Guide
HVAC maintenance checklist: what a PPM visit should actually cover
Updated
A PPM visit is worth exactly what the report says afterwards. Here is the checklist to hold a provider against, and the evidence that turns a visit into a compliance record.
Split and VRF air conditioning
- Filters cleaned or replaced, with the filter grade and whether filters are supplied or charged extra stated up front.
- Indoor and outdoor coils checked and cleaned, condensate trays and pumps cleared and tested, drain lines proved.
- Operating pressures and temperatures recorded, superheat and subcooling where applicable, not just a working or not working tick.
- Electrical connections, contactors and controls checked, fan and compressor currents recorded.
- Refrigerant charge status and any leak check falling due under the F gas rules, recorded against your F gas records.
Air handling units and ventilation
- Filter condition and differential pressure, belts and bearings, fan condition and vibration, drive alignment.
- Heating and cooling coils, frost protection, dampers and actuators, and the state of the fresh air intake.
- Controls and setpoints, sensors verified rather than trusted, and BMS alarms tested end to end.
- Internal cleanliness of the unit itself, which is the item most often skipped and most likely to matter for air quality.
- Ductwork condition and access panel security, with hygiene inspections and cleaning noted where relevant.
Chillers, pumps and water systems
- Condenser and evaporator condition, approach temperatures, running currents and compressor hours recorded.
- Pumps, strainers, valves and expansion vessels checked, and system pressures recorded.
- Water treatment status and sampling regime, which is a specialist scope in its own right and often outside the mechanical contract.
- Where cooling towers or evaporative condensers are present, their legionella control regime is a separate statutory-facing duty with its own monitoring frequency.
The evidence to insist on
- Asset-level records. Every task recorded against a tagged asset, not against a building.
- Readings, not ticks. Pressures, temperatures, currents and pressure drops, so trends are visible year on year.
- A dated remedial list with priorities, separated into safety, compliance and efficiency, and quoted separately.
- The compliance items flagged distinctly: F gas leak checks with the carbon dioxide equivalent recorded, and the date the next air conditioning inspection falls due.
- A maintenance log kept up to date, which PUWER expects where a machine has one, and which is the only evidence you will have when someone asks.