An effective means of building any refrigeration contracting business is to sell maintenance agreements. Maintenance agreements help to build a strong customer base and even out the workload throughout the year. Contractors normally market these agreements as a means of extending a system’s life cycle and to prevent major equipment breakdowns. However another major benefit of any maintenance program is to ensure the system continues to operate efficiently. A poorly operating refrigeration system definitely wastes energy. A well-designed maintenance program can ensure that a system is not wasting energy or the equipment owner’s hard-earned money. Refrigeration contractors should market this tremendous benefit while selling these agreements.
A poorly operating refrigeration system can waste energy in several different ways. A maintenance inspection should include tasks that ensure the system is operating properly and efficiently. A major impact on energy consumption is operating a system with a low refrigerant charge. A 23 percent refrigerant un-
dercharge could result in a 52 percent efficiency loss. A maintenance inspection must always include verifying the system is operating with an adequate amount of refrigerant.