We are Team Kentucky #teamkentucky
First of all, the staff at Comfort & Process Solutions want to send our hearts and prayers to all of those who have been affected by the Coronavirus and our condolences to the families who have lost a loved one. We also want to send a shout of praise for those on the frontlines who put themselves at risk to care for the community and those affected by COVID-19, including healthcare professionals, nursing homes staff, first responders, police officers and firefighters. And a big thanks to all of those who are providing essential services and products: for all the staff working at grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations, banks, as well as service providers and retail stores staff who are providing much needed food, medicine, products and services. You are all our heros! #teamkentucky #wearehereforyou #wereinthistogether
A Big Shout of Praise to our Staff and Technicians!
As we are considered an essential service, our technicians and office staff have been working consistently for the HVAC needs of our commercial and industrial customers. Our technicians are focused on implementing safety precautions during this time, but they are putting themselves at risk to serve our customers. We want to thank each and every one of them for their dedication, their attention to increased safety guidelines and their focus on keeping our customers safe, comfortable and operational. You are our heros!
We are Open to Serve our Kentucky Heros
At Comfort & Process Solutions, we are still open because cooling and heating, air quality, sanitization and other industrial processes are all imperative to keep essential businesses open. For example, many of our customers are local hospitals and healthcare facilities (1) need heating and cooling for the comfort of their staff and patients, (2) they need precise temperature control to control infection spread, (3) they need consistent and clean air flow to improve air quality and (4) they need commercial heating processes for sanitization of medical equipment to ensure spread of infection.
“With invasive procedures, there’s contact between a patient’s mucous membranes or sterile tissue and a surgical instrument or medical device. A significant risk of these types of procedures is introducing pathogenic microbes, potentially resulting in infection. When you don’t properly disinfect or sterilize medical equipment, it increases the risk of infection due to the breach of host barriers. For both hospital staff and patients alike, germs need to be destroyed to reduce the spread of infections.” – QuickMedical.com
Recently, we were able to serve local heroes by providing University of Kentucky Hospital with essential services as we provided needed repairs to their Chiller. Our team safely and efficiently changed out the chilled water coils in their Air Handling Unit (AHU) over the past weekend.
Because hospitals never close and need uninterrupted heating and cooling, we are also open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We and our staff at Comfort and Process Solutions are proud to serve those on the frontlines, our healthcare workers and the patients fighting for their lives, by serving healthcare facilities’ chillers, boilers and sanitization equipment. We’re open to serve our Kentucky heros!
Making the Best Use of this Downtime
For many of our customers, a large percentage if not all of their workforce are working remotely, to reduce the spread of Coronavirus and keep our community safe. With many of the facilities nearly empty, this is the perfect time to schedule your Preventative Maintenance (PM), equipment troubleshooting and/or repair, and replacement of essential equipment. During our PM, equipment shutdowns usually interrupt industrial and commercial processes as well as cause temporary discomfort for the staff without optimal temperature control during the shutdown. For this very reason, we often have to wait until summer vacation to serve our school systems, but with schools closed, we can address any projects large or small, so the classrooms are ready to welcome our students back when classes resume. We are also currently working hard to maintain the school buildings’ HVAC systems for many Kentucky school districts during the school closings so they again are fully operational when student return. We are taking advantage of this time to conduct PMs, when we usually have to postpone needed repairs until the summer.
We are also serving local industrial manufacturing plants, who usually run their equipment 24 hours a day, seven days a week with staff working three consecutive shifts. The toll on the equipment running nearly non-stop can cause a host of issues: a build of debris on filters, coils, piping, and ductwork; wear and tear of fans or motors; leakage of refrigerant, water and oil in piping, tubing or fittings; and loosening of bearings, panels and safety controls. When equipment is run non-stop, you can run the equipment to the ground which can reduce safety, energy efficiency, as well as longevity of the life of the equipment. So with many of the manufacturing facilities either shutdown or slowed down, this is a great time to schedule your PM and equipment repair and replacement if needed.
A typical checklist of our Industrial PM:
Clean the air intake if necessary- Change all air filters according to recommended schedule
- Check blower motors in operation for excessive noise or vibration
- Clean motors and ductwork if necessary
- Inspect and clean all exhaust fans
- Secure loose guards and panels
- Inspect all electrical connections
- Test all safety controls
- Inspect the condenser motor bearings.
- Inspect the condenser coil, air intake and discharge
- Check all refrigerant piping and insulation
- Inspect compressed air lines for any leaks in piping, tubing or fittings
- Monitor oil levels on air compressor pumps and replace if needed
This is also a great time to service office buildings, retail spaces and call centers, as most of the employees in such commercial spaces are working remotely. If the heating and cooling system is required to shutdown for servicing, it will not interrupt the comfort of your staff since they are at home safe and comfortable.
CASE STUDY: Comfort and Process Solutions recently serviced the Blackboard Inc. Call Center in Somerset, KY. Normally, this call center has over 250 round-the-clock customer services advisors providing technical support to their international customers. The three shifts of large staff cause a consistent internal heat load* that is compensated and measured to provide the optimal heating and cooling system output to keep staff comfortable and productive. Without the internal heat load, our CPS team was able to divert the cooling dump exclusively into the server room, since comfort was no longer an issue of the call center without the presence of the customer service staff. Thus, we could switch out their chiller safely and conveniently, which was a much needed and overdue repair.
Our servicing schools, call centers and manufacturing facilities without disruption of the business or the employees illustrates this is the perfect time to schedule your PM or needed repairs that your company may have been postponing.
*Internal heat gain or load is the sensible and latent heat emitted within an internal space from any source that is to be removed by air conditioning or ventilation, and/or results in an increase in the temperature and humidity within the space.
We are Serving our Customers in accordance with Safety Guidelines
Safety is always our number one priority, which is why we regularly conduct required Safety Meetings for all our employees every other week. Typically, our staff is usually at a safe social distance as we conduct repairs on the roof of buildings, in back parking lots and basements. But now during this pandemic, we are taking extra precautions to keep a safe six feet social distance from your staff during our visits. We have also provided our technicians with masks, gloves, disinfectant and hand-sanitizer and have instructed them to wipe down handles or surfaces after completion of the PM or repair, as well as their tools before they begin the next job.
Our office and administration staff are keeping a safe social distance from each other in their own separate offices, as they continue working to answer your calls, dispatch service requests, processing payments and invoicing behind closed doors. Our office is not open to the public until further notice, but deliveries for supplies and parts are safely deposited in the back of the building without contact of our employees.
As always, if any employees are exhibiting any signs or symptoms that they may be ill, they are not allowed to come to work. Our management and office staff are monitoring our technicians’ health as best as we can to see if they are presenting any symptoms, if so they are sent home with paid sick leave.
Our management team is keeping a close eye on current federal and state recommendations and guidelines, making the needed adjustments as they are revised. We will keep our customers aware of any changes in the way we provide our services to ensure their safety as well as the safety of our technicians.
We are Open for Business
If you are a new or existing customer, we are here for your Industrial and Commercial HVAC needs 24 hours a day. Call us to schedule an appointment: (859) 294-4400 or fill out our contact form and our staff will contact you.
