Author: MaintenX

The Benefits of Installing a Smart Thermostat

Most commercial businesses are grateful for the end of the summertime. While the season brings in a lot of business, it can also bring high energy bills due to increased foot traffic and rising summer temps. If you were hit especially hard this summer by high cooling costs, consider putting your autumn savings to good use with a smart thermostat. 

 

This small and simple investment can help save you hundreds of dollars in annual heating and cooling costs. Below are four reasons you should choose the smart thermostat to improve your maintenance strategy:

 

Increase tenant comfort. 

A smart thermostat can help you adjust temperatures based on the zones of your facility. You may want to increase the temperature slightly for interior rooms areas where employees work all day. However, you can lower the temperature in entrances and exits to provide a refreshing cold when clients or tenants come inside. You can also adjust zones based on the amount of heat emitted by facility equipment. 

 

Control temperatures remotely. 

This is a great advantage if you run a small office or building and want to cut down on heating and cooling costs. If your facility closes for an emergency, holiday, or for renovations, you can adjust the temperature to reduce costs while you’re away. This can also be used for climate control of individual rental units.

 

Reduce high heating and cooling costs. 

Your smart thermostat can help you not only control but improve upon your settings over time. By tracking your energy usage through the thermostat, you can determine the ideal settings for different times of year without constantly setting and resetting. 

 

Improved HVAC efficiency. 

Some commercial smart thermostats can typically monitor the health of your HVAC system as well as control temperature. It can notify you if the system is becoming inefficient, if the humidity is too high, or if you are in need of routine maintenance such as cleaning or air filter replacement. These advantages can make your HVAC maintenance schedule much easier for both you and your maintenance team. 

 

If you’re interested in making improvements to your HVAC system, contact MaintenX today! We can help you install a smart thermostat as well as make other improvements this fall to help you prepare for next year’s summer. 

Sustainable Landscaping For Your Business

One of the best ways facilities in 2021 can invest in sustainability is through their landscape design. Just like the rest of your building, it matters what you choose to invest in that will last for the future. As facilities make the switch to energy- and resource-efficient systems for their buildings, they should do the same for their exterior landscaping and hardscape installations. 

 

Sustainable landscaping is ideal, but not many facility managers know how to achieve it. If you are interested in building a more sustainable outdoor space for your building, here are some tips to help you get started: 

 

Shade trees

Shade trees are a tremendous asset to your sustainable landscape. Though they may take several years to grow, they can provide shade for your building that will reduce indoor cooling costs. Plus, they can take up a great deal of space and will thrive with little maintenance once successfully planted. By adding shade trees close to the building (without increasing risk of building damage if one falls down) you can create a more energy-efficient building with very little effort. 

 

Drought-resistant plants

Traditional landscaping typically uses grass to cover large spaces of land with decorative plants centered at focal points for visual appeal. However, grass requires a lot of water to survive and is typically more difficult to maintain than other drought-resistant options. The goal of sustainable landscaping is to reduce resource consumption, so talk to your landscaper about drought-resistant plants and other coverage options to reduce the need for landscape irrigation. 

 

Pollinating plants

Flowers are a staple in most retail landscaping and outdoor showrooms, but they do much more than add aesthetic appeal to your building. When you add flowering plants such as milkweed and other native flowers, you provide nourishment for the surrounding environment and a place for native butterflies and bees to pollinate. This low-effort addition to your landscape serves a practical function and will stimulate long-term plant growth on your property. 

 

Stone hardscape 

When choosing hardscape, it’s important to identify options that are eco-friendly and will last. Typically, we recommend stone for sustainable landscaping because it will last as long as vinyl or metal but does not require the intensive manufacturing process of these materials. While wood hardscape is sustainable in its manufacturing, it will not last as long as stone. 

Sustainable landscaping will make your building and your business better for the future. To learn more about sustainable design in commercial facilities, visit our resource center.

