More than 80% of heating and cooling coils in the HVAC industry don’t make it to old age and need replacing. There are so many reasons why they fail prematurely that we can’t name them all in one newsletter. However, we can review the most egregious ones in commercial and industrial systems. Coil Construction or Arrangement Years ago, HVAC coils … Read More
Each month we publish questions we receive about coils and air handler systems and applications. There are many installations that have inherent problems that can cause lack of performance and/or system downtime. The following are some of the problems that affect many of our customers. We service many fan coil unit systems in apartments and condominiums in the Denver metropolitan … Read More
This question is a complex question with many answers. However, all of them fit one of three categories. These categories are, 1) inadequate coil design and/or construction, 2) adverse temperature/pressure and corrosion, and 3) inadequate maintenance. All these reasons could be avoided if we lived in a ‘perfect” world. Let’s examine each category a little closer. Inadequate coil design and/or … Read More
Periodically, we receive questions from our customers on coil system products. The following are a few answers to questions from the recent past that may prove helpful. We have a system in a local hospital with old vane-axial controllable pitch fans. These fans blow through a bank of chilled water coils. The system has always had water in the duct … Read More
A salt laden atmosphere can cause enormous damage to any heat exchanger coil over time. That time frame can be variable based on the severity of the atmosphere and the construction of the coil. There are many people who love to live/work by the ocean, but salt corrosion is a real negative that must be dealt with, as it can … Read More
There are many reasons why hot water coils in your system can under-perform, and some are built in at the time of the design, and many can also occur after the coils have been installed. Here are my Top Ten. 10. Air stratification issues – This means the air flow across the surface of the coil is not being evenly … Read More
After decades in the coil replacement business, Southwest Coil knows that most coils are replaced well before they reach old age. In fact, about 75% of them need replacement well before their time. There are 3 major reasons – 1) adverse temperature, 2) adverse pressure, and 3) corrosion. Also, the original design could have been marginal for the application, systematic … Read More
Over my 35 years in the replacement coil business, I have been asked many times about the life expectancy of cooling coils. My answer is almost always the same. In a perfect world, most cooling coils should operate efficiently for twenty years or more. However, since we don’t live in this “perfect” world, a lack of proper maintenance, inappropriate applications, … Read More
