Whether you have a large commercial HVAC or a commercial refrigeration system, odds are good that a substantial part of your business relies on it. In the event of a sudden compressor failure, you could be looking at steep costs with a real strategic impact.
Potential Costs of Losing Commercial Refrigeration
Enterprises that use commercial refrigeration are in the most challenging spot when it comes to keeping their equipment working. Most refrigeration is related to perishable food products. These products may be unsuitable for sale after only a few degrees increase in temperature.
Of course, perishable inventory is usually written off long before any actual spoilage occurs. Kitchens, restaurants, grocers, and convenience stores can all be shut down for selling items exposed to regular room temperature for even a short period of time. This also raises the specter of legal liability.
Another core category of a commercial refrigeration system is found in medical care facilities. From senior care centers to hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies, refrigeration systems are used to keep key medication ready for use. Some medications are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature.
No matter the precise situation, health, and safety are on the line when refrigeration isn’t working. A compressor failure can be a serious catastrophe, whether it’s food or medicine that’s at risk of being lost. The average convenience store or small grocery store may lose $50,000 in just a few hours.
In the medical realm, it’s much more difficult to accurately estimate potential losses. If someone is adversely affected because of poor refrigeration, they may have a legal claim worth millions. Plus, multiple people under care at any given facility are likely to be impacted by the same failure.
Potential Costs of Losing Commercial HVAC Service
Losing commercial HVAC service isn’t necessarily a crisis on the same scale as losing refrigeration. You do have a longer period of time to react, but it’s still best to have mitigation measures in place within a few hours. Safety is not usually at risk immediately, but productivity certainly can be.
If your enterprise relies on foot traffic, then a loss of commercial HVAC will make it much less likely that people will stop in. In many places throughout the South and Southwestern U.S., that first cold “blast” of air conditioning is an important signal that you’ve reached an oasis of comfort, especially in the summer.
While the public has the option to stay away during an HVAC failure, personnel who work on-site are not so lucky. Although things might be okay for the first day or so, absenteeism can easily spike afterward. In a worst-case scenario, you might find yourself dealing with “Sick Building Syndrome.”
Remember, when your HVAC system isn’t running, it means that air isn’t circulating properly, either. That can make indoor conditions seem even more stifling. It may even contribute to unintended side effects, like the spread of illness throughout a building if one person happens to be unwell at the time.
In this kind of scenario, no one will be handing you a big bill for lost products. The accumulating costs are much more subtle. But if the HVAC isn’t restored promptly, some states may require you to shut it down completely. Many businesses are unprepared to absorb a complete loss for more than a few days.
It Only Costs a Few Dollars to Avoid the Worst Case Scenario
No one wants to see a business unraveling around them. If your HVAC or refrigeration system is a major point of fault in your operations, then there’s a simple solution: Always be sure you have the right spare parts on hand for your commercial compressor units.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that many basic components cost only a few dollars. They might be just a few ounces in weight and a couple of inches across, but they will enable you to enact a quicker field repair instead of replacing a compressor that’s on the ropes.
You can take this concept one step further by having a spare compressor ready to deploy.
A compressor is a significant investment, but there is a way to put it within reach for your budget. With a remanufactured commercial compressor, you get the same quality, performance, and longevity as an all-new compressor at a fraction of the cost.
A remanufactured commercial compressor undergoes a complete engineering process to bring it back into service, meeting all the same performance and environmental benchmarks of a unit from an OEM wholesaler. The discount is often 30% or more, and fulfillment can be done weeks sooner than that of an OEM compressor.
As with any critical facilities issue, preparing now can save you a headache later. A trusted compressor remanufacturer can work with you to ensure you have all the parts your current compressor needs – and a reliable replacement waiting in the wings.