Common Problems With HVAC Systems During The Summer

It’s no surprise that your HVAC system is working double time in the summer. In Tampa, Florida, where MaintenX is headquartered, we experience many more service calls for HVAC systems in the summer as opposed to the winter, because our winters are mild in comparison to the many months of blistering heat and high humidity on the coast. For this reason, we encourage all facility managers to invest in preventative care for their HVAC systems during this time. 

 

If your system is older or has been having issues lately, it’s important you schedule preventative maintenance with your MaintenX provider. If you are proactive with preventative maintenance, you can avoid these three common HVAC issues during the summertime:

 

An overheated capacitor

One of the most common issues with HVAC systems during the summer is having the capacitor overheat. This can happen due to overuse or simply due to sun exposure. In either instance, it can cause the entire system to slow down or shut down. If this happens, you need to contact your MaintenX technician immediately. They are not safe to replace on your own because the capacitor has electrical components that require expert handling. Contact us immediately to have a serviceman onsite to fix the issue. 

 

Refrigerant leaks

Refrigerant leaks can happen at any time of the year, but they are especially problematic in the summertime. Without proper refrigerant levels, your system will not be able to absorb warm air and cool it properly to circulate. A refrigerant leak not only leads to discomfort in the building, but can be an environmental hazard if it leaks outside. To fix this, contact your MaintenX technician to repair the leak and to top off your system with refrigerant. It’s important to fix the leak first, so you don’t have a recurring problem on your hands. 

 

Clogged filters and drain lines

Because your HVAC system is running at full capacity, it is more likely for the system to experience clogs and buildup in the drain lines and air filters. The drain lines can develop mld and mildew as the humidity rises, and the air filters often become clogged faster because your system is running at maximum capacity. This is a simple fix, but requires the help of a MaintenX technician to properly clean the drain lines and ducts for better performance. 

 

With MaintenX by your side, we can help you avoid these issues and even improve your HVAC performance with preventative maintenance. Contact us today to schedule a consultation!

Daily Maintenance Tasks That Will Improve Your Facility Tremendously

As a facility manager, you have a lot on your plate to manage. Barring the occasional equipment crisis, you have preventative maintenance to schedule, staff to oversee, and new technologies to research and integrate into your facility for optimal performance. However, there are still plenty of daily maintenance tasks that you need to oversee in order to keep your facility in tip-top shape. 

 

If you run the maintenance department of a commercial facility, here are some things you should be doing every day to ensure peak performance at every level: 

 

Facility walkthrough

Being in charge of facility care, you should start your day with a simple interior and exterior walkthrough to identify potential visible maintenance issues. Cracks, leaks, lighting issues, and climate control problems will often make themselves readily available, but you must leave the office to find them. You can use this time to also catch maintenance team leads up to speed on daily tasks and goals. 

 

Daily landscaping

If you manage a facility with spacious landscaping, it’s likely that it will need daily care. Watering plants, inspecting for pests, and removing weeds or dead plants should all happen on a daily basis so your landscaping never gets out of hand. Even if you don’t perform these tasks, someone on the maintenance team should. 

 

Maintenance staffing meetings

If you are the facility manager, it is likely you’ll need to meet with your maintenance staff at least once a day to ensure short- and long-term goals are on track. Whether you’re meeting with technicians to assign tasks for the day, or update upper management on your weekly and monthly progress, communication should be a priority on your daily task list. 

 

Trash removal and cleanup

Finally, before you leave you want to make sure that you’ve tied up all loose ends — trash removal, sweeping or vacuuming, surface cleaning, and more. Go through the daily maintenance checklist with whoever is responsible to ensure you leave the office as clean as when you came in. This will reduce stress in the morning and help you become more efficient in achieving the bigger maintenance strategies. 

 

Daily routine maintenance will make up most of the maintenance you do, so prioritize it. To learn more about facility management and tips for success, visit our resource center for more information. 

