Pipes v Pumps

You’ve probably read a few of our previous blog posts about a/c units producing water, and the problems this can cause without proper maintenance. The part we’ve not covered yet is how to get rid of this water! Obviously a drain is required but sometimes it can be difficult to install because of the units’ position and the difficulties posed in getting a suitable drain close by. This week alone we have attended two service calls with drain problems so, obviously, the universe is encouraging us to write about!

There are two choices when installing an indoor unit, which usually go above a ‘T’ bar ceiling. You have the choice of a sloped pipe or a pump, both of which would lead to your drain.

The pipe is the most common, mainly because it’s cheaper. If it’s a short distance to a good drain then this is the best solution but, if it’s a longer distance, the slope of the pipe has to be perfect and will need to be vented properly. This means a pipe should only be installed if a drain is easily accessible. Beware of tradesmen trying to install this purely because it is the cheapest option.

When the drain line becomes complicated either by distance or a requirement to go uphill, a pump quickly becomes the best option. The pump can be installed next to the unit, and then a hose is run to the drain. This hose can be run up to 100ft and even rise 20ft to the drain. Aside from the higher cost, the draw back to the pump is maintenance – they will need to be cleaned every few years.

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

Have you ever felt like the small guy?

Managers and business owners know this feeling well. Whether you have one small location or 125 stores across the country, there always seems to be someone bigger than you. This can make you question your business and yourself.

Our philosophy is to ALWAYS think big! Believe that nothing can stop you, there are no limiting factors, and you can do everything your competitors do…but better. Changes in technology and marketing tools mean that small businesses can access the same markets as the big companies. Printing costs are a fraction of the old costs. Facebook, Twitter and other social media are free. Producing videos, commercials, websites and software is within the reach of everyone. A little bit of research will almost always show you a newer way of doing something, and it’s usually easier and cheaper than the old way of doing things.

A good example of this in the HVAC/Energy Management industry is the recent changes in control systems. In the past they were large and bulky, the software needed a dedicated computer to run it (which also meant room for an extra computer), the parts in the system were proprietary, meaning you were stuck with a certain company even if you disliked the service you were receiving. All of this meant that the costs were out of reach of all but the biggest companies. Now, with recent technological advances, we can install systems for a fraction of the cost, the system is built with common parts, and everything is accessible on the web.

It may not be big, but it IS clever!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

House Hunters

It’s that time of the year again….the kids are going back to school, vacations are becoming cherished memories, the leaves are starting to don their fall colours. Of course, it’s also the start of the major house hunting season!

If you’re looking for a new home, here are a couple of quick tips. It’s one of the biggest investments you’ll ever make so ensure that you employ a good home inspector to look after your interests. Remember that your HVAC provider would be happy to help you too, if you want some added reassurance that furnaces, a/c equipment etc are all up to scratch (or to let you know if costly changes will be needed).

Good luck in your search – we’re sure your perfect home will find you very soon!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

The earlier the better!

When construction starts on a new building (or a reno of an old one) getting advise early on could save you a lot of trouble later on.

Don’t just rely on your architect – have  your HVAC company come to the site early on. A good HVAC contractor will be able to look over the space and let you know what will and won’t work. They should also be able to recommend the best equipment to use and advise on the prevention of future conflict with other trades. For example: where the duct will run, controls placement, electrical requirements, fresh air intake and general layout of the system. We worked on one job where they had not taken any advice. As each trade arrived on site they found the sprinklers were in their way and had to be moved. Eventually they were moved FIVE times!

With this basic info at his fingertips, the site foreman doesn’t need to be an HVAC expert. The system will be planned out from the beginning so, as each trade arrives, their part of the job is already planned out.

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too.

Why does my air conditioning always break down on the hottest day?

It may seem like Murphy’s Law, the temperature goes up and your a/c equipment chooses that exact moment to break down, but there’s actually a logical reason for this to happen.

The hotter it gets, the harder your equipment needs to work. For example, if it’s 28°C outside and with your a/c running it’s 22°C inside, that’s a 6°C difference. Now consider when that changes to 32°C outside. Your equipment now has to make up a 10°C difference. So, as the a/c works harder any little problems will start to show….dirty filters, plugged ‘p’ traps, dirty coils, bad air flow etc will all start to affect performance.

So, if you want to keep your cool over the summer…keep all doors and windows closed when equipment is running (otherwise you’re just trying to cool your entire town!!) and make sure your machinery is well maintained and clean.

