Tag: negative building pressure

Top 5 Negative Building Pressure Problems

Posted on by Lindsey Burbee

The difference between outside air supplied to a building and air removed from inside a building is the building pressure.  Typically, a slightly positive (or more air being supplied than taken out) building pressure is wanted for most buildings.  Negative building pressure can cause many issues for customers from high energy costs to hot and cold spots in a building.  Here are the top five problems a building with negative pressure can experience:

  1. Difficulty Opening and Closing Doors:

One of the first signs that a building is negatively pressurized, is when the front door is not easily opened.  After finally opening the door to a negatively pressurized building, a large draft will be felt on your back as the door is slammed closed.  Because buildings are typically designed to be positively pressurized, you should feel a soft gust of air blowing outward when this is set properly.

  1. High Humidity:

If your building is negatively pressurized, the building will pull in unconditioned outside air through all openings including doors, windows, and other leaks in the structure. This is very noticeable in the summertime when outside humidity is especially high.  This can cause mold or mildew in the building.

  1. High Energy Costs:

Studies have shown that correcting negative building pressure can save a facility owner as much as 20% on their HVAC energy costs.  By ensuring your facility has a positive building pressure, you are avoiding unnecessary costs and maximizing comfort in the facility.

  1. Outside Debris:

In a facility that is negatively pressurized, owners are more likely to see outside debris being pulled into the facility through various openings. These items include, leaves, flies, dirt, as well as smells brought in from outside.  In many facilities, this could create major issues with production as the outside debris could be contaminating the products.

  1. Hot and Cold Spots:

Another symptom commonly noticed in buildings with negative building pressure is noticeable hot and cold spots that are created by the disrupted airflow.  This could cause the customers to become angry because they can’t reach a comfortable temperature in the building.  In a restaurant, this could also cause food at the counter to become cold.

3 Steps to Troubleshooting Your Facility’s HVAC With Onsite Staff

Posted on by Lindsey Burbee

HVAC Troubleshooting

Have you identified that your facility is experiencing a potential air balance problem?  You might be experiencing hard to open doors, uncomfortable temperatures, poor smoke capture, odors, drafty areas, or any combination of the other common sick building symptoms.  The inevitable question now is, “Who can resolve this best?” Bringing in your facility’s mechanical contractor may be your first instinct but troubleshooting with your onsite managers is actually the best place to start. Work through the following questions with your facility’s day-to-day manager:  

1.  Is the equipment running?

As basic as this may come across, it is absolutely crucial to check if all HVAC equipment is operating. Check grilles to see if air is being blown out or sucked in. Check roof equipment, can you hear the fans from the RTU, MUA, or EF units spinning? Have the manager record and communicate findings.

2. Check the Thermostats

Navigate to the wall mounted thermostats and ensure they have the proper set points. Often, a thermostat is installed and connected to the system and then left alone. When this occurs the thermostat is left at factory settings which is often set at a random temperature. Your staff can follow the directions on this thermostat to program it for the desired temperatures.  As well, check the thermostats for “Fan ON.”

Thermostat

3.  Check the Circuit Breakers

Check indoor and outdoor circuit breakers. Observe tripped or “Off” breakers. DO NOT flip the breaker on. If tripped or left off, there’s likely a reason for it and you don’t want to risk frying the electrical systems. We recommend calling an electrician for this type of deficiency.

 

Armed with your findings from these simple tests, you can save some money with a Do-It-Yourself fix.  It’s possible that the journey back to a healthy building ends here.  But if the problem persists, it’s time for the level of technical know-how. Call the mechanical contractor. With your observations to these preliminary steps above, you can approach your mechanical contractor with information that will help them to better understand your situation and get you closer to achieving a healthy building.

The #1 Air Balance Bummer: Negative Building Pressure

Posted on by Lindsey Burbee

What’s the first thing you experience when you arrive at a restaurant? You might say the delicious aromas, lighting, and possibly the smiling hostess asking how many are in your party. But the very first thing anyone experiences is the door. How many times have you found yourself struggling to open the darned restaurant door? You pull the handle, but it won’t budge. You try the other handle, to no avail. You think, “There’s no way this is locked, it’s the middle of the lunch rush and I can see people inside.” With all your strength, you finally crack it open and squeeze through. You might feel a large draft on your back and then, finally, slam! Woman pulling on door

 If this common door problem has happened to you, how many times do you think it has happened to customers entering one of your restaurants? While your first hypothesis may be that it is a door hinge problem, it is actually part of a larger problem: negative building pressure. And that is just one symptom of a sick building.

 Sick Building Syndrome is a serious situation restaurant facility managers and owners cannot afford to take lightly.

Check out these three must-know tips:

  1. Know what to look for. This simple illustration shows the most common problems related to HVAC air balance, which cause sick building syndrome.  Educate your teams as well.

Unbalanced HVAC system problem graphic

  1. Assign someone at each restaurant location – the store manager or maybe a shift leader – to watch for these sick building symptoms. Give them a process for reporting these problems so you have a record of the issues.  View our Sick Building Syndrome white paper and distribute to your teams for diagnosing comfort problems.
  1. Don’t just take it from us, read more on this important topic from expert Rob Falke, How to Measure Building Pressures, published on ContractingBusiness.com, an online industry publication.

Do Any of These 4 HVAC Issues Occur at Your Restaurant?

Posted on by Lindsey Burbee

Are you contracting out your preventative maintenance?  Unfortunately, we’ve seen a lot of restaurant managers be misled by their mechanical contractors into thinking their “building is balanced”, but still notice misreported or never- reported problems that are causing complaints from their guests.  For example, you’ve been told that air filters and screens used for the outside air intake are clean, or that belts are tight, when they are in fact loose or cracking and ready to break.  These facility problems would cost so much less if treated immediately.  For example, a $10 fan belt replacement, if not replaced by your facility management when needed can cause irreversible damage to the rooftop RTUs, along with the cost of uncomfortable guests.  These instances escalate in the summer and fall months, when outdoor weather threatens indoor comfort.

Be aware of these frequent summer sick building symptoms, so you can call out the indicators, if necessary:

  1. Humidity- Sits in the carpets or hardwood floors causing buckling, odor, and mold.  Often triggers allergies for guests.
  2. Too much exhaust and little or no fresh air-causing a negative building pressure, so anything in the outside air can come in, including bugs and pests.
  3. Condensation on windows and/or grills
  4. Entry doors hard to open- Leaving guests frustrated, or worse-assuming the restaurant is closed

All the above issues can cause a negative building pressure, allowing the outside air to infiltrate the building through every crack and crevice, causing damage that could shut a restaurant down from a health code standpoint. If you’re concerned that your building is uncomfortable or not running how it was designed to, you have the option of calling in a third party HVAC balance service who can give you an objective diagnosis of the issue, and fix it.