HVAC unit replacement planning is typically part of the annual budgeting process. The question to be considered and answered is this: Where do we spend our limited capitol replacement budget to achieve the best effect? Meaning, when requesting a capitol budget, how much do you ask for and what data do you need to bring to validate the request. Because organizations are resourced differently and may have various levels of deferred maintenance, well as different goals and priorities, any unit replacement plan will have to reflect those realities. The approach described below could be used as template for a larger multi-unit organization.

Any good plan starts with good information about the subject. In this case the HVAC units. When working with large fleets of HVAC units and prioritizing their replacement, a systematic approach is very useful. A small number of common data points can produce an effective prioritized list of replacement opportunities and data points used may include:

• each unit’s age
• perceived reliability
• the impact a unit failure would have on the operation of the business
• condition assessments
• performance assessments
• design energy efficiency
• parts availability

Such data points can be collected in a systematic way by a technician during a scheduled maintenance inspection. In addition, simple apps to collect such data and populate a cloud database are readily available.

An effective approach to analyzing the collected data might be to assign a score for each assessment and a factor for how important it is. A list that first focuses on age, condition and performance of the systems may be created. Perhaps age could be factored at 2x the other variables. Then the final scores may be ordered from best to worst. Discard the top 2/3 of the list and concentrate on the remaining, badly scoring units. Call this the bottom 1/3 list. Then that list can be reordered based on the business impact and the perceived reliability of the units for example.

If the expected usable life of a unit is 15 years, then 1/15th of all the units would be scheduled for replacement each year. There are reasons why some units that really should be replaced may not be replaced. An example of this might be a short time to the end of a lease.

To produce a list with twice as many candidates as there are replacement opportunities, in order to give sufficient choices, we can select the bottom 40% of the reordered bottom 1/3 list. This becomes our list of prioritized replacement candidates.

Helios has a dedicated Project Management Department that can work with you to build a CapEx plan that best suits your budget model. Contact us today at https://www.helioshvacr.com/contact. We would love to customize a solution for you.