B 5.0
Site power and HVAC
Standby generators, automatic transfer switches, fuel systems and shelter HVAC — the systems at the base that actually decide whether a site stays on air.
AGLGrade
This is the scope that makes this company different, and it is the one nobody photographs.
A site goes down for three reasons. The steel fails, which is rare and slow. The cooling fails, which happens in July and takes the radios out within hours. Or the grid goes and the generator that was supposed to catch it does not start, which is discovered at the exact moment it matters most.
The last two live at grade, in the compound, on equipment that is easy to assume is fine. A generator that has not been load-banked has not been tested; it has been started. An HVAC unit with a blocked condenser will run all winter and fail on the first genuinely hot afternoon. Both are cheap to maintain and expensive to discover.
Because we do this alongside the climbing scopes, a crew already mobilised for a lighting inspection can exercise the generator, check fuel and service the HVAC on the same visit. On a remote site, mobilisation is most of the cost, and that is the practical argument for one contractor rather than three.
A generator that runs for ten minutes on a no-load exercise has proved that it starts. Load-bank testing proves it can carry the site at rating for a sustained period, which is the thing you are actually buying it for. The two are not the same and the records say which was done.
Define these before a proposal
- Generator
- Make, rating, fuel type and age, plus when it was last load-banked rather than last started.
- Transfer arrangement
- Automatic or manual transfer switch, its rating, and whether it has ever been exercised under load.
- Fuel
- Tank capacity, fuel age and condition, and fill arrangements. Diesel degrades, and old fuel is a common cause of a generator that starts and then stops.
- HVAC
- Unit type, capacity, redundancy, and the temperature the shelter has to hold for the equipment inside it.
- Grounding
- Ground ring, bonding and resistance, which is both a safety matter and, in a lightning-heavy market, an availability one.
What you receive
Commissioning record, load-bank results, maintenance schedule
Submitted in the format your QA process expects, agreed at proposal stage rather than discovered at submission. See the close-out package.
B 5.1 The work
What the scope contains
Planning durations for one structure or one site, with the crew type each line assumes. Crew types are priced on the rates page.
| Work | Crew | Typical duration |
|---|---|---|
| Generator service visitExercise, inspect, fluids, fuel check | GP | 0.5 day |
| Load-bank testingUnder load, to rating, documented | GP | 0.5–1 day |
| Generator installationSet, connect, commission | GP + crane | 3–10 days |
| Automatic transfer switchInstall, test, commission | GP | 1–3 days |
| Shelter HVAC serviceFilters, coils, refrigerant, controls | GP | 0.5 day |
| HVAC replacementRemoval, install, commission | GP | 1–3 days |
| Fuel system workTank, polishing, fill arrangements | GP + subcontract | 1–5 days |
| Grounding remediationRing, bonding, resistance testing | GP | 1–3 days |
Rates are USD, exclude engineering, permitting, materials, crane and specialist equipment hire, travel outside the base market and any applicable tax, and are planning ranges for scoping a project rather than an offer or a quotation. Reviewed September 2026. Durations are per structure or per site and exclude mobilisation, weather days and any engineering or permitting lead time. A figure for your site list comes from a written proposal against a defined scope of work. See the disclaimer.
Questions Site power and HVAC
Questions about this scope
Specific to this scope. The general ones — proposals, insurance, weather, close-out, billing — are on the FAQ page.
Why does a generator need load-bank testing if it starts every month?
Because starting and carrying are different tests. A no-load exercise confirms the engine runs and the controls work. It does not confirm the machine can take the site’s actual load for hours, and it does not reveal a wet-stacking problem that builds up precisely because the machine is only ever run unloaded. Load-bank testing puts it under real load to rating and produces a record of what it actually delivered.
How often should shelter HVAC be serviced?
Twice a year is the common interval, and in Florida the pre-summer visit is the one that matters. Coastal sites need it more, because salt air attacks condenser coils and the failure mode is a unit that runs, draws current, and does not cool. Where a shelter has redundant units, both need exercising — a lead unit that has quietly been carrying the site alone for a year is a single point of failure nobody knows about.
Can you do power and HVAC on the same visit as tower work?
That is the point of buying them together. A crew mobilised for an inspection or a lighting repair can exercise the generator, check fuel, and service the HVAC in the same visit. On a remote site mobilisation is most of the cost, so combining the scopes is usually cheaper than two separate visits from two separate contractors.
What do you hand over after a generator installation?
A commissioning record, load-bank results showing what the machine delivered and for how long, the transfer test showing the switch actually transferred under load, fuel details, and a maintenance schedule with intervals. If a site is ever audited or a claim is ever made, that package is what proves the system was working when it was handed over.
B 0.0 The other scopes
The rest of the elevation
- AGL0–300′
Inspection & Maintenance
Scheduled structural and lighting inspection, guy tension and plumb, and the photo-documented report with a punch list that a site owner can act on.
- AGL60–300′
Antenna & Line Systems
Mount steel, antenna and line installation, hoisting, grounding and the sweep and PIM testing that proves the system before the crew leaves.
- AGL0–300′
Structural Modification
Leg, diagonal and foundation reinforcement carried out to a structural engineer's drawings, so a structure can carry a loading it was not built for.
- AGL0–300′
Tower Construction
New self-support, monopole and guyed structures, erected to an engineered rigging plan and handed over plumb, tensioned and documented.
Send the site list
Telephone with the structures, what has to happen at each one, and the date it has to be finished. We will tell you the crew, the days, what has to be engineered first, and what the close-out package will contain.
Atlantic Tower Services, Inc. · 5301 Pen Ave, Suite 1001, Sanford, FL 32773