You have a business, and you're seeing some indicator, such as noise, lack of cool air, or the presence of moisture, that suggests it's time to get in touch with a commercial cooling services contractor. How do you go about getting work done?

Understand the Job

The distinction between dealing with a commercial air conditioning repair and an installation is important. First, if you have an existing system in place and intend to fix it, you may be limited to hiring contractors who are certified to work on your make and model. Second, an installation may call for a lot more disruptions at your business than just having someone tooling around in an out-of-the-way corner of your building.

Licensing and Certifications

There is a slew of professional organizations that certify technicians in the commercial cooling industry, including the Air Movement and Control Association, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Indoor Environment Energy Efficiency Association, United Association and American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Fortunately, standards across the industry are stringent, so you can mostly just focus on finding someone who has been certified and be comfortable that they'll know their stuff.

Due to the fact that A/C systems include products, particularly freon in older models, that have to be disposed of in a very specific manner, licensing requirements in the industry are also strict. Most states have websites that allow customers shopping for services to find someone who's qualified to perform commercial air conditioning repair and installation projects.

Understanding a Building's Requirements

Air conditioning capacity is measured in tons, and one ton of A/C capability can provide 12,000 BTUs of cooling per hour. In order to understand your location's A/C needs, you need to start by figuring out its square footage and divide that figure by 500. That number gives you how many tons of commercial cooling capacity you'll need just to cool the air in the space.

For every 32 people per hour who'll be in the space, you'll need an additional ton of capacity. Every 12 windows will be another ton.

It's wise to calculate requirements for both install and repair efforts. When performing repairs, you may find that one of the reasons there's trouble with the system is because it's straining to keep up. This can happen because the unit is old or because your requirements now are different from what they were during its installation.