Lone Star Cooling and Heating
Get help with Commercial HVAC
Call Lone Star Cooling and Heating, have us call you, or describe the issue.
Prefer to talk?
Call (325) 219-0005Heating, cooling and ventilation for shops, offices, restaurants and other working buildings, where several units serve one space, loads change through the day, and repairs are planned around keeping the business open.
01Commercial HVAC
In a building served by several units, where the problem shows up says a lot about which unit is behind it.
When one of several units fails, the others may carry part of its load for a while, but the space it serves loses ground. The cause is traced at that unit, from its controls and power through its motors and refrigerant circuit or burner.
Commercial buildings are usually divided among several units or zones, so one area drifting while the rest is comfortable usually points at the unit, damper or control serving that area rather than the whole system.
Commercial systems bring in outdoor air for the people inside. A damper stuck closed, a failed actuator or controls set wrongly can cut that supply, leaving the air stale even when the temperature is right.
Water from above a suspended ceiling can come from a blocked condensate drain, a unit on the roof or a leak where its curb meets the roof. Finding which decides whether the repair is at the equipment or the roof.
Dirty coils, slipping belts, dampers stuck open and schedules that keep equipment running while the building is empty all raise energy use quietly. A technician looks at both the equipment and the controls that decide when it runs.
02Urgency
A drifting zone can usually wait. Occupied spaces in extreme weather, water and burning smells cannot be left.
None of this repairs the equipment. All of it protects the people in the building and limits the damage.
Get everyone out of the building without switching anything on or off or using a flame, and call the gas utility or 911 from outside.
Switch the system off at the thermostat, and at its breaker if the panel is safe to reach. Leave it off until a technician has looked at it.
Keep people away from water coming through the ceiling near lights, outlets or equipment, and move stock and electronics out from under it.
Commercial HVAC
Serving Abilene, TX.
03How it differs
The equipment is related to what heats and cools a house. The way a building uses it is not.
A shop, office or restaurant is usually served by several units, often packaged equipment on the roof, each covering one part of the floor plan. The load in each area comes as much from people, lighting, kitchens and computers as from the weather, and it swings through the day as the building fills and empties. A dining room at lunch and the same room at closing ask very different things of the unit above it.
Commercial systems also bring in outdoor air on purpose, so the people inside are not breathing the same air all day, and their controls usually follow the times the building is occupied. That makes the dampers, schedules and sensors as much a part of the service as the motors and coils, because a unit that works perfectly can still run at the wrong times or starve a space of fresh air.
04Repair or replace
In a building with several units, the decision is made one unit at a time.
A single component has failed on a unit that is otherwise sound: a motor, a belt, a contactor, a control board or a damper actuator. Commercial equipment is built to be serviced where it sits, and one failed part rarely justifies taking the whole unit out.
The compressor or heat exchanger has failed on an older unit, repairs keep returning, or the space it serves has changed after a renovation or a new tenant. Replacing one unit of several can usually be planned around the business instead of being forced by a breakdown in peak season.
05Planning the work
The same repair can be simple or involved depending on the building around it.
Roof hatches, fixed ladders, locked mechanical rooms and equipment above finished ceilings all change how parts and people reach a unit, and whether the space below has to be cleared first.
A restaurant’s lunch rush or a store’s weekend decides when a unit can be shut down. Short repairs fit between busy periods, while replacements are planned for the quietest time the building has.
Many buildings run their units from a central control system or programmable schedules. Work on a unit often includes checking that those controls still start and stop it at the right times.
In a building with several tenants, one unit may serve more than one business, or one business may be served by units it does not control. Who needs to know about the work, and who can grant access, shapes the plan.
06Questions
Commercial buildings usually have several larger units, often on the roof, serving areas with very different loads from people, lighting and equipment. They also bring in planned outdoor air for the people inside, and their controls follow the building’s schedule rather than a single household’s routine.
Often, yes. Most repairs happen at the unit, on the roof or in a mechanical room, away from customers. Larger jobs, such as replacing a unit, are usually planned for quieter hours, and one unit can often be worked on while the others keep the rest of the building comfortable.
That area may have more people, equipment or sun than the unit serving it was sized for, or its damper, thermostat or ductwork may not be delivering the air it should. A technician compares what the area needs with what reaches it.
A smell of gas, a carbon monoxide alarm, a burning electrical smell, or no heat or cooling in dangerous weather: urgent. A system that runs longer than it used to, a new noise or one room that is off: worth a visit soon, but not tonight.
What the system is doing, when it started, what the thermostat is set to and what it reads, and whether the outdoor unit is running. The age of the equipment and a photo of its label help a technician arrive prepared.
Lone Star Cooling and Heating
Call Lone Star Cooling and Heating, have us call you, or describe the issue.
Prefer to talk?
Call (325) 219-0005