Preventative Maintenance: Rooftop Economizers Help Save Energy (But You Have To Take Care Of Them)

Does your commercial or residential building have an HVAC economizer? If you live in a climate where it gets cool at night and in the morning, having an HVAC economizer on your rooftop unit is a great way to save money.

How does it work? It allows cool air into your building at optimal times without having to pay for it. The sensors monitor the humidity as well as the temperature of the air outside. Once the outdoor air reaches a temperature below the temperature of the air inside your building, the dampeners open. This provides your building with free cool air that does not have to be passed through your HVAC system to remove heat or humidity.

But of course, for your economizer to operate efficiently it must be properly maintained.

The Maintenance Requirements of HVAC Economizers

Preventative maintenance on an HVAC system should always be a firm priority for any building, given the crucial role they play in keeping a building comfortable. There are filters to change and no shortage of moving parts to check.

But amongst that, if your HVAC has an economizer? It's often overlooked. Rarely do maintenance personnel take the time to inspect the dampeners, sensors, linkages and actuators for proper function and calibration, despite how the proper functioning of each part is vital in ensuring the economizer is doing its job and saving you money.

• Check for seals that have dry rot
• Check for broken actuators and linkages
• Check for sensors that are broken or have fallen out of correct calibration
• Check the dampeners for corroded or blocked areas

If you don't have an HVAC economizer, you could be missing out on some significant cost savings. If you do, you have to ensure the proper preventative maintenance is done.

How To Keep Track of Preventative Maintenance Tasks

The best way to ensure your maintenance teams don't miss easy-to-forget tasks like the HVAC economizer? A great CMMS system.

Using one, you can build digital schedules of the routine maintenance tasks you know you have to attend to on appropriate frequencies. Set up daily, weekly, monthly schedules and slot your HVAC economizer — as well as all your other HVAC checks — in where it makes sense.

When the date comes, you'll see the task pop up and whether you need to do it yourself or send someone to complete it for you, you'll know if it was missed and can take action to get it done.

And thanks to mobile app options, the software can be used from anywhere, even while you're still on the roof, to encourage not only that the work order gets completed, but that it gets reported accurately and swiftly.

Want to see how it works? Book a free demo with our CMMS platform, Maintenance Care, right away.