VRF air conditioning maintenance at Energie Fitness Gym

The site and the brief

Climate Flow Limited carried out planned maintenance on the Mitsubishi Electric VRF air conditioning system at Energie Fitness Gym. The system has fifteen indoor units and two outdoor condensing units. The brief was to clean, inspect and test all of them while the gym stayed open. Climate Flow services commercial air conditioning across London and surrounding areas.

VRF (variable refrigerant flow) is an air conditioning system in which one or more outdoor units serve many indoor units through shared refrigerant pipework. On this site, two outdoor condensing units serve fifteen indoor units spread through the gym.

Equipment serviced

The evaporator coil in each indoor unit takes heat out of the room air. The condenser coil in each outdoor unit rejects that heat outside.

• 15 Mitsubishi Electric VRF indoor units
• 2 Mitsubishi Electric VRF outdoor condensing units
• Indoor air filters
• Evaporator coils
• Condenser coils
• Electrical connections
• Condensate drainage, which carries away the water the indoor units take out of the air

Scope of work

• Cleaning all indoor air filters
• Chemical cleaning of the indoor evaporator coils
• Chemical cleaning of the outdoor condenser coils
• Water jet washing of the outdoor heat exchangers
• Inspection of the electrical components
• Inspection of the condensate drainage
• Visual inspection of the refrigerant pipework
• Testing discharge air temperatures with a calibrated thermometer
• Operational checks on the complete VRF system

How was the work done with the gym open?

The work was planned around a gym that stayed fully open, to keep disruption to members and staff low.

Performance checks

After cleaning, the engineers measured the discharge air temperature, the temperature of the air leaving an indoor unit, with calibrated thermometers. They then ran operational checks on the complete system, indoor and outdoor units together. No readings were published for this job, so this page states none.

The result

All fifteen indoor units and both outdoor units were cleaned and inspected, and the checks were completed across the whole system while the gym kept trading. No before and after measurements were recorded on the published job record, so no figure is given here.

Why VRF maintenance needs an F-gas qualified engineer

UK rules say anyone who services or maintains air conditioning equipment containing F gas, or checks it for leaks, must hold their own qualification. This applies even when they work for someone else. Working with F gas without the correct qualifications is against the law (GOV.UK, qualifications to work on F gas equipment). Climate Flow is F-Gas certified.

The visual pipework inspection on this job is not the same as a recorded leak check. Where a leak check does find a leak, the guidance says it must be repaired as soon as possible and tested again within a month to confirm the repair worked (GOV.UK, checking F gas equipment for leaks).

More of our work

Other refrigeration and air conditioning jobs are on our projects page, including a Mitsubishi Electric split system installed in a newly refurbished retail unit in Hillingdon. The full list of Climate Flow services covers commercial refrigeration, air conditioning and domestic heating across London and surrounding areas.

To arrange maintenance for a VRF system, request a quote or call 020 3488 5452.

This guide is general information, not a survey or a quote for your site; every system is different, so an engineer needs to see yours before any work is priced.