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

Wake up call

Last Friday we got a call at 11pm from a restaurant. They were frantically trying to find someone to come and look at the exhaust fan which had stopped working. 5.30 on Saturday morning,  off we went….and found the exhaust fan working and the make up air pushing air into the kitchen! So, why the panic call the night before, and what had changed between then and now?

Well, closer inspection to the exhaust fan revealed that the pulleys and belt were so warm that the belt was slipping a little. Not too bad at that time in the morning, but you can imagine the heat build up after it had been running all day! When we checked the make up air it was also found to be in desperate need of attention.

Discussing all this with the manager his face fell, and he told me he has a maintenance company who come to the premises twice a year. It seems the company had been missing a lot of the equipment, but why? Well, what usually happens when you employ a new company to do your maintenance work is that a journeyman will come out and do all the work needed. He usually comes for the first few visits to sort out any major problems. Then the company will just start sending an apprentice to change the filters etc. Only sometimes are the apprentices shown what to do!

Restaurants are especially vulnerable to this, the apprentice can’t turn off the exhaust fan when the kitchen is cooking, and the make up air in this case was hidden in the ceiling. So, unless the apprentice knows to look for it or has been told its location, the equipment remains untouched. Years go by…..and then the equipment waits until a busy weekend in the middle of summer, and stops working!

It really is worth investing in an hour of someone’s time to have them check that all your equipment IS being maintained, otherwise it could cost you thousands of dollars to replace all your uncared for machines.

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

Why is my Fridge dripping?

We recently posted a blog about fridges not cooling in the summer, which proved very popular, so we thought we’d also cover the second most common fridge complaint….a water leak.

We get lots of calls in the summer about water sitting in the fridge and sometimes on the floor (which is yet another good reason not to have hardwood floors in the kitchen!). Where is all that water coming from? Well, in the freezer there is a coil which is responsible for keeping everything cold. When the humidity is high in the summer, and you open the fridge door, all the moisture ends up on the coil. Of course it freezes once it’s there so over time ice builds up. Your fridge is equipped to deal with this though, using a heater. When the ice melts it drains down the back of the fridge and is evaporated by the heat of the compressor.

There are two reasons this water can become a problem. One is that the drain gets plugged; by dust, dirt or bits of food. The other reason could be that the heater is burnt out, which means the unit cannot defrost itself. More and more ice will build up and some will melt on the off cycle. This is an easy problem to avoid, just keep your fridge clean and well maintained…..and we hope this helps you through a hot summer!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

My refrigerator is not keeping cool…what’s wrong with it?

It’s that time of year again, when we hear this a lot. Well, first the good news! 9 times out of 10, there’s nothing wrong with it. We need to go back to basics to explain this one….bear with us.

There are two coils in your fridge. One gets cold, one gets hot. The inside coil gets cold and the refrigerant (gas) moves the heat to the outside coil, on the bottom of the fridge. A small fan blows air across the coil and gets rid of the heat. The problem with this design is that all the dust and dirt on the floor under your fridge will be pulled onto the bottom coil and, over time, this will block its ability to eject the heat. In summer, this problem is exasperated because room temperatures go up. So, a room that is normally 18° C is now 22 or 24°C, making your fridge work harder to cool inside. This is why these issues always show up in the summer.

So, to save money and help your fridge last longer, clean the coil at the bottom of your fridge. It’s as easy as vacuuming it. (some manufacturers put them at the top just to make it a little more confusing for you!)

Now you can enjoy a cold beer, with a clear conscience!

Caledonia Integrated Services is an Energy Management, HVAC and Electrical company, serving Vancouver and BC area.
We actively encourage feedback, comments and questions. You can leave a message here, or look us up on Facebook and Twitter. Of course, you can always e- mail us too!

 

This is the time of year when everything starts warming up (hopefully!) and your equipment will need to run at 100%

In the HVAC industry the first few hot days of the year are a very busy time for us. Everyone switches on their equipment, after leaving it off all winter, so everyone discovers their problems at exactly the same time. So, test your equipment NOW to be ahead of the game. If the cooling seems a bit weaker than last year, if it sounds different or there is a new noise or vibration, call in your HVAC provider and get it serviced as soon as possible.

A lot of people put this off, and find out the hard way that in the heat of mid summer it is A. the worst time possible to be without air conditioning and B. almost impossible to find an HVAC guy who can get to you any time soon (and, of course, people in high demand can also charge whatever they like). Get any little service repairs completed now and you’ll find that it will be done almost instantly and all parts for repairs or replacements will be in stock. This will not be true in another month or so!

Enjoy your summer!