How Much is Too Much Preventative Maintenance?

At MaintenX we specialize in preventative maintenance. From hydro-jetting services to routine HVAC repair and roof cleaning, we do it all. However, one of the questions we often receive from clients is, “Am I doing enough? Or am I doing too much?”

 

Typically, we worry about clients skipping preventative maintenance services, but it is very possible to do too much preventative maintenance. When services are over-scheduled, you may be interfering with the proper performance and aging of your machinery. Plus, you’ll be spending your maintenance budget on unnecessary services that could better go toward saving for emergencies. 

 

Some clients may put all their eggs in one basket, hoping that by increasing their PM budget that they can eradicate emergency repairs. However, your equipment simply doesn’t work like this. Emergency repairs do happen with aging, and will occur due to circumstances outside your control. You need to be prepared at all times, including both a preventative maintenance plan and emergency repair budget. 

 

So, how much is too much preventative care? Ask yourself these questions to find the answer:

 

  • Do you do more than the manufacturer’s recommended maintenance?
  • Do you do preventative care ahead of schedule often?
  • Are you performing preventative care services not compatible with your equipment’s age or condition?
  • Are you performing services to prevent issues that have yet to occur?
  • Are you scheduling inspections without your MaintenX technician’s recommendation?
  • Do you look to cut energy costs at every corner, even at the expense of an equipment’s performance? 
  • Are you spending more on maintenance services instead of less over time?

 

If you answered yes to more than one of these questions, you could be spending too much time and resources on preventative care. As a rule of thumb, we recommend sticking to your MaintenX team’s plan for your facility, as we offer a custom and detailed preventative maintenance schedule based on equipment age, facility capacity, and other unique characteristics of your building. 

 

MaintenX has your best interest in mind when it comes to PM care. To learn more about our services, contact your local MaintenX team today!

The Simplest Yet Most Important Maintenance Advice For Your Facility

At MaintenX, we work hard to ensure that our clients have the best maintenance service in their industry. Whether we are working with a small office building or a multi-location industrial complex, we are always looking for new ways to make your facility more efficient. We’ve been in business for over 40 years and have learned all of the tricks of the trade. However, our advice for optimal facility maintenance is very simple. 

 

Many facility managers want to look for new investments, or new technologies to implement in their maintenance programs to show visible progress. However, we believe that a simpler approach is often the most effective to create cost-savings and greater facility efficiency. When our clients go back to basics, they see both decreases in annual maintenance costs and tremendous energy savings. 

 

Our best advice? Make a plan and stick to it. 

 

Preventative maintenance is all about planning. If you want to catch repairs before they turn into disasters, you need consistent maintenance service to ensure that everything is in proper working order. This includes inspections, cleaning, and manufacturer’s recommended maintenance services to help critical systems function as they age. 

 

If you work with your MaintenX contractors to create a flexible but actionable maintenance plan, you can achieve greater facility performance across the board. You’ll experience fewer breakdowns and will rarely call in for an emergency repair because your technicians are on the job to prevent issues. We recommend putting these three services in your schedule to get the most out of your maintenance plan:

  • Regular cleaning – All of your major systems — HVAC, refrigeration, plumbing, roofing, and even electrical — will need regular cleaning to prevent corrosion and to improve performance over time. Sticking to a cleaning schedule is easier when you have it written down and scheduled with your MaintenX contractors. 

 

  • Tune-ups for major appliances – Your HVAC system, refrigeration, electrical and even plumbing systems have parts that need to be oiled, filters changed, and circuits that need to have safety checks on a regular basis. If you don’t have a schedule for these services, it’s likely they’ll be put on the backburner indefinitely, which can spell disaster for your systems. 

  • Annual inspections for needed repairs and upgrades – At least once per year, your MaintenX contractors should come onsite for inspections and auditing of your major systems. This can alert you to major repairs down the road, as well as help you calculate cost-savings due to preventative care. 

