Office Air Conditioning



Lousy office air conditioning causes discomfort, ruins employee attitudes, reduces productivity, can make a bad impression on visiting customers, and can cost the employer money in an increased power bill if the compressor is running and not cooling efficiently.

If you're not a technician, but want to see what you can do to try to get your office air conditioning unit running, our Air Conditioning Problem and Air Conditioning Freezing pages have some tips that you might find useful.


If you're trying to figure out who to call to work on your unit, our page about how to find an air conditioning contractor might help.


We also have a page with advice about air conditioning maintenance, and if you're planning to get a new system, we have a page about air conditioning installation that might help you.


If your office air conditioning is running, but just doesnt seem to be cooling efficiently, insufficient maintenance is a possibility.


If the evaporator filters are packed with dirt, dust, and mildew, air flow will be poor, so cooling efficiency will be poor.

If the evaporator coil is dirty, once again, air flow and cooling will be poor.

If the evaporator blower is dirty or the wrong size, air flow will be poor, and coling efficiency will be reduced.

If the condenser coil is dirty, air flow will be poor through the coil, cooling efficiency will be reduced, and the compressor will be running at high pressures and temperatures.

The result is a shortened service life for the compressor, and a higher power bill while the unit is running with a dirty condenser coil.

If the condenser fan blade is too small, or the motor is running slow or not at all, once again air flow through the condenser coil will be too slow or even none at all, with the same effects on the compressor and power bill.


If you find your office air conditioning equipment in this condition, review your maintenance schedule, and evaluate whether or not you're having maintenance done frequently enough.


Take a close look at your service company's work reports, and see if they've recommended more frequent maintenance.


If your office air conditioning is not on a regular maintenance schedule, you're simply asking for trouble.


My experience has been that a lot of places will run their equipment without regularly scheduled maintenance until it simply stops cooling, and then have the equipment cleaned.


One reason this is not a good idea is that it puts the compressor at risk.

If the unit gets dirty enough, the evaporator can freeze solid.

When it does, liquid refrigerant can reach the compressor.

Since the compressor is not designed to pump liquid, there is a good chance the valves will fail, and then in addition to cleaning, you have to replace the compressor or the compressor's valve plate.


Another reason it's not a good idea is that as the coils get dirty and efficiency drops off, the power bill increases because the compressor and fans have to run longer.


If your office air conditioning is on a regular and frequent maintenance schedule, but you're suddenly told the coils and filters are packed with dirt and need deep cleaning, check your service company's work reports, see if the condition of the unit is always described as 'clean' at the end of the work reports, check the description of the scope of work in your maintenance contract, and if you start getting the feeling that the service company you've been using isn't doing what you've paid them for, call in another company and get a second opinion.


Every once in a while, inspect your office air conditioning while the technician is doing the scheduled maintenance.

Take a close look at the filters, coils, fans, drive belts, drain pans and drain lines, and verify that they look like they're in good condition, and clean.


A couple of after-market type accessories I can recommend are hot water heat recovery air conditiong, which can help reduce your power bill; and high intensity ultra violet for air conditioning, which will clean the stuff that looks like mold and mildew off of your evaporator coil, and out of your evaporator compartment.


I hope this page has helped, and please, feel free to contact us with any specific HVAC questions you might have, including questions about air conditioning on Guam, or refrigeration on Guam.

Are you learning the HVAC Trade "on the job"?
If you would be interested in developing your potential to become the finest HVAC Technician you possibly can by studying a complete, accredited HVAC Technician course at home; we highly recommend that you contact Penn Foster Career School and request their free, no-obligation information brochure.
Requesting the information is easy and only takes 2 minutes; and it might be the first step towards changing your whole future.
You'll find a brief review of the course on our HVAC Training page.


Return from Office Air Conditioning to the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Guide home page.

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