Replacement & Retrofit
The right time to replace equipment is before it decides for you, on a Friday in August.
Deciding Honestly
The repair-or-replace conversation is where a lot of mechanical contractors stop being useful, because there is an obvious incentive to recommend the bigger job. We would rather give you the arithmetic and let you make the call.
The inputs are not mysterious: the unit’s age against its typical service life, the cost of the proposed repair against replacement cost, the machine’s recent service history, the efficiency delta between what you have and what is available now, and — increasingly the deciding factor — the refrigerant it holds.
That last one has changed the math. The AIM Act HFC phasedown is progressively reducing the supply of higher-GWP refrigerants, and equipment built around a refrigerant that is being drawn down gets more expensive to keep charged every year. A unit that is mechanically repairable can still be economically finished.
Replacement & Retrofit Work
Rooftop Unit Changeout
Crane-set RTU replacement with curb adapters where the new footprint differs, plus gas, electrical, condensate, and controls tie-in.
Chiller Replacement
Chiller and plant replacement, including rigging, hydronic tie-in, and the staging strategy that keeps the building cool during the swap.
Refrigerant Transition
Planning for equipment running phased-down refrigerants — what to retrofit, what to replace, and in what order.
Efficiency Retrofit
Higher-efficiency equipment, VFDs on fans and pumps, economizer restoration, and control upgrades that pay back without a full replacement.
Refrigeration Replacement
Condensing units, evaporators, cases, and rack equipment replaced without writing off the inventory in the box.
Phased Capital Programs
Multi-unit and multi-site replacement sequenced over several budget years, worst-first, instead of all at once.
Signals It Is Time to Replace
Replacing Equipment in a Building That Cannot Shut Down
Assess and Recalculate
We do not simply match the nameplate of the unit coming off. The old equipment may have been mis-sized from day one, and matching it would inherit that mistake for another twenty years.
Plan the Outage Window
Roof access, crane pick, parking closures, and the scheduling that keeps the disruption outside business hours where the scope allows.
Bridge the Gap
Temporary cooling or spot coolers to keep occupied and critical spaces usable — and to keep product cold — while the changeout happens.
Change Out and Tie In
Removal, curb adaptation, set, and full mechanical, electrical, and controls tie-in, with the refrigerant charge weighed in per specification.
Commission and Balance
Startup readings, functional testing of the control sequence, and air/water balancing — verification that you got what you bought rather than a handshake.
Repair It or Replace It?
We will give you the numbers behind the recommendation. Serving East Texas, Houston, and DFW.