 

Preventative care is simple if you prioritize it. To learn more about your maintenance options, contact your local MaintenX today!

Three Maintenance Strategies That Are Essential For Industrial Facilities

MaintenX works with industrial facilities across the U.S. to provide exceptional preventative care services for their operations. We service plumbing, electrical, roofing, and HVAC systems for large-scale facilities and small operations alike. While every industrial facility is different, we see many commonalities in what works best for their maintenance programs.

 

Whether you own or manage an industrial facility, there are three areas in which you should focus your maintenance strategies. If you take care of these three things, your facility will be in good shape for long-term sustainability and health: 

 

Climate Control and Ventilation

Most industrial facilities require powerful ventilation if they are manufacturing products or parts inside. The ventilation system removes indoor air contaminants and helps to monitor the climate which may be crucial for the development of products or for other industrial purposes. For this, a powerful HVAC system is needed which must be cleaned and maintained regularly for maximum performance. Call your MaintenX contractor to learn about HVAC maintenance options that best suit your system. 

 

Water Treatment

If your facility uses or recycles a great amount of wastewater, then your plumbing system should take first priority when planning strategic preventative care. By investing in wastewater treatment you can reduce your facility’s environmental footprint as well as its water costs. Even if you do not use wastewater in your facility, plumbing preventative maintenance can help lower costs and create a cleaner environment for staff. 

 

Maintenance Staffing

Industrial facilities are often some of the most difficult clients for facility managers because of the sheer amount of work that goes into maintaining a facility of their size. It’s vital to employ a knowledgeable maintenance staff, instead of relying on employees to take care of minor maintenance issues throughout the day. Having a dedicated team like MaintenX can help you take control of your maintenance schedule and put savings back in your budget for the future. 

 

MaintenX can help you create a cleaner, safer, and more efficient workspace through diligent preventative care. To learn more about our services, contact a MaintenX specialist today!

Three Maintenance Strategies That Are Essential For Office Buildings

Office buildings have gone through many changes since the onset of COVID-19. Many have stringent new health and safety protocols to keep the virus’ risk to a minimum while in close quarters. However, as we move into a new age of COVID-19 life, there is an increased focus on maintenance strategies to keep office buildings safe. 

 

If you own or manage an office building, there are certain preventative care measures you should take for the health of your staff and efficiency of the building itself. We believe these three systems typically need the greatest care on a month-to-month basis:

 

Climate Control

Many facilities revisited their HVAC cleaning and maintenance strategies during COVID-19 to ensure greater indoor air quality. When vents and air ducts are clean and functioning properly, your building is less likely to circulate bacteria, viruses, and other germs. Now is the time to look at your HVAC maintenance schedule and see if there are areas to improve. Your MaintenX technician can help you get on a regular cleaning and preventative care schedule that works for you. 

 

Plumbing Maintenance

Smaller office buildings often have similar plumbing systems to residential facilities, but they are used much more often and therefore require greater care. MaintenX offers hydro jet cleaning, backflow testing, plumbing insulation, and other preventative care services to keep your office plumbing in working order. These simple procedures can help you maintain a cleaner office for your staff and ensure you never have to upset guests with an “out of order” sign on the restrooms. 

 

Electrical Safety

Most office buildings rely on computers and other office appliances for the bulk of their work. That means that nearly every outlet you have will be in use or connected to extension cords to handle toe demand of electrical power. This can cause stress on the system as a whole if not properly monitored. Your MaintenX team can provide electrical maintenance strategies to ensure you never have to worry about electrical hazards or power outages at the office. 

 

MaintenX specializes in office maintenance for both preventative services and emergency repair. Contact us today to learn more about your preventative care options!

