Want to make your home stay cool and comfortable?
As soon as the weather starts to warm up outside, use of an air conditioning unit becomes essential. For this, it becomes crucial that your air conditioning maintenance is done properly. And not only for cooling but for several other reasons you must ensure it properly working.
While keeping your air conditioner maintained will save you money, it will also extend the system’s lifecycle. So your AC units need regular attention to keep it operating at the highest efficiency.
Below are listed some easy servicing steps for your air conditioning unit. Have a look:
Turn off the power
This may sound to be obvious. But most of the time people forget to do it. It can be extremely dangerous to work around a live current. So, turn off the power at the breaker box and on the exterior condenser/compressor.
AC condenser coils cleansing
Don’t worry, it is not that tough! All you need is a garden hose and your thumb. Stay away from chemicals or pressure washers. These can be too strong and might damage the delicate fins on the unit. Just spray the fins from the inside out and remove any built-up debris or dirt. It is not much time-consuming. The entire process will take somewhere around ten minutes. And you can do it annually in spring or early summer.
Clean buildup and debris
With the help of screwdriver or wrench, remove the screws or other hardware attached to the exterior condenser/compressor. Basically, you need to remove leaves, grass clippings, dust, and other debris from the interior. For this, you can use a wet or a dry vacuum, or you can do it with your hands. As HVAC units are majorly located near dryer vents, you will find a fair amount of dryer lint as well. Clean it well!
Straighten the fins
As bent fins restrict air flow, it might be a reason for reduced efficiency of the unit. Are those fins bent out of shape? If yes, you must carefully straighten them using a fin-straightening tool. In case, you don’t have one, just use a butter knife or similar thin tool. Just ensure you do it very carefully as you must not damage the tubing embedded in the fins. For your convenience, you can even hire handyman services for such tasks.
Condenser unit clean up
When you are done with hosing and combing of fins, you can start replacing the fan’s grill to clean the area surrounding the unit. It is important to reduce the debris. Make sure you clear space in all directions surrounding the unit, roughly 2 feet, to maximize efficient airflow.
Evaporator coil cleansing
Going inside to find the evaporator coil door, you need to remove screws, bolts, and foil duct tape to access the interior. Open the door, and use a soft bristled brush to clean off the coil with no-rinse coil cleaner. For thorough cleaning, make use of hot water, soap, and a small amount of bleach. You can later rinse out the drain with a half and half mixture of water and bleach.
Unit leveling
Let the soil settles underneath the condenser unit. It has to be leveled else the compressor is more likely to fail prematurely. So you must get a level to check the condenser unit’s positioning. Heat pump systems are exceptions as the pads underneath them have a strategic tilt.
Change your filter
It is essential to get your HVAC system filter at least twice a year. And if you are residing somewhere particularly dusty, you might need it more frequently. As per the Ac installation experts, the best time to change your filter is just before the cooling season begins or just before the heating season. If you are doing it yourself, make sure that your replacement filter has the same airflow rating as the old filter.
Finally, you are done! Turn the power back on and it’s ready to use.
To ensure that your home stays cool, start following steps to keeping your AC running smoothly. In case, you are falling short of time, you can call up handyman experts for this work. While they have the right experience in handling your machine, they save your time and effort, altogether. After all, the aim is to keep you AC in good shape, isn’t it?
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