MaintScope · Childcare centre
Childcare centre air conditioning & tempering valves
Tempering valves are the mandatory devices keeping hot water safe for small children, and they drift. Add uneven zoning that leaves one room permanently warm and ventilation filters nobody's touched, and you've got comfort, compliance and safety in one visit.
And if it's still running
Know what it's going to cost you — before it costs you
A licenced tech goes through every bit of air conditioning, ventilation and refrigeration you've got, and writes down what condition it's in, what needs doing and when, and what it's realistically going to cost you over the next year and the next five. Plain English, one PDF.
Equipment someone else has already decided must keep working.
Get a health checkWorked example · Childcare centre · Narara
What the report actually says
What you’ve got
| Equipment | Age | Condition | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ducted system (main rooms) | ~9 yrs | Watch | Zoning uneven, one room always warmer |
| Splits in cot/sleep rooms x2 | ~7 yrs | Serviceable | Noisy on start-up |
| Tempering valves | ~9 yrs | Action | Never tested, outlet temperature unverified |
| Kitchen/milk fridge | ~6 yrs | Serviceable | |
| Ventilation/exhaust | ~9 yrs | Watch | Filters heavily loaded |
Needs attention now
- Tempering valves untested. These are the mandatory devices keeping hot water at a safe temperature for small children. They drift, and nobody checks them until an incident. This is the most important line in this report.
- Uneven zoning. One room permanently warmer means the kids in it are uncomfortable and staff are opening windows, which defeats the system.
- Ventilation filters. Air quality in a room full of children is a regulated concern, not a comfort one.
Your service year
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Quarterly | Ventilation filter check |
| 6-monthly | Ducted and split service |
| Annual | Tempering valve test and certification |
| Annual | Milk fridge, zoning balance |
What it costs — next 12 months
| Item | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Ducted system, 2 visits | $840 | $1,440 |
| Sleep room splits (2) | $360 | $560 |
| Tempering valve testing | $220 | $480 |
| Ventilation service | $480 | $840 |
| Milk fridge | $150 | $280 |
| Total | $2,050 | $3,600 |
Coming in five years
- Ducted system replacement — $12,000–25,000 for a centre this size
- Tempering valve replacement — $220–380 each
- Ventilation fan/motor — $580–1,200
Quietly costing you money
Uneven zoning wastes the whole system’s capacity. You’re heating and cooling to satisfy the worst room, which means every other room is over-conditioned. Balancing it properly typically cuts 10–15% off the running cost of a ducted system this age.
What I’d do first
- Tempering valves tested and documented — this is a child safety item
- Balance the zoning
- Ventilation filters, then quarterly
How it works
$150 to come out. Everything else depends on what's there.
- I come out — $150.I go through the lot: what you've got, how old it is, what condition it's in. Takes an hour or two depending on how much is in the place.
- You get it in writing within 48 hours.One PDF. What's there, what needs doing and when, what it should cost you over the year, and what's coming further out.
- Anything that needs fixing, I quote on what I find.I can't price a service off a website — it depends on the unit, the access and what turns up when it's open. You'll get a real number, not a guess.
- If you'd rather not think about it again, I'll handle it.Scheduled servicing across the year, timed around your trade. No lock-in — plenty of people take the report and go it alone, and that's genuinely fine.