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Will your air conditioning be cool enough?

22 May 2017

Lucy Rice

Everyone likes a comfortable living and working environment. When summer temperatures and humidity rise, it is tempting to turn up the air conditioning. Seemingly regular patterns of heatwaves mean that air conditioning maintenance will be essential to maintain refreshing and stable indoor conditions. The benefits are clear—appropriate temperature and humidity levels have a noticeable effect on staff productivity and customer wellbeing, as well as business profitability. Other considerations include patient comfort in hospitals and residential homes, where fluctuations or extremes have serious consequences.

According to Melbourne news sources, for instance, hotter summers will have an adverse impact on the comfort, health and serviceability of everyday infrastructure. Consequently, although new HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems are increasingly efficient and reliable, dependable air conditioning repair and preventive maintenance contracts are becoming a central part of home or commercial property management. More than ever, the aim is to guarantee peak serviceability when it is required. 

Preventative maintenance maintains efficient operation and performance of the system; it also reduces the risk of faults and more expensive rectification work later. This is particularly important in larger installations, especially where there is a split system with an outdoor heat pump and indoor ducting that leads to wall-mounted units, usually with filters. In modern systems, the heat pumps can be used in reverse to provide winter heating. This clean way to heat a building cleanly does mean, however, that overall usage increases. Consequently, annual servicing takes on even greater importance in the drive to reduce the possible cost and inconvenience of unscheduled air conditioning repairs. With this in mind, if a cooling system is not working properly (or is faulty), it is advisable to organise air conditioning repairs as soon as possible.

On a wider note, apart from innovative HVAC design, the uncertainty caused by climate change means that building and architectural regulations are also under review. In recent news, Australian scientists used nanomaterials to develop a smart window that varies its colour and, therefore, the amount of heat and light that passes through it. According to sources, the Australian government has granted over $0.5 million to Griffith University researchers on the Gold Coast for further research and development of the new energy-efficient glass. However, the research director, Professor Zhau, considers that the technology still has a long way to go before it can complement air conditioning systems in new buildings. In the meantime, keep cool and don't overlook that air conditioning maintenance call!

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