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Commercial · Rooftop UnitsRooftop Unit (RTU) Repair & Replacement
A rooftop unit packages gas heat, cooling, the blower, the filters and usually an economizer into one cabinet sitting on a curb, so when it fails it takes the whole tenant space with it. We repair RTUs, and when the cabinet is past saving we handle the curb adapter, the crane and the changeover schedule.
The failures repeat, and they repeat in roughly the same order. Belts and blower bearings on older belt-drive units. Contactors and run capacitors. Condenser fan motors. Ignition and flame-sensing components on the gas section. Plugged condensate pans that show up as a stain on the ceiling tile below and get blamed on the roof. And economizers — the quiet money loser, because an actuator that has failed with the outdoor damper wide open in January makes the gas section run all day while the space stays perfectly comfortable and nobody reports anything. We check damper position on every visit for exactly that reason.
Replacement is a logistics job as much as an HVAC one. Curb dimensions from a 1990s unit rarely match its modern equivalent, so a curb adapter gets fabricated and the roof opening reworked rather than forced. The crane needs a staging area, and on a tight plaza site that means coordinating with the landlord for a lot closure. And the timing is the tenant's, not ours: for a plaza on Plains Road or a unit sitting over a restaurant on Upper James, the swap goes in early on a Saturday or a Sunday so nobody loses a trading day. Our RTU replacement guide for property managers covers how those days are planned. Recent work includes a set of Hisense rooftop units on a commercial building — we install and service Hisense packaged equipment alongside the usual Carrier, Trane, York and Lennox commercial lines.
New packaged equipment is arriving on A2L refrigerants — R-32 and R-454B — which changes leak detection, service procedures and what can be topped up on an existing system. If you are budgeting a phased replacement across a portfolio, this affects which units to do first and what your service contractor needs to be equipped for. What the A2L transition means is the plain-language version.
Scheduled service is what decides whether an RTU reaches its expected life. Filters on a real interval — a roof beside the QEW industrial corridor loads them far faster than an office park — plus belt tension, coil washing, drain clearing before cooling season and a heat-exchanger inspection before heating season. That is the whole program, and it is cheaper than one emergency crane. See commercial HVAC for the full scope, or maintenance contracts for the scheduled version.
Call us about a rooftop unit when
- The unit runs but the space never reaches setpoint on the hottest or coldest days
- A tenant reports no heat and the unit is locked out on a flame or pressure fault
- The gas section runs continuously through winter, which usually means a stuck economizer damper
- Belts squeal at start-up, or you can hear the bearings from the roof hatch
- Water is showing on the ceiling tiles below the unit and the roof itself checks out fine
How it works
Model and serial off the nameplate, photos, what has failed and what is queued up behind it. Property managers get something they can forward to an owner, not a verbal.
Most faults are parts we can source and fit. Where the cabinet is corroded through or the exchanger is cracked, the replacement quote includes the curb adapter, the crane and the disposal so there are no additions later.
Crane and lift booked for the window that costs the tenant least, the new unit set, ducts and gas and electrical reconnected, controls commissioned and the space verified before we leave the roof.
Brands: We service every major packaged rooftop brand — Carrier, Trane, Lennox, York, Daikin and Goodman among them — including the units a previous contractor or the original builder specified.
Common questions
How long should a rooftop unit last?
Commonly fifteen to twenty years on a roof in this climate, and less where the exposure is harsh — an industrial roof, or a unit taking salt spray and constant wind. Units that get filters, belts and coils looked after reliably outlast units that only get visited when a tenant complains.
Repair or replace?
The dividing lines are a cracked heat exchanger, a failed compressor on an ageing unit, and a cabinet that has rusted through at the base. Any of those on a unit past fifteen years means the money is better spent on the replacement, especially if a crane has to come either way.
Do you work with property managers?
Yes, and most of our commercial work is exactly that. You get written reports with photos, quotes broken out per unit so they can be approved individually, and asset records by roof so a portfolio can be budgeted rather than firefought. Our property management services page covers the reporting.
Can the work be done outside business hours?
Yes, and for retail and restaurant tenants it usually should be. There is no overtime, weekend or holiday surcharge on our rates, so scheduling a changeout for a Sunday morning costs you the same as a Tuesday.
What is the difference between an RTU and a split system?
An RTU is one packaged cabinet on the roof containing everything; a split system separates the condenser from an indoor air handler or furnace. Packaged units simplify the mechanical room out of existence but put all the serviceable parts on a roof — the trade-offs are in RTU versus split system.