5 Summer Tips For Your HVAC Projects
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning or HVAC is one of the most critical aspects of warehouse management and for several reasons. One, heat and cold can damage or even completely destroy inventory, resulting in unsatisfied customers. Furthermore, if your HVAC system isn’t properly maintained, your employees will constantly suffer from hypothermia or heat exhaustion. Either way, this would lead to a massive drop in productivity and uptime, which can have a negative impact on sales and revenue.
Now that summer is getting closer, you’ve probably considered starting an HVAC project, but it’s worth noting that keeping a warehouse cool during summer is entirely different from how you can keep your home or office cool, especially as you’re dealing with a lot more space. With that said, here are five summer tips for your upcoming or ongoing HVAC projects:
- Invest In Cold Storage
As previously said, heat and cold can possibly destroy your inventory. This is especially true when it comes to food and drinks. Without refrigeration, these goods will go bad faster than you think, so it’s best to invest in cold storage equipment as soon as possible, preferably before summer hits. Take note, however, that in the case of a power outage, your products may go bad very quickly, so you should also consider investing in backup generators.
Another problem you’ll face with cold storage is that it requires regular maintenance and, in some cases, repairs. One way to fix this is by looking into HVAC contractors Colorado Springs or similar service providers for regular HVAC equipment maintenance and repairs.
- Consider Spot Cooling
If you decided to invest in massive refrigerators for warehouse storage, it’s a given that such an apparatus will generate a lot of heat. Add that to the summer heat, and you’ve got an overheating-prone piece of machinery. This is where spot cooling comes in.
Spot cooling is the process of using small portable air conditioners to cool down a specific area, particularly the area where your heat-generating devices are located. This would significantly lower the chances of overheating, so it works well for warehouse storage. Besides, employees can use these portable air conditioners to cool down if the summer heat becomes too much for your HVAC system to handle.
- Include Dehumidifiers
When dealing with your HVAC system, you only ever think of temperature and ventilation, but it’s worth noting that humidity levels also play a significant role in your HVAC system. For starters, high humidity can make the air around you feel hotter, while low humidity levels will do the opposite. Once summer hits, your goal is to set the humidity levels in the warehouse as low as possible, which is possible through dehumidifiers.
Dehumidifiers are devices capable of eliminating moisture from the air, therefore making it a lot cooler than it really is. However, note that like any other devices, dehumidifiers may go against you if not maintained properly. That said, consider calling services like duct cleaning Colorado Springs every now and then to monitor the state of your HVAC equipment.
- Install Screen Doors
If you’re planning to do a major overhaul of the overall structure of the warehouse, you might want to start with the installation of screen doors. Screen doors have one purpose—to prevent small animals and insects from entering the interior. But, what makes them perfect for your HVAC project is that these allow light and air to pass through. Think of it as one way to allow air coming from outdoors to enter and cool down the warehouse’s interior.
Besides, as screen doors also prevent small debris like dust from entering, they’d also go a long way in improving the ventilation of your warehouse. Take note, however, that once winter comes, screen doors can go against you as it may let cold air enter, so consider preparing a countermeasure for this issue.
- Replace The Warehouse Roof
Different types of roofing have different levels of heat tolerance. For instance, asphalt shingle roofs tend to absorb the heat from the sun, increasing the indoor temperature by a considerable margin. On the other hand, metal roofing reflects heat, keeping it outside of the warehouse. Naturally, you’d want to replace your current warehouse roofing with metal sheets as it’ll save you a lot of money that would’ve otherwise been spent on other HVAC equipment.
It’s also worth noting that the roofing’s color has a massive impact on the roof’s reflective ability. Specifically, roofs with light colors such as white and peach can reflect heat better than dark-colored roof sheets.
Wrapping Up
The summer heat has always been a significant issue, especially to warehouse management, considering that you’ll have to take care of the welfare of the workers as well as the condition of the goods. Nevertheless, with these tips, it should be a lot easier to develop a better plan for your next HVAC project for the coming summer.