Hello. My name is Max. My wife and I have five children who all live at with us in our large two-story house. My wife and two of our kids suffer from severe allergies which means keeping our home as dust-free as possible. I have learned that it’s crucial to keep our heating and air conditioning units properly maintained at all times. We have a fantastic HVAC company that comes out two times a year to perform routine maintenance on our system. They have taught me what I can do on a monthly basis in order to not only help with my family’s health but also keep our system running efficiently. I would like to share some of the tips I’ve been given. I hope you find this to be useful!
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Maintaining Your Heating and Air Conditioning Units
Beat the Heat by Preparing Your Air Conditioner for Summer Weather
Kristin Pierce
As soon as the warm spring weather arrives, you should start thinking about what you need to do to prepare your air conditioner for the summer. After all, you don't want to be stuck in a sweltering hot house if your AC unit suddenly stops working. Follow these tips to make sure your air conditioner is working well enough to keep you cool all summer long.
Clean the Air Conditioner Unit
If you've wrapped your air conditioner unit properly to protect it from the harsh winter weather, you might not have a lot of cleaning to do. Regardless, the unit needs to be cleaned before you start to use it so that it uses the least amount of energy possible.
- Sweep any dirt and debris away from the unit.
- Remove the top and side panels. Be careful while removing the panels, because some units have the fan attached to one of the panels. You don't want to destroy the wiring.
- Use a shop vac to vacuum up dirt or debris that has settled around the condenser coils.
- Cover the motor with a garbage bag, and secure the bag with duct tape.
- Spray down the unit with water using a garden hose with a spray nozzle attachment.
- Wait for the unit to dry completely.
- Remove the protective bag from the motor.
- Reattach the panels.
Have a Professional Inspection Completed
When you have a HVAC certified technician inspect your AC unit, you'll be aware of any potential problems that could occur throughout the summer. If the technician finds a few small issues, you might want to consider having them repaired before they become a major problem. During the inspection, your HVAC technician should also change the filter and recharge the coolant to make sure your air conditioner is blowing cold air into your home. A few things that you should make sure the technician inspects and goes over with you include the following:
- How to check for coolant leaks. If there is a leak in the system, your air conditioner unit will have to be recharged repeatedly, and you may want to consider replacement.
- How to check the minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) rating of the filter he or she is using. The numbers range from one to 12. The higher the number is, the more dust and debris it traps. However, the better a filter is at keeping out contaminants, the more energy your air conditioner needs to use to push cool air into the house.
- How to test and set your thermostat properly. Simply altering the temperature in your home during certain hours of the day can save you quite a bit of money.
Maintaining your air conditioner unit isn't difficult, as long as you keep it clean. If you do run into a problem in the summer and you aren't sure how to fix it, you should call your local central air conditioner repair company as soon as possible. For more information, contact a business such as Lakeside Heating & A/C Inc.
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