During the pandemic, many of our clients were forced to close their offices to protect their staff and mitigate the spread of the virus. Now that the situation appears to be showing signs of improvement, many of our clients have expressed an interest in getting their HVAC systems serviced before their staff return to work.
With this in mind, we have put together the following piece on everything you need to be aware of when getting your HVAC system serviced following COVID-19:
- Your system needs maintenance. The fact your system may have not been used for the past 12 months, or used sparingly, does not mean you should neglect system maintenance. System maintenance is due every 6-12 months irrespective of usage and age, and on many occasions, HVAC systems can become defective where they have not been used and switched off.
- F-Gas leak checks. You are obliged to have your system leak tested once per year as a minimum. This is legislation and you can review the information about getting air conditioning leak tested on the GOV.UK website. Your air conditioning or HVAC maintenance contractor will do these F-Gas checks for you as part of the maintenance, and if unsure you should ask.
- System smells. You may find the system smells when it is first switched on, whether it be an electrical or musty smell. Should anything smell of burning, electrical or otherwise, you should isolate your system and call an engineer to investigate. On many occasions this is likely to be dust on heater elements burning off and should there be any doubt safely isolate your system and seek further advice before using.
- System stabilisation. Please do not expect your system to cool or heat and adjust your building temperature immediately should it have been turned off for some time. It can take many hours for the temperature of your workspace to stabilise and should give any system reasonable time to stabilise before being concerned.
- Battery replacement. This may sound relatively minor although should your systems use infra-red handheld remote controls, you should change the batteries installed, normally AA or AAA. It is surprising the number of faults we have reported that are battery related and could be avoided.
- Air conditioning, HVAC, and COVID-19. There any many concerns with getting back to work and the impact of COVID-19 on your HVAC system. Here at Air Options we have addressed a number of these questions and concerns, these can be seen in addition if you would like to reviewing the advice from the HSE surrounding ventilation in your work space.
All in all, most HVAC systems are robust and other than your annual F-Gas checks should run back up just fine without a problem. You should also give yourself some time to adjust to your office again, as it is likely the temperature of your home will differ somewhat from your workplace and may need to layer up or down initially. Any questions or queries please do not hesitate to get in touch as we are here to help and get you back to work in relative comfort. Contact us today!