Daily, Weekly & Monthly Maintenance for Your Cabinet Cooling System
Cabinet cooling systems are carefully designed and manufactured using high quality components offering maximum life expectancies. In order to ensure continuous trouble free operation, the system should be periodically maintained making certain the cooling system is working properly.
Inadequate cooling system maintenance while operating under extreme conditions, such as high levels of dust and debris, can lead to components failing before their maximum life expectancy. In addition to ensuring you don’t void your warranty, establishing a daily, weekly and monthly maintenance program for your cabinet cooling system will help ensure smooth operations avoiding unnecessary downtime, expensive repairs, equipment failure and customer inconvenience.
Providing Regular Maintenance to Ensure Proper Air Flow
Whether your cabinet cooling system consists of filtered fans, an air to air heat exchanger or an air conditioner, proper airflow for efficient cooling is the most important operation to maintain. Poor air flow due to a restricted air filter influences every other part of the cabinet cooling system. Less air flow not only contributes higher electrical enclosure temperatures but compressors and fan motors will also operate at higher temperatures, reducing their lifespans.
How to Develop a Daily, Weekly and Monthly Maintenance Schedule
Choosing suitable service intervals depends on the operating environment and how long it takes before the air filters become blocked. Following the manufacturer’s guidelines and warranty conditions for filter service is a great place to start, while referring to the cabinet cooling system’s User and Technical Manual for guidance.
A maintenance schedule is a checklist or table used when developing tasks needed to properly maintain the cabinet cooling system. Developing a daily, weekly and monthly task list is necessary to ensure maintenance tasks are done consistently.
Maintenance tasks should include the following characteristics:
1. Create a title describing each maintenance task to be performed
Possible titles may include: Check, Clean or Replace Air Filter, Check Fan Blade Condition or Clean Condenser Coil.
2. Assign a frequency for each task to be performed
The cleanliness of the operating environment will determine the inspection frequency. Checking the condition of an air condenser once a week may, or may not, be too often. Taking notes for future reference can help build a useful and efficient maintenance schedule.
3. Determine whether cabinet cooling system will need to be shut down
The condensate management system on an air conditioner requires periodic inspection for sludge, scale, or other debris. Should the tray require cleaning, the unit may need to be shut down for a brief period of time.
4. Describe the type of work required
This may include preventive maintenance or parts replacement such as a noisy fan motor.
5. Estimate the time required to perform maintenance
Time can vary for each task; therefore it’s important to verify time needed for each maintenance operation should the system require a complete shutdown.
6. Assess Performance
Once a maintenance schedule has been setup, it can be determined over a few short months at what frequency air filters need to be cleaned or replaced. If excessive filter replacement or cleaning is required for an air conditioning unit, the installation of a high capacity air filter may be an option.
Important Items to Check for Scheduled Maintenance
Referring to the cabinet cooling system’s User and Technical Manual to set up a maintenance schedule is the best place to start. Depending on your cabinet cooling system the following may be required:
- Verify both evaporator and condenser fans are running and listen for any unusual noises coming from the fans.
- Check the enclosure cabinet for any air leaks since improperly sealed doors or faulty mounting gaskets will not allow for efficient cooling.
- Check that no debris is located within 5 inches (cm) of any intake or exhaust areas which can reduce airflow.
- For cabinet air conditioners: Check the remote monitoring system for any faults or whether the temperature controller alarm has been triggered.
Clean Cabinet Cooling Systems Save Money
Regularly following a maintenance schedule will allow your cabinet cooling system to run more efficiently and help keep your warranty intact.
Most maintenance operations are easy to perform, but in the event of problems the experts at Thermal Edge can assist with troubleshooting and replacement parts. Additionally, maintenance can be completed by a qualified technician by contacting your local refrigeration service company.
