6 HVAC Tune-Up Tips (Southern California Facilities Expo 2025)
The cooling season is approaching, and that means it’s time to review HVAC operations to look for efficiency opportunities. Seasonal changes are a great time for HVAC tune-ups and maintenance. Four exhibitors at the 2025 Southern California Facilities Expo shared these six tips for finding energy savings as the seasons change.
1. Have Your System Retro-commissioned
Have you ever brought in a third-party expert to perform retro-commissioning on your HVAC system? If not, there’s no time like the present, said Robert Hagstrom, engineer with Southern California Edison, one of the nation’s largest electric utilities.
“Retro-commissioning is where a third-party contractor would come in and check all the setpoints of your systems, because things can get out of whack,” Hagstrom said. “They’ll make sure all your schedules are set, your setpoints are where they need to be, and are you changing those setpoints seasonally as you need.” Scheduling and setpoints can deviate from proper operation over time, so it’s important to check up on them periodically and make sure the settings are correct.
2. Catch Up on Routine Cleaning
You’ll periodically need to clean coils and fins on the outside of your condensing units, Hagstrom said. If you don’t, they don’t operate as efficiently. Be sure you’re not using a caustic cleaner on them, he added—the wrong cleaner can cause corrosion on the HVAC system’s components and seriously impact performance.
3. Stay On Top of Filter Changes
Filters have to be changed on a roughly quarterly basis, and sometimes, decision-makers don’t want to spend the money on new filters, explained John Harvey, regional account manager for Florence Filter. But not changing the filters leads to more problems down the road. Air quality goes down and the HVAC system has a harder time pushing air through the dirty filter.
“You have to keep your equipment clean, and you have to just regularly change your filters,” Harvey said. “If you’re set on a quarterly change-out, but you inspect the filters and they just need to be changed, hopefully you can find a way to say, ‘Our air quality is suffering. We’ve got to do this.’”
4. Manage Water Quality
Water treatment is an important part of keeping your HVAC system functioning at an optimal level, said Dawn Swintek and Fabricio Baca, project managers for California Boiler, a 24-hour boiler service and maintenance company. Neglecting water treatment can damage the boiler’s internal parts, Swintek added.
“It’s similar to how you treat your car—you take it for oil changes,” Swintek said. “You need to do an annual [service] on your boilers. They should be opened and cleaned every year. Staying on it with regular maintenance is going to help it last longer.”
5. Maximize Your Building Automation System’s Value
Building automation systems can deliver the data you need to manage your building effectively. Sensors in the right places can tell you what systems are running when and even whether your filters need to be changed. Installing one of these systems—or getting more use out of a building automation system you already have—can be your key to better HVAC performance.
“A lot of facilities today aren’t really using building automation systems,” said Anthony Cerrato, controls sales manager for Los Angeles and Orange County for Sigler Commercial, the distributor for Carrier in the southwestern U.S. “They’re using more of a thermostat control like you would have at your home, which is good for scheduling equipment and controlling space temperature but doesn’t give you additional features like understanding your filter usage or fan belt usage.”
Even a light building management system can result in a fairly quick return on investment, Cerrato said.
6. Do an Energy Audit
An energy audit looks for energy-saving opportunities, both HVAC-related and not, Hagstrom said. For instance, you may find out that you can install window film that will not only pay for itself in a few years but also help the HVAC system work more efficiently by not overworking it unnecessarily. Some utilities offer energy audits, so check with your local electric provider to see whether you can tap their expertise to help you find savings. Utilities can also advise about rebates to help you subsidize upgrades, Hagstrom said.
“That’s an opportunity for a facilities manager to get systems that are better for them to maintain and make their lives easier,” Hagstrom said.
