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Premises
Shops, restaurants, offices and light industrial along Thompson and Main, out to the harbour and up the valley.
And an extra column near the water
Each unit gets the usual entry: what it is, where it sits, roughly what age, the curb and the roof penetration, whether the economiser travels, the filter size it really takes, the electrical connections and the gas section.
Within a mile of the water we add one more thing and photograph it: the condition of the coil fins and the casing. Corrosion on this coast is not dramatic year to year, and it is very visible across three years of photographs. That record is what turns a replacement from a surprise into a budget line.
Twice a year, and closer to the water more often
Before the load
- Condenser coils cleaned properly rather than rinsed
- Charge verified by superheat and subcooling
- Belts, bearings and drive alignment
- Economiser dampers opened and proved to travel
- Drains cleared and float switches tested
- Electrical connections torqued, contactors inspected
- Coil and casing condition photographed on coastal sites
Before the cold
- Combustion tested on gas sections, figures recorded
- Heat exchangers inspected
- Flue and combustion air checked as installed
- Defrost proved on heat pumps
- Filters replaced with ones that fit the rack
- Outside air dampers checked for having been shut and forgotten
- Readings compared against spring and the drift noted
Three things that are different within a mile of the water
Coils go before compressors
Inland, equipment usually fails at the compressor. On this coast the condenser coil frequently gets there first, and a coil that has lost its fins is a capacity problem long before it is a leak. It is visible on a visit if anybody looks.
Rinse frequency is the cheap lever
Regular, correct rinsing of coils with fresh water does more for coastal equipment life than most of the products sold for it. It is unglamorous, it is part of the visit, and it is the reason we do not push protective coatings on everybody.
Fixings and casings, not just the machine
Curbs, straps, screws, panels and disconnect enclosures corrode too, and a unit that is mechanically sound in a casing that is failing is a different conversation. We record both.
What we turn down
Chiller plant, building management systems on proprietary protocols, commercial refrigeration, hood cleaning, and anything that genuinely wants a controls engineer rather than a mechanical contractor. We say so at the survey rather than after the second visit.
We also turn down a maintenance contract on a building we have not surveyed, and we will not sell a coastal protection package to a site that is three miles inland.