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Offices, kitchens, clinics and shops on the south coast
Buildings downtown are frequently older than the third generation of equipment installed on their roofs. Commercial work here begins with finding out what is actually up there and what it is still connected to.
One sheet per unit, and a plan of what serves what
A rooftop survey produces a list: every unit, its model and serial number, its measured condition, which zone it serves, whether it is running, and whether it is connected to anything at all. On a building that has changed tenants several times, some of it will not be.
From there the readings that matter commercially: airflow and static pressure, refrigerant charge, economiser operation where one is fitted, filter condition and the pressure drop across it, belt and bearing condition, condensate drainage, and on gas heat a combustion analysis.
The survey is written so that a facilities manager who has never been on the roof can read it, and so that a landlord and a tenant can tell from it who is responsible for what.
The four kinds of building we are called to most
Offices
Usually a zoning problem rather than a capacity problem: one thermostat governing a floor that has a glass west elevation at one end and an interior corridor at the other. We measure the zones separately at the time of day the complaints happen, which is almost always mid-afternoon, and the answer is frequently rebalancing and a second sensor rather than new plant.
Restaurants and kitchens
Make-up air balanced against the hood exhaust, measured rather than assumed. An out-of-balance kitchen pulls air from the dining room and the street, takes the conditioned air out with it, and makes the front of house impossible to keep comfortable. We do not clean hoods and we do not certify them; we work on the air and we will tell you who to call for the rest.
Medical and dental suites
Stable temperature, documented filter changes, and ventilation that can be shown to be doing what the room requires. We keep the records in a form an inspector will accept. Where a space needs formal certification to a clinical standard, that is a specialist engagement and we will say so rather than take it on.
Retail
State Street doors stand open. That is a trading decision and not our business to argue with, but it does mean the plant is asked to condition the sidewalk, and the honest options are an air curtain, a schedule change, or accepting a figure on the bill. We will put numbers against all three.
What we do in premises
- Written rooftop survey
Every unit found, identified, measured and mapped to what it serves, with the dead and abandoned plant marked as such.
- Planned maintenance
Scheduled visits with the same readings each time. Written specifically enough that a lease obligation can be shown to have been met.
- Packaged unit repair and replacement
Repair diagnosed and costed first. Replacement sized from the load the building has now, not from the plate on the old unit.
- Zoning and controls
Sensors placed where the complaints are, schedules set to the hours the building is actually used, economisers checked for whether they still move.
- Make-up air and exhaust balance
Kitchen and workshop extraction measured against supply, with the figures written down.
- Ventilation records
Filter changes, airflow readings and dates, in a form that satisfies a tenant, a landlord or an inspector.
Work we turn down
- Central chiller plant and cooling towers. Large water-side plant is a different discipline with different tickets. We are not going to learn it on your building.
- Proprietary building management systems. We will work with the controls in front of us and we will tell you what a schedule is doing. Programming a manufacturer-locked BMS belongs to whoever holds the licence for it.
- Commercial refrigeration. Walk-ins, display cases and ice machines are adjacent and they are not the same trade.
- Hood cleaning and fire suppression. We work on the air balance around a hood. Cleaning it and certifying the suppression system are separate licensed jobs.
- Clinical certification. Where a space must be certified to a clinical standard we will hand it to a specialist rather than sign something we are not qualified to sign.
Ask for a survey
Tell us the building, roughly how many units are up there and what the complaints are. 30 W Anapamu St, Santa Barbara. Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 5pm.