Using Building Sensors to Reduce HVAC Expenses

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If your organization is looking for cost-saving strategies to protect your bottom line and maximize profits, refining your HVAC strategies is an ideal place to start. With cutting-edge technology like building automation systems (BAS) and facility HVAC sensor controls, your team can automate day-to-day operations while intelligent computers continuously optimize energy consumption. In this post, we’ll detail some of the sensor technology your organization can deploy at your facility to save money and prepare for the challenges of tomorrow.

Occupancy Sensors

Occupancy sensors are quickly becoming the norm for businesses, schools, and government buildings. Traditional HVAC systems use timed schedules to maximize energy efficiency. However, these fixed schedules make it difficult to plan around variable work schedules and room usage. HVAC systems using occupancy sensors, on the other hand, monitor room usage in real-time to ensure you don’t end up heating or cooling an empty room. For example, conference rooms are often unoccupied for more than half the workday. With occupancy sensors, your HVAC system can automatically adjust so it isn’t using any more energy than it has to, translating to direct savings on energy costs.

HVAC Temperature Sensors

While occupancy sensors continuously monitor room usage, thermal sensors monitor the temperature of specific rooms or areas of your building. Since not every area of your building needs to be equally cooled or heated throughout the day, thermal sensors ensure your HVAC system delivers precise climate control exactly where it’s needed. A packed conference room can heat up quickly, while an open office area can lose a lot of heat. With thermal sensors monitoring temperatures throughout your building, your HVAC system can maximize comfort while saving your organization money.

Carbon Dioxide Sensors

While deploying carbon dioxide (CO2) sensors won’t necessarily translate to direct energy cost savings, it can protect your bottom line by maximizing employee productivity. A study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that high levels of CO2 in a building can negatively impact decision-making, critical thinking, and productivity. By incorporating CO2 sensors into your HVAC infrastructure, your system can circulate fresh air where it’s needed most. When specific CO2 levels are detected, your HVAC increases the supply of fresh air to that part of your building, maximizing air quality, employee well-being, and day-to-day productivity.

Variable Speed Fan Sensors

Traditional HVAC systems use fan motors that can only run at one constant speed no matter what the room temperature is. With variable speed sensors, fans can adjust rotational speed and airflow to match a room’s occupancy levels or temperature levels. That way, your facility remains comfortable while reducing energy consumption.

Cutting-Edge Sensors for Your HVAC

If your organization is interested in deploying the latest HVAC sensors to maximize energy efficiency and cost savings, contact the experts at Garrison today. We’ll work with you to clarify your energy efficiency goals and deploy a solution optimized for your facility.

 

Summer Energy Savings Tips for Your Residential HVAC System

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Have your energy costs risen with the South Florida summer temperatures? If they have, you should look into ways you can save energy. While blasting the air conditioning might seem like a good idea on a 95-degree day, you should consider your energy bills and your environmental impact first. Here are several tips for staying cool in the Florida heat while reducing your energy costs:

Use Preventive Maintenance

Having your heating and air conditioning system serviced regularly is called preventive maintenance. Waiting until your system suffers a major breakdown to have it serviced is called reactive maintenance. Engaging in preventative maintenance will keep your system working throughout the summer and in the long run. This type of maintenance involves checking on and fixing small problems before they become large ones. That includes:

  • Changing your air filters every month, or at least at the beginning of every season. This will improve the air quality in your home and prevent dust and allergens from causing health and breathing problems for you and your family.
  • Having the coils and fans professionally cleaned. This will improve your system’s energy efficiency.
  • Sealing the ducts in your home. This prevents air leaks that decrease your system’s efficiency.

While you can perform some of these tasks yourself, such as changing out the air filters, some require professional residential HVAC services, like the ones we offer. Hiring an HVAC services company to inspect and service your system regularly means your system will be serviced safely by a licensed technician. While you will have to spend money to hire these professional services, you will ultimately save money in the long run because you won’t have to hire professionals for many larger, more expensive repairs.

Keep the Air Moving

Instead of blasting your central air conditioner at its highest level, you can use it at a more moderate level and use ceiling fans to keep the air moving. To do this, you should keep doors open between rooms in your home. This will help the cool air travel freely between rooms, whereas closed doors would keep the air trapped in specific rooms.

Install a Programmable Thermostat

Using a programmable thermostat, such as Sensi, gives you greater control over your energy consumption. You can use a zoned cooling system, which is a room-by-room thermostat that comes with one multi-zone controller. With this system, you can set different rooms to different temperatures. So you can set an empty bedroom zone to a higher temperature, such as 80 degrees, while you can set the fully occupied living room zone to 73 degrees.

Use Window Treatments

While this tip doesn’t directly involve your HVAC system, it’s an additional way to keep your home cool. Having your windows treated with solar film will block out the brightest rays during summer and help keep your home cool before you even have to touch the thermostat. You can also put up curtains, drapes, blinds, or thermal-backed shades and keep them closed during the hottest periods of the day.

South Florida Residential HVAC Services

If you are interested in using preventive HVAC maintenance to help keep your house cool this summer, contact us today. We can fix small HVAC problems before they grow larger, but we also offer residential and commercial HVAC emergency services in case a major breakdown does occur.

HVAC Sensors | Garrison Mechancial

Increasing Your Building’s Energy Efficiency With HVAC Sensors

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Today, as businesses worry more about their environmental impact, energy efficiency is more important than ever. So how can you make your HVAC system more efficient? Yes, you can seal your heating and cooling ducts, change your air filter, and get a programmable thermostat. However, commercial HVAC sensor controls are a great investment if you want to make your commercial building more energy efficient.
HVAC sensors conserve energy by sensing the environment of a given room or space so you can make operational decisions about the heating, cooling, and ventilating in that space. This enables you to conserve energy based on what you learn from the sensors’ readings. When you’re more informed about how your building consumes energy, you can make smarter choices to help it become more energy efficient.

Types of HVAC Sensors

These are the three types of sensors we install in commercial buildings:
Occupancy Sensors – Occupancy sensors measure the number of people in a room to determine heating, ventilating, and air conditioning needs. These sensors are used to control an HVAC system automatically by measuring the room’s occupancy.
HVAC Temperature Sensors – Commercial temperature sensors use a room’s occupancy readings to control the temperature. This sensor measures a room’s temperature and either increases or decreases its heating, air conditioning, or ventilation.
Pressure Sensors – Pressure sensors are used in variable air volume systems and coolers. This type of sensor monitors rooms and checks for drops in pressure that may indicate the measured space needs maintenance.

Benefits of Using HVAC Sensors

Sensors are one of the HVAC applications that yield many benefits. By measuring the occupancy and temperature of a room and adjusting heating and air conditioning, occupancy and temperature sensors can help lower your energy bills and make your business more energy efficient. The measurements these sensors take allow your HVAC system to adjust immediately and raise or lower the air temperature so your business isn’t heating or cooling a given space more than it requires, which prevents your system from wasting energy. You can also use the data sensors provide to learn about a room’s air flow and air quality. Additionally, using sensors in your building can reduce wear and tear on your HVAC system because the sensors prevent the system from running harder than the building requires.

Trust South Florida’s HVAC Experts With Your Sensors

If you are interested in installing HVAC sensors in your building, contact us today. At Garrison Mechanical, we install sensors from companies including Honeywell and Siemens, and all of the manufacturers that we work with specialize in building automation systems or large energy management systems. We can install and work with the sensors in your building to make sure your South Florida business stays cool all year long.