Heating, Ventilation And Air Conditioning (HVAC)

Does buying best rated technologically advanced Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) equipments ensure best results and benefits continuously?

No. If an Economic Times article is to be believed, leading luxury hotels, malls, IT industries, etc., are being told by the management to prune power bills by 15 to 25%. This leads us to ask some important questions like why is such heavy investment in HVAC not paying back? Why is a project with 125% AC capacity, facing cooling issues after a year of use? Why is it that during the Indian summer various reports on maximum compressor failures have been reported in Northern India and other scorching regions of the country?

HVAC industry has grown by leaps and bounds in the last two decades. HVAC finds its origin in the Indian economy, with the stupendous growth of various industries viz. pharma, IT, software, manufacturing growth, industrial expansion, outsourcing, mall, retail, entertainment, education, realty, rise in individual earning, rise in temperature etc.

HVAC industry brought with it new players, new technology, new models, gold standards and competition. EMI and competitive prices made the industry penetrate deeper than ever before.

Having been a successful industry in the past and the growth pattern maturing at the present rate, there is an increase in the demand for performance.

A great question to ask will be – if the HVAC industry has survived the recession of 2008; will it be able to expand heatedly in the future?

More queries, probing questions and demands from customer, management, environment, financial updates are asked in this hour. The major source of drain on balance sheet is the salary bill – second only to the power bill.

It has been noted that in some cases HVAC consumes 65 to 75% power. High power tariffs and shortages are adding to the woes of the company costs. Thus, HVAC consumers and suppliers alike need to start thinking of ways and means in order to stay afloat.

The major pressure has always been on the completion of the project on time and handing over the site to the original owner. In order to achieve the target dates, only project work conveniences are looked forward to at the cost of maintenance requirement per need. It will be interesting to note that at some places, basic need of power connection, running water, proper drain facility, etc are ignored.

Similarly, HVAC equipment requires space and urban center realty rates are sky high, so every inch of space cut saved is making maintenance of HVAC equipments after installation a steeper work. Some sites require crawling on your knees and hands or standing on 1 – 2 story high ladder to service AHU.

Air and water are being used vastly as a coolant, for heat exchange. Air and water borne contamination build up takes place in such conditions, seriously retarding their performance, and hence the output. HVAC Units’ performance and efficiency are directly proportional to the use of water and air quality, both of them rapidly deteriorating by scales and environment corrosion.

New industry brought new working standards, viz. Call Centers, IT Industry etc. All round working was rarely seen with any alternate cooling arrangement, any failure due to known or unknown factors leads to the collapse of HVAC system – affecting the organisation’s productivity. In simple words, imagine people working with no fans and windows in modern architectural structures.

New technology brought about more cooling in compact units, leading to more fins per inch. Types of fins; like slit fins and fine fins, blue fins etc.; became available. Such new technologies with no maintenance guidance or professional equipment from dealers lead to the failure or rejections of many new models in a short period of time.

Hence, the questions to be asked at present are:

• Has the maintenance industry team worked in tandem with the high growth? Are they ready for new technological advances and the work load that will follow?
• Is the maintenance crew technically equipped with the latest gadgets – or are they still employing primitive methods like the wire brush, air blower and caustic soda for cleaning?
• Is it possible to get continuous cooling, high power efficiency, and longer inventory life in the present scenario?
• Is the management right in asking for 15 to 25% power savings? Considering, savings of Electricity + Gas + Water = Power Savings…
• Can maintenance team rise to the occasion and demands of the industries? If yes, how do they plan to? What will they need?
• Can Indian ‘Jugaad’ be useful? What is at risk and at stake?
• Is it possible to maintain HVAC equipments at original conditions through out their life?
• Can 15-year-old equipments be restored to original conditions?
• Can we extract 2 to 50C less cooling demand than the present requirement?

To question and get answers to many such issues, please read my next series of articles in Cooling India on HVAC cleaning and maintenance. I also request your queries, which may be sent to the editor of this magazine. Wish you all a very happy new year (2016)!

If you want to share thoughts or feedback on this article, please leave a comment below.