Four Maintenance Strategies That Are Essential For Restaurants

Restaurant and foodservice businesses are one of our fastest-growing customer segments at MaintenX. In Florida, where MaintenX is headquartered, much of our local economic health comes from restaurant and other tourist industries that thrive due to our beautiful beaches. As part of this complex network, we strive to help our local restaurants and food services thrive with reliable, efficiency-focused maintenance services. 

 

Preventative maintenance is the best strategy for most restaurant businesses. You cannot afford a plumbing or HVAC problem in the middle of a lunch rush, which is why we ensure all of your facility systems are in tip-top shape. Below are the four areas in which you should invest your preventative care for the best long-term results:

 

Ventilation Maintenance

A commercial kitchen needs powerful ventilation to ensure temperatures stay down and the area has high air quality for staff safety. If your HVAC system is not regularly cleaned and maintained, it will soon cause problems for the staff and customers alike. To ensure your restaurant has high indoor air quality and climate control, be sure to schedule regular duct cleaning and outdoor HVAC maintenance services for your facility. 

 

Flooring Maintenance

Restaurant flooring takes quite a beating with the intense foot traffic and chaos of a commercial kitchen. We understand how difficult it can be to maintain an expensive flooring material, which is why MaintenX prioritizes preventative care and cleaning for all of our flooring installations. With a regular wax and deep clean, you can ensure safety for your staff and provide guests with an exceptional experience. 

 

Refrigeration

A refrigeration issue in a commercial kitchen is almost always disastrous. It may cause you to have to close for the day, or at best will limit your menu extensively while repairs are happening. The best way to prevent refrigeration issues is to schedule regular inspections along with your HVAC cleaning services to catch problems before they manifest. 

 

Landscaping for Outdoor Venues

If your restaurant has outdoor seating, you want to invest in outdoor maintenance including roofing care, landscape and hardscape maintenance, and regular cleaning of outdoor HVAC and visible plumbing systems. These small steps make a big difference for outdoor seated guests and will liven up the atmosphere for music, events, or simply for dining on the water. 

 

MaintenX is here for all of your restaurant maintenance services! Whether you want to schedule routine maintenance or need help with an emergency repair, we’ll be by your side to ensure your plumbing, electrical, roofing, and HVAC systems are running smoothly. Contact us today for more information!

Four Maintenance Strategies That Are Essential For Hospitals

Hospital maintenance is one of the most important services we at MaintenX provide. The work hospitals do day in and day out is incredibly important to us and our communities. We take pride in serving hospitals across the country with HVAC, roofing, electrical, and plumbing services to help them do what they do best. 

 

If you own or manage a hospital or medical facility, there are certain maintenance areas that need your special attention. If you prioritize these on an ongoing basis, your facility will be in good shape for 24-hour service:

 

Electrical Maintenance

A hospital’s power supply is one of its most vital elements. Without a reliable power supply and electrical maintenance, lives are in danger. While all hospitals have backup power supplies, it is important not to rely on them entirely. Invest in routine electrical maintenance to prevent unnecessary power interruptions and repairs.

 

Plumbing And Sanitation

Your hospital likely has a robust cleaning staff, but they can only do their jobs as well as your water and plumbing systems are in good shape. By investing in plumbing maintenance such as insulation, regular cleaning, and inspections, you can ensure that the steady supply of water needed for hospital sanitization is always available. 

 

Backup Power

Almost every medical facility that treats emergent patients will have a substantial backup generator or UPS system to ensure a steady flow of power at all times. However, these machines are not infallible. You must perform regular generator or UPS system inspections to ensure everything is in proper order in case of emergencies. This does not take much time, but will save you in the end when you know your power system is fully secure. 

 

Proper Maintenance Staffing

In a hospital setting, you never want maintenance issues to fall to the backburner, or for them to be left to staff to resolve. By having MaintenX on call, you know your maintenance needs are always covered. We also offer preventative maintenance programs to help you reduce operating costs and extend the service life of essential systems. 

 

MaintenX is your go-to place for hospital and medical facility maintenance. Call us today to learn more about our programs!