Commercial HVAC in Wausau, WI

Heating season in Marathon County starts in October and often runs into May, with January nights that drop well below zero. For a plant, clinic or school in Wausau, that means the HVAC system spends most of the year fighting cold, and a burner or heat exchanger failure in February is a building emergency. Southport Mechanical designs, installs and services commercial HVAC with that heating load in mind, backed by an engineering and fabrication team that has worked on Wisconsin commercial buildings since 2005.

Call 262-898-3000 for a bid or to set up an assessment of your Wausau facility.

Signs Your Building’s HVAC Is Falling Behind

Cold-climate systems tend to show strain in winter first. Paying attention to these symptoms gives you time to plan work before the next deep freeze.

• Rising natural gas bills without a matching change in weather or hours often mean burners, heat exchangers or controls are drifting out of adjustment.
• Doors that are hard to open or whistle point to negative building pressure from makeup air that is not keeping up with exhaust.
• Frozen coils or tripped freeze stats suggest outdoor air dampers or controls are not protecting equipment during subzero stretches.
• Cold spots near loading docks and entrances usually mean heating capacity or air distribution was never sized for how often those doors open.

Commercial HVAC Systems Built for Central Wisconsin

Good cold-climate design starts with an honest heating load. Our engineers calculate loads from the building envelope, ventilation requirements and occupancy, using winter design temperatures that reflect central Wisconsin instead of milder parts of the state. That number drives equipment selection, burner staging and the amount of outdoor air the system can handle without freezing coils or overworking heaters.

Ventilation gets extra attention in the industries common around Wausau. Paper and wood products plants, food and dairy processors and machine shops often exhaust large volumes of air, and every cubic foot leaving the building has to be replaced with heated outdoor air. We size makeup air and exhaust together so the building stays balanced, comfortable and safe to work in.

Our crews install and maintain packaged rooftop units, industrial heat pumps, geothermal systems and the ventilation and air distribution equipment that ties them together. Geothermal deserves a look for owners who plan to keep a building for decades, since ground temperature stays steady even when the air outside is far below zero.

Air distribution is built in-house. Our sheet metal shop fabricates the duct sections, fittings and transitions for our projects, and the same shop supplies wholesale ductwork to other contractors. On large jobs, BIM coordination lets us resolve conflicts between ductwork, piping and structure before crews arrive, which is how our team kept trades out of each other’s way on a new 175,000-square-foot public works facility in West Allis.

New Construction and Additions

We handle HVAC through design-build or by installing to an engineer’s plans. Prefabricated duct and controls reduce time on site, which helps when exterior work is squeezed into the short building season.

Equipment Replacement and Retrofits

Aging rooftop units and heating equipment can be replaced in phases so the building keeps heat. We plan crane lifts, shutdowns and temporary heat around occupancy and the weather.

Preventative Maintenance

Fall inspections of burners, heat exchangers, igniters, belts and freeze protection controls catch problems before the first cold snap. Spring visits shift the focus to cooling, coils and refrigerant charge.

Why Choose Southport for Commercial HVAC?

Engineering, sheet metal fabrication, and installation sit inside one company, so design questions do not bounce between subcontractors. Our preventative maintenance programs keep the same team on your equipment after startup, which matters most in a climate where heat is not optional.

Need a commercial HVAC system that holds up to a Wausau winter? Call 262-898-3000 to request a bid.