The company explains that air-conditioning systems are far more likely to fail when temperatures rise and that many are only designed to cope with temperatures of 28 to 30°C. When temperatures touch 32°C or more, system struggle to deliver enough cooling because they fall short of specifications to cut costs or because service and maintenance has been neglected.

EWS also points out that many companies are not aware of the additional heat generated by the increasing amount of high-tech equipment in the workplace and that air-conditioning systems may need to be upgraded to cope with the increased demand.

John Wright, general manger with EWS, tells us, ‘Last summer, engineers across the industry were working flat out. Companies that took a risk and did not have a planned-preventive-maintenance contract suffered the consequences of higher call rates and, in some cases, catastrophic failures as customers with contracts took priority. This was compounded by longer waiting times, sometimes weeks, before an engineer became available.

‘Another benefit of planned maintenance is compliance with the F-gas regulation, which came into force on 4 July and requires periodic checks of equipment charged with 3 kg or more of HFC refrigerant.’

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