Commercial maintenance agreements
We build the agreement around your building rather than around a printed package. First we walk the roof and the mechanical room and write down every piece of equipment you own, then we set the visit schedule the equipment calls for, monthly, quarterly, annually, or a mix on the same property, and we supply the filters. On the visit itself our technicians take real readings, amp draws, capacitor values, combustion numbers, water side pressures, and compare them to the last visit, because a number that is drifting is a repair you can schedule instead of a shutdown you cannot. Family owned in Pittsburgh since 1980. The first step is a walkthrough.
We start on the roof and in the mechanical room
Before anyone can tell you what your agreement should cover, we have to see what you own. So we come out, get on the roof, open the mechanical room, and go through the equipment piece by piece with a clipboard.
Most buildings we walk into do not have a current equipment list. Once one exists, the schedule follows from it, because a twenty year old packaged unit over a kitchen and a four year old split system over a front office are not on the same clock. The list also tells you which units are near the end of their service life, so a replacement can land in a month you choose rather than the first ninety degree stretch in July.
Here is what we record while we are there.
- Manufacturer, model, and serial number off every nameplate
- Nameplate electrical data, rated load amps and full load amps, so later readings mean something
- Age, condition, and refrigerant type, since that drives what a repair looks like later
- Filter sizes and quantities, unit by unit, in writing
- Roof access, ladder or hatch, and what a technician needs to get up there safely
- What the space each unit serves is used for, because that sets the visit interval
- Anything you have already been fighting with, including the equipment that has been hardest to keep running
What the work looks like on a rooftop or packaged unit
Rooftop and packaged equipment takes the most weather and gets looked at the least, so this is where trending readings pay off first. Here is what maintenance on that equipment involves. Our technicians pull filters, wash the condenser coil, check the blower wheel for loading, and then take numbers rather than eyeball it.
On the electrical side that means amp draw on the compressor, condenser fan, and blower compared to the nameplate rating, capacitor microfarads compared to the value printed on the can, and a look at the contactor points. A capacitor reading below its rated range is a compressor that will start hard on the first hot morning. Pitted contactor points weld closed, which is how a condenser fan ends up running all winter. On belt drive units, belt tension and sheave alignment, because a loose belt shows up as low airflow long before it shows up as a breakdown.
On the air and refrigerant side, temperature split across the coil, suction and liquid pressures read against the outdoor ambient, superheat and subcooling, and the economizer, which is the part that quietly costs you money. A damper stuck open in January brings freezing outside air across the coil. A damper stuck closed in May means you are running mechanical cooling on a fifty degree day for no reason. Condensate gets checked at the pan, the trap, and the drain through the curb, since that is the failure that ends up on somebody's ceiling tile.
Heating season work includes manifold gas pressure, a combustion analysis, flame sensor signal, inducer and pressure switch operation, and a look at the heat exchanger. We also look at the curb, the flashing, and the disconnect and whip while we are up there, because Pittsburgh freeze and thaw is hard on roof penetrations.
Our commercial rooftop page goes deeper into curb adapters, crane change outs, and what a rooftop replacement involves. This page stays at the maintenance level. Which of these items lands in the scope for your building is something we settle at the walkthrough.
Split systems, ductless, and VRF
Server rooms, tenant suites, and additions usually run on split systems, and they fail differently than a packaged unit does. The indoor half is inside your building, so a small problem becomes a water problem.
The work here is cleaning or replacing filters, cleaning the blower wheel and indoor coil, and testing the condensate path for real, which means checking the pump, filling the pan, and confirming the float switch shuts the unit down. A float switch that has never been tested is a float switch nobody knows about until the drywall is wet. Outside, wash the condenser coil, check fan motor bearings and amp draw, and inspect the line set insulation, which the sun destroys a few feet at a time.
We are a Mitsubishi Diamond Elite contractor, including City Multi VRF, so on those systems we also pull the error history off the controller, inspect flare connections and service ports for oil traces, which is how a slow refrigerant leak announces itself, and verify operation at the branch box and the expansion valves. Charge on a line set system is a weight and a calculation, not a guess at a gauge.
Boilers, combustion, and the water side
Boiler work splits in two, the fire side and the water side, and skipping either one is how a building loses heat in the middle of a January cold snap. Boilers get scheduled before the heating season rather than during it.
On the fire side that means running a combustion analysis and comparing it to the commissioning numbers, oxygen, carbon monoxide in the flue, and stack temperature. Rising stack temperature usually means the heat exchanger needs cleaning. Carbon monoxide climbing on a burner that used to run clean means something changed in the air or gas side, and it is worth finding in October. Static and running gas pressure get checked, the burner gets cleaned, the ignitor inspected, and the flame rod signal read in microamps. That signal weakening is the single best early warning of the nuisance lockouts that start calls at four in the morning. On condensing boilers the condensate trap and drain get inspected, neutralizer media checked or changed, and the intake and flue terminations looked at, which is where snow, nests, and dryer lint end up.
On the water side it is system fill pressure, expansion tank precharge against that fill pressure, air separators and vents, the relief valve, and near boiler piping. A waterlogged expansion tank shows up as a dripping relief valve and short cycling, and the valve gets replaced three times before somebody checks the tank. The low water cutoff gets tested and flushed, circulator amp draw read, and on glycol systems freeze point and inhibitor level tested, because glycol that has gone acidic eats the system from the inside. Water quality gets checked on boilers that specify it, since aluminum heat exchangers care about pH.
We carry Weil-McLain and IBC on the boiler side, and we have a master plumber on staff, which matters in a mechanical room that has as much pipe in it as sheet metal.
