly system damage The dirt coating any air conditioning coil’s surfaces acts as an insulating blanket, which seriously affects the system’s ability to function effectively. To achieve the same cooling effect, your system has to work harder.


As well as using more energy, this extra work puts additional, sustained pressure on components – particularly the compressor – which is an expensive item to replace.


At best, breakdown of the compressor will mean a costly repair or replacement bill. At worst, it can lead to water leakage


and damage to carpets, contents, electrical equipment and the fabric of your building.


Healthy air


Finally, consider all the particles that might be floating in the air of the average office such as skin cells, sweat, paper dust and food. Then imagine what might be present in the air within a 75,000 seat stadium. The main culprits involved in poor indoor air quality are fungi, bacteria and viruses.


As we all know, bacterial activity often causes nasty smells; fungi produce spores and defensive toxins which can trigger allergic reactions; and bacteria and viruses include a number of organisms that can cause disease in humans through airborne infection.


All of these contaminants are constantly being pumped into the air by dirty systems. Without proper preventative cleaning, these germs will contribute to poor indoor air quality.


However, Advanced Engineering’s specially-formulated cleaning solutions with QX-60 will clean the coil and disinfect it, killing 99.9% of germs and bacteria in less than 60 seconds.


Hydratech Visit ACR News online at www.acr-news.com ACR News May 2014

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