Commercial Rooftop Unit Installation & Service
Packaged RTU replacement and service — curb adapters, crane sets, economizers, Title 24 compliance and multi-site rollouts.
Packaged rooftop units carry most of the conditioned square footage in San Diego's commercial buildings, and they are usually replaced reactively — one failure at a time, in August. CMI plans RTU work as a program: a condition survey of every unit with nameplate, age, refrigerant, run condition and economizer status, then a prioritized replacement schedule with a budget your facilities group can defend.
Replacements are handled cleanly. We fabricate or order curb adapters so the roof membrane is never cut unnecessarily, coordinate the crane and roofer, transition duct and electrical, install new economizers, controls and smoke detectors, pull permits, and leave Title 24 compliance and startup documentation behind. Sequences are integrated into the building automation system rather than left on unit thermostats.
On the service side we cover compressor and condenser fan replacement, coil cleaning and replacement, gas heat section and heat exchanger work, economizer repair (the single most common failure we find), refrigerant leak repair, controls and thermostat replacement, and scheduled filter and belt service under a maintenance agreement.
Scope & capabilities
- RTU condition surveys with prioritized replacement plans and budgets
- Curb adapter fabrication, crane rigging and roofing coordination
- Duct transitions, plenum modifications and smoke detector interlocks
- Thermostat, controller and BAS integration for unitary equipment
- Packaged DX, gas/electric, heat pump and VAV rooftop unit replacement
- Economizer replacement, fault detection and Title 24 compliance
- Compressor, condenser fan, coil and heat exchanger repair
- Multi-site and portfolio rollouts with consistent documentation
The technical envelope
- Capacity range
- 3 – 150 tons packaged
- Manufacturers
- Trane, Carrier, York, Daikin, AAON, Lennox
- Typical turnaround
- Single-unit changeout in one crane day
- Permitting
- City/County of San Diego mechanical permits, Title 24 forms
- Programs
- Portfolio replacement plans and PM agreements
Facility types
Commercial Rooftop Units — straight answers
- Do you handle the crane, roofing and permits?
- Yes — it is one scope from CMI. We schedule the crane, coordinate your roofer (or ours) for flashing and membrane work, pull the mechanical permit, and provide the Title 24 documentation and startup report.
- Can you replace units across multiple buildings on one program?
- That is how we prefer to do it. A portfolio survey produces a ranked list by risk and efficiency, and we execute over a fiscal year with identical equipment, identical controls and one set of documentation.
- Why do you always check the economizer?
- Because in this climate a failed economizer is free cooling thrown away, and it is the most frequently broken component we find. Repairing or replacing economizers and their controls is usually the fastest efficiency win on a rooftop.
Get a number you can budget against
We walk the plant before we price it. You get equipment condition, options, phasing and a schedule — not a guess with a contingency wrapped around it.