Water heaters, recirculation, and scale
Hot water is the piece a building notices immediately. A restaurant with no hot water is closed, and an apartment building with no hot water is a phone ringing all day.
On a commercial water heater the work runs to flushing sediment, testing the temperature and pressure relief valve, verifying the thermostatic mixing valve is holding its setpoint so delivered temperature is right at the fixture, and inspecting the anode where the tank allows access. The thermal expansion tank gets checked on any closed system, dielectric unions and connections looked at for corrosion, and combustion and venting verified on gas fired units, including draft and the condition of Category III vent joints on power vented equipment.
Scale is the item that decides how long a condensing or tankless commercial heater lasts, and how often it needs descaling depends on your incoming water, which varies across the region and changes again on a well. The recirculation pump, its aquastat or timer, and the check valves on the loop all get checked, since a failed check valve is why the far end of the building runs cold while the pump runs constantly.
We are a Rheem Pro Partner, and we maintain heat pump water heaters including ProTerra, which add their own items, an air filter, an evaporator coil, and a condensate drain that has to go somewhere.
Monthly, quarterly, or annually, and we bring the filters
One interval across an entire building is almost always wrong somewhere. It means paying to visit equipment that did not need it yet and skipping equipment that needed it two months ago.
A rooftop unit pulling air near a kitchen exhaust loads filters faster than the identical unit over the front office. Equipment that runs year round accumulates hours a seasonal unit never sees. Boilers want attention before heating season. Cooling wants it before the first humid stretch. So we set frequency per piece of equipment and then group the visits, so a technician is not making four separate trips to the same address in the same month. An agreement that reads monthly on the kitchen units, quarterly on the office units, and annually on the boiler is normal here.
Filters are what quietly derails maintenance in a lot of buildings. Somebody has to know the sizes, order them, and have them on hand the morning the technician arrives, and that somebody usually has three other jobs. We record every size at the walkthrough, keep them on file, and bring them with us. If there is a filtration or air quality spec the building has to hold to, tell us at the walkthrough and it goes in the scope. We handle Aprilaire, RGF REME HALO, and NuCalgon iWave on the air treatment side.
A maintenance visit does not stop equipment from failing. What it does is put a trained set of eyes and a set of instruments on your equipment on a schedule, so the things that drift slowly get caught while they are still a planned repair. When something fails at a bad hour anyway, we run 24/7 emergency service. You do not need an agreement to call.
Call us and we will come look at the building
There is no sign up form here on purpose. We cannot scope an agreement for a building we have not seen, and we would rather walk it with you.
Call (412) 276-9245 and we will schedule a walkthrough. You get the equipment inventory out of it either way. If an agreement makes sense after that, we put the schedule and the per equipment scope in writing for your building, so nobody is guessing in February about what a visit covers. It is a conversation that produces a scope, not a package you buy off a page.
Wahl Family Heating, Cooling and Plumbing is family owned in Pittsburgh since 1980, with 55 team members and more than 40 trucks working out of an 87,000 square foot facility on six acres in Oakdale. We are licensed and insured with a master plumber on staff, PA HIC #PA022302, A+ with the BBB, and 1,522 five-star Google reviews at a 4.8 rating.
Let us reach out to you
Fill out the quick form and we will call you back. For an emergency, call any time at (412) 276-9245.
Questions, answered
What does a commercial maintenance visit involve?
It depends on the equipment, and the specific scope for your building gets set at the walkthrough. In general terms, on rooftop and packaged units the work runs to filters, coil cleaning, amp draws against nameplate, capacitor values, contactor condition, belt tension, temperature split, refrigerant pressures against ambient, economizer operation, condensate path, and in heating season manifold pressure and a combustion analysis. On boilers it runs to combustion numbers, flame signal, burner and condensate service, plus the water side, fill pressure, expansion tank precharge, low water cutoff, circulator, and glycol condition. On water heating it runs to flushing, relief valve testing, mixing valve verification, venting, recirculation, and scale.
How often do your commercial maintenance visits happen?
However often the equipment needs it. Agreements can be built monthly, quarterly, or annually, and we mix them on one property all the time. Kitchen rooftop units might be monthly while the office units are quarterly and the boiler is once a year, scheduled before heating season.
Do you supply the filters?
Yes. We record every size and quantity during the walkthrough, keep them on file, and bring them with us on the visit, so nobody is hunting for the right size the morning we arrive.
What equipment can go on an agreement?
Commercial HVAC including rooftop and packaged units, split systems and ductless including Mitsubishi City Multi VRF, commercial boilers and hydronic systems, commercial water heating, air quality equipment, and the plumbing you depend on day to day. We are a Rheem Pro Partner, a Mitsubishi Diamond Elite contractor, a Bosch cold climate dealer, and a Trane dealer, and we carry Weil-McLain and IBC on the boiler side. What ends up on your agreement is settled at the walkthrough.
Will you service equipment your company did not install?
Yes, and that is a large part of this work. It is one reason the walkthrough exists. We need to see the equipment, its nameplate data, its age, and its condition before we put a schedule on it.
Can you schedule around our operating hours?
Tell us the windows that work for your building and we will factor them into the schedule. It is one of the things we settle at the walkthrough, along with roof access, keys, and who we check in with when we arrive.
What does an agreement cost?
It depends on the equipment count, the visit frequency, and the scope you want covered, which is why we walk the building first. Our pricing is flat rate. You get the price in writing before the work starts.
Ready when you are
Call us and get a straight answer. You get the price in writing before the work starts.
Call (412) 276-9245Schedule online