SUMMER MAINTENANCE BEAT THE HEAT
Andy Whiteley, HVAC National Sales Director at Andrews Sykes tells Tomorrow’s FM readers the best way to make sure their facility is summer ready.
With scientists predicting that heatwaves are to become commonplace by 2040, the productivity of Britain’s workforce will begin to dwindle if air conditioning systems don’t receive the necessary attention before the summer heat arrives.
The Chartered Institute of Building Surveyors recommends an office working temperature of 20°C, whilst Cornell University recommends 25°C and Helsinki University recommends 22°C. In fact, when the temperature gets as high as 33°C, studies have found that productivity decreases to 85%.
“50% OF OFFICES ARE CONSIDERED TOO HOT.”
We recently commissioned research which found that in the summer, 50% of offices are considered too hot, leading to 22% of respondents reporting that they have had to leave the office to cool down.
Not only is valuable time wasted by staff leaving the office to escape the heat, our research also found that employees can spend up to 8.5 minutes a day adjusting to their workplace temperature.
As the summer approaches, in order to avoid downtime, organisations must ensure their air conditioners are working effectively. In its simplest form this involves an air conditioning maintenance check, either as part of a planned preventative maintenance regime or as a one-off event. This will consist of a detailed inspection and clean of the unit, ensuring all internal components are working correctly and effectively, and removing
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accumulated dust and grime from heat exchangers, air ducts or filters.
Regularly maintained air conditioning not only performs more quietly and reliably but is also more effective, running for shorter periods and at lower compressor or fan speeds to deliver the necessary cooling. All of this will contribute to savings in energy and reduced CO2
output.
If you are a Facilities Manager responsible for the maintenance of the air conditioning within your building, you will also need to consider a TM44 Energy Efficiency Inspection. The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, states that any air conditioning installation over 12kW total capacity must undergo this inspection at least once every five years. These inspections identify the suitability of the system for its current purpose, opportunities to improve its effectiveness and energy efficiency (some of which are often easy, quick and inexpensive to implement) and the likely savings available. As a legal requirement enforced by Trading Standards, businesses can incur fines if the inspection is not undertaken, although there is currently no legal duty to adopt the inspector’s recommendations.
In many instances, organisations may be aware that this directive applies to them; however, many mistakenly believe that if each of their individual air conditioning units is under 12kW capacity, they are exempt from the legislation. This is not the case. Systems are affected if the total capacity of all of the air conditioners under ‘common control’ is over 12kW – a common situation on sites with a number of smaller air conditioning units.
Therefore, ensuring air conditioning systems are working efficiently
ANDREWS SYKES ALSO FOUND THAT:
• 80% of office workers complain about their office temperature
• Approximately 30% of employees bring their own fan to the office to keep cool
• 16°C is the minimum indoor temperature defined by Government or 13°C if the work being carried out requires extreme physical effort
doesn’t only increase staff productivity, but can also save the organisations money which in many cases, completely covers the cost of the inspection.
Businesses want the best out of their staff and, in order to ensure the wellbeing of employees, air conditioning is an often overlooked but essential component in many offices. Organisations thrive by ensuring their employees know that the management team has their best interests at heart - and providing a comfortable working environment is a vital component in this. Staff who are continually faced with unpleasant working conditions are unlikely to remain loyal or deliver their true potential.
www.airconditioningservices.com
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