Seasonal Maintenance Guide: How to Protect Your Building Systems During Fall and Winter

  • Expert Tips

As fall and winter approach, keeping up with building maintenance is vital, especially when preparing your systems to run smoothly during the upcoming months. Your industrial buildings and systems must withstand subzero temperatures, not to mention bracing for higher energy usage due to increased indoor activities. Proactive maintenance is necessary to create a comfortable working environment.

This guide shares insights on preparing your industrial building’s systems for colder weather.

Why Seasonal Maintenance Is Crucial for Proper Upkeep

Being proactive in your building’s maintenance does more than ensure your systems run efficiently — it helps prevent breakdowns and downtime. Neglecting seasonal maintenance often results in costly repairs and energy inefficiency. It also adds extreme urgency when critical systems like heating, plumbing, and energy components fail. 

Creating an annual maintenance plan and preemptively inspecting and updating your systems now can protect your building and operations when temperatures drop.

Prioritize HVAC Maintenance and Upgrades

Your HVAC system works harder during the fall and winter months, making it one of the most important systems to address.

Consider a Heating System Tune-Up

Protect your heating system this winter by thoroughly inspecting furnaces, boilers, and heat pumps with a combustion assessment. By examining your heating systems, you can reduce the risk of breakdowns during colder weather and take note of what is underperforming or at risk of failing.

Additionally, during your tune-up inspections, take note of the ages and replacement dates of your heating system elements. Boilers, burners, and heat pumps all have defined life spans. If they are no longer productive, early replacement of your HVAC units can be beneficial to limiting system downtime.

Seal and Insulate Ductwork

When conducting inspections, check for any leaks within your ductwork. Be sure to insulate the leaks properly, as improper sealing allows heat to escape. Improperly sealed or damaged ductwork also promotes inefficient heating, resulting in hot and cold spots and higher energy bills to maintain the status quo.

Replace Filters

While replacing air filters is a best practice during any season, it is an essential component that contributes to your heating system working properly all winter long. Replacing filters during high-pollen years or high-pollen seasons is essential. Clean or replace filters before the colder months settle in, preventing further allergens, dust, and other particles from circulating inside the building. 

Consider installing HEPA filters or other air purification systems to improve indoor air quality. Air purification systems installed in air vents help capture allergens and pollutants, creating a healthier environment for those working indoors.

Protect Your Pipes from Freezing

Frozen pipes block your water supply, which can fracture your building’s water systems. Take preventive measures to protect your plumbing systems from cold weather and significant damage. 

Inspect Your Plumbing

Schedule a plumbing inspection to understand where your building might have leaks, blockages, wear and tear, or damage. With this holistic view of your plumbing and pipes, you can complete preventive maintenance, protecting you from potential downtime.

Insulate Pipes

Exposed pipes can lead to significant repairs and bursts in colder weather, especially in unheated areas. If you have exposed pipes in basements, crawl spaces, or exterior walls, insulate them to guard against weather fluctuations.

Proper insulation of pipes reduces the risk of frozen or burst pipes during winter months or cold weather snaps. One of the simplest ways to protect plumbing systems during harsh weather conditions.

Complete Seasonal BAS Maintenance

While you might have heard of automation in other contexts, automation for your building’s systems can be cost-efficient and easy to maintain, protecting your valuable assets. 

Perform a Building Automation Checkup

Review your current building automation system’s features and software, and if needed, upgrade. Review whether the automation system is integrated with your existing HVAC, plumbing, electrical systems, and any accessories..

Install DDC Controls

Automate your thermostats to control temperature schedules for when the building is empty. Automatically adjust due to occupancy levels and monitor outdoor weather to make the transition indoors comfortable. DDC controls are also accessible from cell phones and other devices, making managing your systems easy while on the go.

Test Alarms and Alerts

Missing a key alert from your building automation system can harm operations. Always run quarterly or annual tests of your alarm systems. If these tests do not notify you, resolve the issue promptly so you’ll receive alerts regarding your building’s operations.

Optimize Your Energy Management

Wasted energy is more than just costly for your bottom line. It also impacts how well your HVAC and electrical systems work. If possible, create automation workflows for your HVAC and lighting systems to help with energy efficiency when the building is not in use.

Limit Costly Breakdowns

Neglecting your building’s vital building systems and seasonal maintenance won’t save you money — it’ll be the start of your compounding headache when something goes wrong. Before the temperatures drop, check in on your HVAC, plumbing, and building automation systems to guard against potential breakdowns and downtime. 

Need help with your seasonal tune-ups? Reach out to Enervise to schedule a combustion analysis for your HVAC system and tune-ups for your critical building systems. Together, we can keep your commercial buildings warm all winter long.