Regular maintenance of your A/C unit can save you a lot of money, inconveniences, and time. In this article, we’ll share the details on how often you should service your unit, to make sure it works flawlessly throughout the season.
The heat of the summer months brings a whole set of concerns for every homeowner. There seem to be so many things that need to be done to ensure that your house stays cool, strong, and comfortable for everyone. This can be a daunting task and a real source of stress.
One of the best ways to ensure your house stays comfortable is making sure the air conditioner works efficiently, and that it can handle the increased burden of summer heat. To achieve this, it needs to be cleaned thoroughly and regularly and maintained by a professional air conditioning service technician.
Why Should You Service Your A/C Unit?
Your A/C unit works hard to filter, cool, and distribute conditioned air throughout your home. Debris and dust particles can accumulate around the condenser coils, the filters, and on other parts of the system over time. This might cause the unit to work much harder and take a toll on its efficiency. Aside from compromising the efficiency, it will also cost you more regarding energy bills. For this reason, if you want to keep your costs low and your a/c running optimally, an annual cleaning service is crucial.
How Often Should You Replace the Air Filters?
Experts suggest that AC units should be serviced once a year, and the same goes for heating units. They recommend that spring is the best time for service. Nonetheless, it important to ensure that your system works efficiently. But you don’t always need a professional; you can simply locate the slot for the filter, slide out the old one, and replace it with a new one. Take note of the direction of air flow, and the side of the filter that should face out. You can always refer to the manufacturer’s instructions for steps on replacing your filter and the correct filter sizes.
How often you need to replace the filter depends on your lifestyle. Do you have children with allergies? Do you have any pets? The filters typically come in different strengths, which are based on how much you want the air filtered in your home. Filters also need to be replaced at different times depending on your circumstances. If you have pets, you may need to replace them once every month, and purchase ones with a higher rating. The same applies for those with family members that are sensitive to dust or other allergens. Overall, air filters should be replaced every 90 days.
Why Regular AC Inspections are Necessary
Regular inspections and maintenance routines for your air conditioning system can provide a lot of benefits. With a trusted, professional A/C company like AC Repair Oviedo FL, you can save a lot of time and money with regular checks for your unit. The main benefit of working with such a company is that you will learn how to schedule the maintenance tasks during off seasons.
- Peace of Mind: Since you will have worked with them over and over, you will know when to take advantage of their offers on repairs and parts. You will also build relationships with the technicians, who you will be able to trust to handle your AC needs professionally and efficiently.
- Longer lifespan: On average, the lifespan of an air conditioning unit is around 10 to 20 years, though some can last up to 30 years. The overall lifespan of your unit will largely depend on how well you maintain it. Units that receive seldom or no care at all might not even reach ten years before they need replacing.
- Fewer repair bills: With regular servicing, any conditions that could potentially cause a failure or breakdown will be caught early and repaired by your service technician. This can save you a lot in repair costs down the road.
- Lower Energy Bills: Regular service ensures the AC system runs more efficiently. This easily translates into lower electricity costs.
- Comfortable home: An optimally working AC unit will be useful in keeping the temperatures of your indoors comfortable for everyone. This can only be achieved through regular maintenance.
What You Can Do to Keep Your AC Healthy Between Maintenance Visits
Before your next annual maintenance service, there are a few things you can do to ensure that your AC keeps running smoothly, and to prevent any damage from ruining your unit.
Outdoor Unit Inspection: It’s important to inspect the outdoor unit periodically for any form of damage, and to keep the area around the unit free of weeds, dirt, dust, leaves, foliage, and twigs.
- Indoor Vents: Make sure that the indoor air vent for your AC is free of any obstructions, dust, lint, hair, and pet dander.
- Turning up the thermostat while you are away: This ensures that the load on your system is significantly reduced when you are away for a vacation or just not at home. This way, your unit will last much longer.
- Call your Service Provider if you notice any water leaks, weird noises, uneven cooling, rising energy bills, or air temperatures that don’t match the thermostat.
Assessing the Performance of your Air Conditioning Unit
Once you have checked the outdoor and indoor parts of your unit are good, you can now evaluate the whole unit’s performance. You can crank it up and evaluate how it fares. Take note of whether your house is getting cooler, if the unit produces any noises, and if the performance is normal.
Keep in mind that the first time you turn your AC unit on, you are likely to notice a certain smell. This is simply how the AC clears out the dust that might have settled since the time you last used it. It will dissipate soon.
Leave the Repair and Maintenance to Professionals
If from your assessment you notice that your AC unit requires repairs or replacement, it’s best to leave the work to professionals. Now that you are aware that you should service your air conditioner unit at least once a year, working with a professional will make the processes easier for you. You will only need to set up an appointment with the technician for the time of service.
