Air Conditioner Protection
Summer is here, so protect your investment tasked with keeping workers comfortable
Recently in Tulsa, where I live, we were in the midst of a large power outage due to a violent thunderstorm. Thunderstorms are not at all uncommon in this part of the country, but power outages associated with them are. What made matters worse was that the heat of the summer was just starting to blanket the city as well. As electrical workers are tirelessly repairing the damage, many residents are battling the heat without their biggest weapon, their air conditioning.
For an industrial facility, keeping your workers comfortable and cool is a top priority as the temperatures rise. But what about protecting those investments made to keep your operations cold?
We’ve covered many ways to keep your workers cool in a hot warehouse or industrial environment. From HVLS fan options to strip doors and curtains, there are options at your disposal to beat the heat and raise productivity. Heat has a strength sapping superpower for sure, and any option you choose is a win for your employees.
While these cooling methods are reliable and have high upside, nothing beats being able to provide air conditioning for your facility. Not every location has this option, but when one does, it’s an ideal way to keep temps down and workers happy.
It’s cool to protect your investment
Who watches the air conditioners?
Adding air conditioning to either a new facility or an existing one isn’t cheap. You might have multiple levels or mezzanines that require even more cool air to flow, or multiple structures alongside each other as well. This all adds up to a large investment designed to cool bodies and warm up efficient work.
Just as any facility manager is aware of the pros of keeping your workers cool and happy, the danger lurks around every corner that houses an air conditioning unit. Thievery and damage are always concerns when your operation relies on these units day in and day out.
Shield the units!
Industrial AC units are workhouse elements of a facility that are underappreciated and never acknowledged. This makes sense, as they sit outside and chug along, only coming to the front of minds when something happens to them. The less time involved in repair or replacement of these units means more time spent being cooled by them!
One way to shield these units is through security cages. Adding an HVAC security cage is a low-cost way to help prevent those unforeseen accidents (or thefts) that could leave your warehouse essentially stranded due to heat concerns. But you don’t want to just throw a home improvement store cage around these valuable assets, you want a security cage that offers the following:
- Steel strength – What good is protecting your industrial units if the cage surrounding them is weak? Adding cages that are made to withstand levels of break-in attempts, falling items or even mother nature herself is a wise choice. You won’t be able to ensure protection against every scenario, but more than less is much better odds for sure. Look for thickness ratings and frame descriptions (heavy duty and square are great words to see).
- Resistance to elements – Just as withstanding damaging winds from a thunderstorm are important, so is keeping your cage upright and strong for a longer timeframe. You don’t want a rusty cage (cue Soundgarden!) that is easily infiltrated or could snap at the next item that falls on it shielding your AC units.
- Mounting options – AC units are in different areas of all facilities, so one mounting option certainly does not work for all. You want versatility, whether it’s for the roof or in thick concrete so that you can be confident your cage is in place for the long haul.
Affordable protection makes sense
Regardless or how many you need or where you need them, adding HVAC security cages to your existing units will provide peace of mind for any operations. You can protect your vital equipment that in a sense protects your workers from the dangerous heat just waiting to enter. Trust me, you don’t want to skimp when 95-degree internal working conditions are just a snapped condenser away.
Download Our Industrial Security Guide
Every facility fights a constant battle to keep its equipment and product safe and secure from theft. You want to maintain access for high-value items while also limiting availability only to those who really need to handle them. Our new guide to industrial security is here to help you find the right security options to fit your operations.
Download the guide today
Tags: security
Evan Fleishacker is a Marketing Strategist at Cisco-Eagle. You can find him on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/evanf