Maintaining Your Air Conditioner, Air Conditioning Filters, and Air Conditioning Coils
Warmer weather is just around the corner, which likely means you'll be turning on your air conditioning system any day now. Before you do, be sure to have a contractor follow a maintenance checklist to keep your cooling system working at peak performance, and to avoid any future problems and unwanted costs.
Checklist Your Contractor Should Follow for Maintaining Your Air Conditioner
- Check your thermostat settings to make sure the system keeps you comfortable when you're home and saves you energy when you're gone.
- Tighten all electrical connections and measure voltage and currents on motors. Faulty electrical connections can cause unsafe operation of your system and reduce the life of major components.
- Lubricate all moving parts, as parts that lack lubrication cause friction in motors, increasing the amount of electricity you use.
- Inspect the condensate drain. A plugged drain can cause water damage in the house and affect indoor humidity levels.
- Check controls of the system to ensure proper and safe operation. Check the starting cycle of the equipment to assure the system starts, operates, and shuts off properly when maintaining your air conditioner.
- Clean your air conditioning coils. The air conditioner's evaporator coil and condenser coil collect dirt over their months and years of service. A clean filter prevents the evaporator coil from soiling quickly. In time, however, the evaporator coil will still collect dirt. This dirt reduces airflow and insulates the coil, reducing its ability to absorb heat.
- Inspect, clean, and/or change your air filters. Clogged, dirty filters block normal airflow and reduce a system's efficiency significantly. With normal airflow obstructed, air that bypasses the filter may carry dirt directly into the evaporator coil and impair the coil's heat-absorbing capacity. Replacing a dirty, clogged filter with a clean one can lower your air conditioner's energy consumption by 5% to 15%.
Another way to protect and maintaining your air conditioner is through a thorough air duct cleaning, which can yield long-term energy savings. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Bob Baker and Ross Montgomery explain that dirty coils and blowers can cut efficiency by as much as 40%.
AdvantaClean tips on how you can tell it's time for an air duct cleaning when maintaining your air conditioner!
Call 877-800-2382 to speak with a knowledgeable customer service representative and/or to schedule an air duct cleaning with
AdvantaClean today!
