Pro Active Mechanical Blog

IS MAINTENANCE REALLY NECESSARY?

By Pete Szmurlo, PMI President
March 18, 2011

NEWS ARTICLE
By Lisa Balde and Charlie Wojciechowski
NBCChicago.com NBCChicago.com
updated 3/16/2011 8:53:27 PM ET 2011-03-17T00:53:27

Even Villa Taj, the most expensive home on the Illinois market, is susceptible to water damage.
Earlier this month pipes burst in the vacated home's second-floor bathrooms and spilled a whopping six million gallons into the 45,000-square-foot Burr Ridge mansion.
The water accumulated over several weeks before a real estate agent for the home, which was listed in 2009 for $25 million, discovered it on March 5.
That much water could supply the village of Burr Ridge for two to three days, according to Community Development Director Doug Pollock, and it ultimately did damage on every floor. Floors have buckled and ceilings collapsed.
"I don't know how much the bill would be, but it will be a lot," Pollack said. "And we will bill [the owner] for it."
The home is known as "the crown jewel of the Midwest" for its 160 tons of imported Gold Jerusalem stone, 20-car heated garage and 15,000 square-feet of terrace space.
The village declared the building unsafe.
The post-flood listing price of the home isn't known. At its height, Villa Taj flaunted features such as:
- Five master bedroom suites, each with bathrooms, walk-in closets, fireplaces, and handcrafted ornamental doors - Jacuzzi-equipped bathrooms - Conservatory, library, cigar room, wine cellar, dining lounge, formal dining room, grand kitchen, family entertainment room and a 2,400 square foot central ballroom - Two-lane bowling alley

The above mentioned residence suffered a catastrophic mechanical breakdown, a type of failure that is worth sharing with others. This is a huge loss for the owner of the property as well as the village. Keep in mind that this home is labeled by the media as the crown jewel of the Midwest and the most expensive home on the Illinois market. As an owner of a service company, the first question that came to my mind as I read this article was, “how could this have been prevented?” Without knowing all of the details involved, I can only conclude the following;

Home is subjected to freezing temperatures as all other homes are in Illinois.
Pipes’ bursting inside a structure may be caused by a handful of reasons such as a natural disaster, physical force or friction being exerted onto the piping itself, poor soldering joints or faulty and/or questionable piping/fittings, utility interruptions and of course water’s hydraulic effect once it is frozen.
Excessive cold air infiltration such as an open door or broken window.
Heating system or temperature control failure.

Someone will determine the cause of this failure and those results may be factored in by the insurance company involved. That still does not answer my question of what steps may have been taken to avoid all of this. In our industry there are many tools and products on the market today such as water sensors and low temperature alarms, all of which are designed to put the property owner at ease and to avoid this kind of incident. Only a few people know whether these precautionary measures were offered or discussed and I am certain that if this was an option being offered then, the choice to opt out of these measures must be deeply regrettable right about now.

Let’s face it, the home owners, builders, real estate agents, insurance agents and inspectors were all involved in the building and selling of this property. Did anyone ever discuss the possibility of this happening? Did anyone discuss preventative maintenance? Did anyone look at the heating system and controls prior to freezing weather arriving? I can tell you this - a good heating and air conditioning company would have brought this up. Unfortunately, so many times equipment owners state that their HVAC system is new and they have no interest or need in scheduling a preventative maintenance program. Without jumping to conclusions, it is safe to bet that had someone discussed scheduling a preventative maintenance inspection at this property and moving forward with it, this flooding possibly may have been prevented. If only the owners of this property had taken my call a few years ago…..

Reply to this blog –pete@proactivehvac.com

March 8, 2010

The Importance of HVAC Maintenance

By Pete Szmurlo, PMI President

Recently, I have heard people say that we, as mechanical contractors, are in a virtual recession-proof industry. This allowed me to invest in many deep thoughts regarding this familiar topic that can never be discussed enough.

It is true that this past year we have seen the percentage of new equipment installations drop significantly. It appears that our current economy has swayed many budgets and the end result is equipment owners are holding on to what normally would be considered planned replacements. With that stated, we are noticing a greater percentage of older, tired and heavily used mechanical equipment that is failing to meet the comfort and product demands of today’s various types of businesses. In addition, many equipment owners have even diminished their scheduled maintenance programs in a desperate effort to decrease operating costs. In actuality, nothing can be further from the truth. Regular equipment maintenance is a value-added service designed to not only provide reliable mechanical performance, but to also assist with the increased profit plan as well!

I have always used the analogy of operating an automobile to correlate the idea of dealing with older HVAC equipment. When we drive 20-year old cars, we can expect to pay for automobile repairs more frequently than those of us that drive cars that are only a few years old (although, as my friend tells me quite often, one can never tell about these things). This seems like a simple thought process, but yet more challenging to grasp from non- technical business owners viewpoint. Industry standards, along with documented history, inform us that we can expect to replace certain HVAC components such as condenser fan motors, contactors, induced draft motors, hot surface igniters, etc. after an average of five years. So why is it so often perceived that these parts are failing during the times we need them most? The answer is simple- it’s true… the breakdowns occur during the times of need. I have often stated that the heating portion of the mechanical HVAC equipment typically will not fail in July. Therefore it is so important to utilize a maintenance program to address these needs. A reaction is needed to address a negative situation, whereas a proactive approach minimizes these scenarios. In addition, preferred customers will always have priority in scheduling along with discounted rates. When you find yourself on the side of the needy, you can expect to have challenges while attempting to contact a service company to schedule a technician within the hour. To further pour salt on the wound at a time of need, the hourly rate will almost surely be higher due to lack of maintenance agreement pricing. Ah, and the best benefit of having these older "dinosaurs" maintained is the energy savings! You can expect a 25% to 35% energy cost savings with the use of clean, efficiently operating HVAC equipment.

Based on these facts, the decision to implement or continue with a scheduled maintenance program is as easy as 1, 2, 3. It simply does not make sense to ignore the benefits of maintenance and energy savings, especially in today’s economy when HVAC equipment replacement is not part of the operating budget. Preventive scheduled maintenance is a sure way to saving money, keeping operating costs to a minimum and being environmentally responsible.

Reply to this blog - pete@proactivehvac.com