Black Friday is just around the corner and Thanksgiving is knocking at your door. An NRA survey stated that about 1 in 10 Americans would be dining out for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. This trend can be attributed to the fact that Black Friday is no longer Black Friday it starts on Thanksgiving! With all of those people just waiting to take refuge in your restaurant from the craziness that is retail stores, you can’t afford to have your equipment fail on you. Our experience in the field shows that restaurants only replace equipment like HVAC units and refrigeration units when it is well past time to replace them. Replacing your units when they need to be replaced can save you headaches later and, not to mention reduce energy consumption, saving you tons!

What happens to your HVAC unit when one goes down, and the others have to compensate for it? This practice is something we often see when we install our system into locations all over the country. The other units in your location have to compensate for the HVAC that is down, which shortens the life of the equipment and raises your energy consumption significantly. Take a look at the graph below; this data was captured from a location where three units required replacements, the manager was unaware that the units weren’t even functioning. It can be difficult to identify if a single HVAC unit is down because the others may keep the space cool, compensating for that down unit, but are running nearly all day.

HVAC unit cycling off
October 22nd peak energy consumption
October 23rd peak energy consumption

The red lines represent energy consumption, the red lines that are dipping that demonstrates the HVAC units cycling off. The three units replaced on October 23rd. You can see the energy consumption spiked when the new units were installed but comparing the before to the after, there was a 30% reduction in energy consumption. On October 22nd the overall energy use is higher, but you never see the units turn off, then on October 24, you can see the consumption is lower, and the units are turning off more frequently than before.

Replacing your HVAC may seem like a huge expense but letting your other nits run nonstop only wastes your energy and increases your chances that those units will go down due to overuse. Now is the perfect time to evaluate your units and if you need a replacement contact your local HVAC provider. Since its winter HVAC companies are looking for business anywhere, they can get it, giving you a leg up in the discount department. Take advantage of the weather, the influx of business, and get some of those Black Friday HVAC deals to help you reduce energy consumption!

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