Reduce Electric Bills and Improve IAQ

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. March 26, 2009

MARCH 26, 2009 - Regardless of when the economy turns around, electric bills will begin to climb and indoor air quality will deteriorate in the coming months as hotel guests check in and crank up the AC. In the article below, David Triemert, President of PTAC MAGIC, explains how to significantly reduce electrical consumption and return to good air quality, simply by putting your maintenance staff to work on your HVAC systems.

Cleaning Your HVAC Makes Dollars and Sense

With all the "green" talk going around about reducing electrical consumption, one major energy user is rarely discussed - hotel PTAC/ VTAC units. A dirty PTAC must often work twice as hard and consume twice the electricity to reach the desired room temperatures of demanding guests. Simply cleaning the "filter" on a regular basis is not enough! PTACs should be removed and thoroughly cleaned a minimum of once per year. Getting the crud out will increase efficiency significantly, and improve air quality immediately. Hoteliers that put a HVAC deep-cleaning plan into action for the first time can realize huge savings on their electric bills. The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Engineers, (ASHRAE), conducted a study and found that the energy savings on running clean HVAC equipment verses that with dirty coils can be as high as 25%! That's big when you take into consideration that 40% - 60% of a hotel's electric bill is made up of heating and cooling costs. And the benefits don't stop there.

A Clean PTAC is a Happy PTAC and They Live Longer Too

In addition to producing a rotten smell when turned on, the next sign of a dirty PTAC is the noise factor. Granted, some of the older AC units still in service are just plain loud, but when the operation of a PTAC that's just a few years old results in calls to the front desk from guests complaining that they can't sleep because of the excessive clatter, it's time for a deep cleaning. A dirty PTAC serves as a breeding ground for pollen, bacteria, mold spores, viruses and disease. At PTAC MAGIC, we recommend that filters are changed on a regularly scheduled basis and the units be removed, taken outside and "steam cleaned" at a minimum once per year. Some of the immediate benefits include: better air quality (units become odor free), mold and bacteria are killed on contact, electricity usage is reduced significantly, damaging water "overflow" events are minimized/ eliminated, fewer maintenance calls and repair bills, it can delay replacement costs of new PTAC's, reduces room deodorizing costs, shrinks exposure to bad air/ chemical use litigation and work comp claims, increases guest satisfaction, and adds potential to maximize REVPAR. In addition, clean PTAC's run quieter and they live longer too because the compressor runs cooler and less often because the coils can breathe again.

Steam CLeaning is 'Green' - The Use f 'Coil' Cleaners is out

PTACs cleaned with chemicals leave an odor behind along with toxic waste water that's bad for the environment. Despite the advertising of some coil cleaner manufactures who claim that their products are 'acid free', 'rinse free', 'odor free' or 'water soluble' - nothing beats 'steam cleaning', which uses pure water, and that's as natural as it gets! Purchasing a good steam cleaner (about $4000) is one of the best investments you can make because it can pay for itself the first time you deep clean your units, in comparison to the cost of having a contractor do the work. Cleaned by a professional, you'll probably spend $75 - $100 per unit. But whether done in-house or hired out, the savings and benefits are significant. In the end your guests will appreciate the fact that you've rid their indoor air of that rotten smell associated with dirty PTAC's, which can contain mold and a host of other airborne particles. What better way to put a little more "green" in your image, and keep a lot more "green" in your pocket?

5 Steps to Clean Air and Energy Savings

Make an inventory of your HVAC components to be cleaned

When counting your PTAC's be sure to include all units in guest rooms, hallways, backroom, office, laundry, and spares in storage. Also consider the other HVAC equipment that might be on the property as well that should be cleaned regularly of which may include central units, splits, chillers, heat pumps, air handlers, etc. Duct cleaning should also be a consideration where applicable, but that task involves an entirely different process and may need to be hired out.

Create simple production goals and assign staff

It's realistic wherein two maintenance staff could remove and clean 4 to 5 units per day, before lunch time. With a 100 room property, you could expect to complete a project of this size in about 20 days, or one calendar month. Granted, it's possible to clean more units per day but it's likely that your staff will have other maintenance issues to deal with. PTAC MAGIC usually staffs 7 employees per crew and cleans 32 to 40 units per day. Our typical crew consists of one supervisor, 2 techs and 4 general labors. In addition, it's important to create a room schedule in advance to maximize labor efficiency. In situations where the hotel is running at full occupancy, a plan should be used where an already cleaned PTAC can be swapped out for the dirty one to minimize disruption for guests. Properly trained and organized, a HVAC team can enter an occupied room, change out the PTAC, and close the door behind them in two or three minutes.

