Inspection & Maintenance Service Agreement
The Major Air Inspection & Maintenance Service Agreement is designed to keep service calls to a minimum. The price is based on actual labour required to keep your chiller operating reliably.
An Inspection & Maintenance Service Agreement will be tailored to your exact requirements. It can contain the annual maintenance, spring start-up, any amount of monthly inspections, a fall shut-down, condenser cleaning, cooling tower maintenance, cooling tower inspections, pump maintenance & pump inspections, steam turbine maintenance & steam turbine inspections, along with inspections & maintenance of any mechanical equipment you may wish to include in your agreement. It can also include non-destructive testing such as oil analysis, refrigerant analysis, vibration analysis, eddy current tube analysis, overload calibration tests, solid state starter overload testing, dielectric absorption testing, and infra-red thermo-scans.
Annual Maintenance
Centrifugal
- A chiller mechanic, fully conversant with your type & manufacture of chiller will change the oil & refrigerant filters.
- A leak check will be conducted to detect any refrigerant leaks, bring them to your attention for repair. (All leaks must be repaired by law). Minor leaks will be addressed by tightening if possible.
- The safety controls are checked and the proper control operation is confirmed. All electrical terminals are tightened and checked for evidence of overheating.
- All mechanical contractor contacts are checked for overheating and to ensure enough surface is left for proper electrical contact.
- The windings of the main motor & oil pump motor are checked for continuity and for insulation leakage to ground by a megger.
- The motor terminals are checked for tightness and signs of overheating.
- The condenser tubes are checked for deposits (opened by customer unless included in contract) and a report is issued if cleaning is required (recommended annually).
- Each manufacturer’s maintenance guideline specifications are followed to ensure proper annual maintenance (for high or low pressure refrigerants). The oil is changed if required and is usually charged as an extra to the contract.
Absorption
- A chiller mechanic fully conversant with your type and manufacturer of absorption chiller will check the internal pressure of the chiller.
- The seals are checked for leakage (Trane).
- The filter is cleaned or replaced as per manufacturer guidelines.
- The safety & operating control settings are checked and confirmed.
- The motors are meggered.
- The mechanical purge (if unit has one) is flushed and the oil is changed. It is also checked to verify that it can level a manometer. The discharge valves are checked.
Spring Start-up
Centrifugal
- Your chiller mechanic will prepare your chiller for start up, start your chiller and check the unit for proper operation including the purge operation.
- Safety controls will be checked under operating conditions.
Absorption
- The seals are checked before start-up and the motors are meggered.
- The unit is started and the operation is checked as the unit is brought to set point. The unit is purged. The dilution cycle is checked for proper operation.
Monthly Inspection
Each month the chiller mechanic assigned to your chiller shall check the operation of your chiller. Your assigned chiller mechanic shall make any adjustments required to keep your chiller operating efficiently and reliably. Your chiller mechanic will log out your chiller and bring to the attention of your operating staff any problems that require your staff’s attention. Each month your assigned mechanic will use an infrared hand held detector to show any hot spots in your chiller motor starter or at the motor terminals. During the August inspection your assigned chiller mechanic shall remove an oil sample for a wear metals analysis. The results of the oil analysis will be reported to you during the shut down period. The mechanical purge unit on an absorber is flushed and the oil changed each month.
Fall Shut-down
Your assigned chiller mechanic will follow your shut down procedure and report any work required over the shut down period to have your chiller ready for next start up.
Wear Metals Oil Analysis
Oil Analysis is included in the maintenance agreement as we consider oil analysis to be a very important report. Over a period of years, this report can be used as a trend report to show the value of your maintenance program and also determine when an oil, gasket, or bearing change is required.
Motor Winding Dielectric Strength Test
This is an extra to the annual maintenance. This test is performed with a known D.C.voltage applied to the main motor windings. Ohm readings between each winding to each other winding and between each winding and ground are recorded over a period of time. The trend over a period of years show the winding insulation deterioration so that a motor can be rewound during a planned shut-down rather than an unplanned shut-down.
Comprehensive Agreement
In 1983 Major Air created an All Inclusive agreement. This agreement covered all the problems that can occur to a chiller or building equipment. The price was high but it was a quality agreement. Customers and other contractors, over a period of time, decided that they could lower the cost of this type of agreement by inserting exclusions to the contract. Today the contract is called a Comprehensive Contract. The cost varies depending on the exclusions. At Major Air we exclude sudden and accidental failures that are very high cost items. Major Air recommends that, each customer, cover their mechanical equipment with Insurance. The majority of problems are leaks, control problems, sensor replacement, etc. The exclusions keep the cost down yet cover many of the average extra costs of operating a chiller.
Major Air includes the annual service, spring start up, all the monthly inspections, oil analysis, dielectric strength test, (eddy current tube analysis if term is long enough), all service calls, oil changes, leak repairs, operational problems, infrared checks of all electrical on the chiller and starter, condenser and evaporator cleaning, and many parts, and controls and up to 10 percent of the chiller refrigerant charge.
The intent of the comprehensive proposal is to keep the equipment covered in the proposal in the best possible condition for the term of the contract so that the equipment will be able to operate to design specifications. This coverage includes replacement parts, refrigerant and labour, as outlined within the terms of the agreement. If a component becomes obsolete and can no longer be repaired, Major Air Systems Ltd. shall attempt to provide a suitable replacement.
Major Air also covers other equipment besides absorbers & centrifugals with the same types of coverage (either inspection & maintenance or comprehensive).
Suggested exclusions can be, repair, replacement, or painting of disconnect switches, circuit breakers, starter contacts and terminals, and items not normally maintainable such as, but not limited to: non moving parts, microprocessor boards, and harnesses, ductwork, casings, cabinets, cabinet hinges, cabinet hardware, fixtures, electrical lines, and cables, starters and SCRs, structural supports, grillage, sheet metal work including dampers, and regulating devices, tower fill, water, steam and drain piping, boiler shells and tubes, chiller shells and chiller tubes, boiler refractory, fire brick, and heat exchangers, coils valves, flow switches, glycol, etc., or any consequential equipment damage caused by the failure of these non covered items.