Monday, June 5, 2017

Commercial Air Conditioning Options


Depending on where your business is located, having air conditioning available is probably a necessity. A select few businesses, particularly at northern latitudes, might get away without having it, but most do need it. Employees have to stay cool and dry to be productive, consumers won't spend a lot of time any place they are uncomfortable, and letting humidity into a place can speed up physical deterioration of anything from paper products to paint and carpet.

Commercial air conditioning by Acclaim Air Conditioning comes in a number of forms, many of which are more sophisticated and robust than the standalone units you might think of more commonly associated with single-family homes. Keep reading to learn 9 questions to ask as you look for the cooling possibilities for your business.

1) What does your lease allow you to do to the property? Many commercial businesses lease their building, their land, or both. Make sure your agreement allows for modifications like air conditioning.

2) Are you likely to ever sell the building? If so, when? Keep in mind that if you buy an air conditioning system that's going to last longer than your business will own the building it's in, you might not get all the value you could out of it.

3) How much room does your budget have for commercial air conditioning? If you're like most businesses, you'll have ways of financing something like this over time to spread out the expense, but you still want to avoid buying anything your business can't afford. Maintain your profit margin.

4) How cool do you need to keep it? Know what temperature and humidity level you need to keep your facility for the kind of business you run. An office environment might not need as much power and cold air as a hot kitchen and busy restaurant or a commercial store with a lot of foot traffic.

5) How much area do you need to keep cool? This is another key number in determining how much air conditioning power you need. Depending on the height of your ceilings, you might also need to think more in terms of cubic footage than square footage.

6) What will your power bills look like? Get an estimate done to try and predict how much your utilities might be with various air conditioning options. You might find that one commercial option that seems too expensive to buy and install over other actually saves you money in the long run.

7) Do you need to air condition the entire building? Storage areas that are already kept dark and cool can possibly have their own environmental system that takes less energy. Focus on human-inhabited parts of your facility for maximum efficiency.

8) How long will the installation take? This is critical because it's additional parking spaces being taken up and possibly even a brief time your business doesn't have air conditioning. Scheduling is critical, unless it's an emergency.

9) Will it interrupt your business? If the new commercial air conditioning option is just replacing external equipment and hardware, it might impact anything going on inside your business. However, if there is duct work to be done, you might have to cordon off sections of your business, and possibly even close down temporarily, which can seriously impact your operations. See about weekend or after hours service that might minimize disruption of your employees.

Whether you are a business owner or just a manager responsible for making such decisions, choosing from the available commercial air conditioning options for your building deserves mindful consideration, since you'll live with your final choice for some time to come. Use these 9 questions as a framework to start exploring the possibilities and find the right one for your building and business.