Prep units well and handle with care

PTAC's have numerous electronic devices and delicate parts. Great care must be given to protect circuit boards, and fan motors from water or extreme heat used in the steam cleaning process. A dish towel (slightly damp for weight) can be placed over the control panel to protect from heat and moisture, while fan motors and other components can be wrapped in plastic. Be careful of the opening where wires enter the metal fan housing as these must be sealed off or a blast of steam can leave enough water behind to cook a motor when its plugged in and turned on again. Always use two people to lift PTAC's and transport outside laying flat on a four wheel cart. Cover the dirty units to keep from view of guests while in elevators and common areas. Take precaution not to bounce units around while loading or bringing outside. Check units for working order/ missing parts prior to and after reinstallation. Make note of any problems, recording make, model, serial number and room number for future reference.

How to clean your PTAC's

The components of a PTAC that you'll be steam cleaning include: front cover and filter, evaporator and condenser coils, heating element, fan and shroud, blower wheel, compressor, and condensate pan. Some parts, which vary with each unit can be removed to simplify the cleaning process and should be taken off before you begin. The cleaning equipment you'll want to use will be a low pressure wet steam washer, not to exceed 50 psi, with a 'fan type' spray nozzle. Never use a hot or cold water 'power washer' because they will cause almost certain damage, and they lack the heat of steam that's needed to kill mold and viruses. In addition, dry vapor steam cleaners work good on small surface areas but are a waste of time when it comes to cleaning PTAC's. You'll also need a wet/ dry vacuum with HEPA filter to clean the interior sleeve and grill, and a small air compressor to blow off excess moisture before removing plastic/protective coverings.

When you begin the actual cleaning process, keep the 'fan type' spray nozzle at least 12 inches away from any surface and slowly work your way in closer to deep clean. Make sure that when cleaning the coils you spray straight onto surface in a vertical pattern and never from an angle or you'll bend the delicate fins over and defeat the entire cleaning process, and ruin the unit. Always keep the spray nozzle in motion so as to not overheat and bend the fins. When finished cleaning, tilt the unit slightly back toward the drain hole and allow excess water to run out of the condensate pan. Never allow units to be left standing on end. Doing so can damage the compressor, and mounting flanges which are designed to create an air-tight seal when secured inside the sleeve. Use compressed air and a towel to dry the unit.

Create a HVAC cleaning schedule and stick to it

All PTAC's should be deep cleaned at least once per year. In coastal areas we recommend cleaning twice per year. If your hotel is located near a construction site, heavily traveled commercial area or a busy interstate highway, you'll want to consider cleaning your units more often as needed. As for cleaning your filters, this should be done every 30 days, of which may be a task that housekeeping can take on, being they're already in the guest rooms each day. Either way, if you don't clean your filters on a monthly basis, your PTAC coils become your filter, which soon leads to higher energy bills, equipment failure, noise and air quality complaints, and a host of other problems. Be sure to monitor your PTAC's performance levels (which is a good indicator that your units are getting dirty) by watching for increases in your energy bills. A more accurate and immediate way to see what your PTAC's are doing in terms of energy usage is to test them with an amp meter and compare the consumption reading on each unit to what the factory ratings state they should be.

Finally, hoteliers may want to consider ditching the old 'run until failure' school of thought, if they truly want to clean up their indoor air quality and save energy in an environmentally sound way. The days of working a fleet of PTAC's like rented mules until they die are over. On the front end of the equation, it can make good economic sense to disregard all deep cleaning maintenance issues and simply replace PTAC's that fail with new ones, but the backside of the same equation is much different. Enlightened operators will factor in values for image and brand, guest experience (comfort/ noise/ smell/ air quality), electrical consumption, repair costs, premature replacement costs, recycling costs, environmental impact, litigation potential, etc.

Properly cared for, most PTAC's can last ten years or more without any major problems. The chief maintenance issue always comes down to keeping the filters and coils clean. When deep cleaning is neglected, you can expect to get about 3 to 5 years of trouble-free operation out of your PTAC's, and you'll also experience considerable deterioration of air quality and increased energy consumption within the first 12 months of service.