The Impact of Missing Equipment From Your Inventory – Part 1 of 3

Do you know the impact of missing equipment from your inventory?
Welcome to Part 1 of our new series, 3 Common HVAC Mistakes, where we explore this very impact on refrigerant tracking.
Our goal in this post is to show you the importance of proper HVAC inventory tracking and how not to make the mistake of missing equipment.

Do you know the impact of missing equipment from your inventory? It is important for environmental sustainability, your environmental footprint, and corporate sustainability initiatives.

Welcome to Part 1 of our new series, 3 Common HVAC Mistakes, where we explore this very impact.

Our goal in this post is to show you the importance of proper HVAC inventory tracking and how not to make the mistake of missing equipment.  

 

What Happens When Equipment Goes Missing From Your Inventory

Yes, it happens more often than you think: Equipment goes missing from your inventory. 

And it could happen without you even knowing—that is, until it’s time (or too late) for a compliance report. 

Our team sees this scenario a lot. In fact, we’ve found missing equipment to be one of the 3 common HVAC mistakes that your facility should avoid. 

Do you know the trouble missing equipment can cause? Here’s just a few examples of the trouble that can arise from missing equipment: 

1. Understated asset records, which means maintenance budgets are never properly planned. 
2. Budgeting for repairs is difficult. 
3. It’s impossible for you to know your installed inventory and measure your operational and compliance risks. 
4. You underestimate electricity needs and demands. 
5. You cannot properly record maintenance and activity.
   

 

With this in mind, today, we’d like to give you an inside look at what happens when you have inaccurate HVAC tracking and some pieces of your equipment go missing from your inventory.

So, here’s a quick story of a large campus that recently onboarded with Trakref and had missing equipment. 

 

Large Campus Had Inventory Troubles and Turned to Trakref For Help

First and foremost, like many of our new clients, this large campus did not know all the HVAC/R assets and refrigeration gases they had.

Devoid of a complete inventory, the campus ran into numerous issues including, 

✔ No comprehensive HVAC/R database;
✔ Lack of organization;
✔ Inaccurate records for compliance reporting;
✔ Unaware of equipment activity and movement; and
✔ Bad data. 

Not wanting to continue down this disorganized path, the campus decided a thorough equipment audit and onsite evaluation was needed.

So, one of our HVAC/R experts, Ernest Glynn, visited the campus to provide our Trakref OnCall service. Because sometimes you need an expert to show you how HVAC tracking is done. 

The audit Trakref performed allowed the campus to see all the assets and how much refrigerant product it really had.

 

In fact, the campus had ~30% more product than originally thought. 

As you can see, after a thorough audit and onsite evaluation, the campus gained much needed insight for more optimal outcomes, including

• Comprehensive HVAC/R database;
• Organized inventory; 
• Accurate records for compliance reporting; 
• Completely aware of equipment activity and movement; 
• Better data;
• Know all appliances onsite, which is necessary for environmental, health, and safety responsibilities and obligations.

As you might guess, after this thorough onsite evaluation by a Trakref expert, the campus can now easily comply with regulatory requirements and meet industry best practices. 

 
 

Why You Need HVAC Tracking

If you don’t know what equipment you have, how can you even begin to properly maintain it? 

In your day-to-day, a lot happens. And between routine maintenance inspections and compliance checkups, it’s hard to keep up with what’s happening to each appliance. 

You need to quickly identify when facility personnel adds, removes, or changes equipment. Plus, you need to know all the equipment onsite at all times. 

Because the truth is, if you don’t know what equipment you have, you really can’t properly maintain it. 

So, get tracking your HVAC/R assets, and ensure that you don’t let equipment go missing from your inventory. 

Better data (it starts with no missing equipment!) means better operations. 

If you’re looking for a tool for better tracking, turn to Trakref. We’re a software corporation that has been in the regulatory compliance software and environmental compliance calendar software space for years. As an environmental software provider, we make sure our refrigerant capabilities will help you in your journey toward compliance and sustainability, as well as helping with ESG reporting and answering sustainability audit questions. Get in touch with a Refrigerant Geek today.

Thanks for joining us in Part 1 of our new series, Common HVAC Mistakes.

 

Be sure to tune in next week for Part 2 of the series, right here on the Trakref blog. 

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