Maintaining Your Air Conditioning

Regular maintenance on your air conditioning keeps it running as efficiently as possible.  

Maintaining your air conditioning will save you money by extending the unit's life.

An air conditioning unit's filters, coils and fins require regular maintenance for the unit to function effectively and efficiently throughout its years of service.  Neglecting necessary maintenance ensures a steady decline in air conditioning performance while energy use steadily increases.

Filters:

The most important maintenance task that will ensure the efficiency of your air conditioning unit is to routinely replace or clean its 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 evaporator coil and impair the coil's heat absorbing capacity. Replacing a dirty, clogged filter with a clean one can lower your unit's energy consumption by 5 - 15%.

Coils:

The air conditioning unit'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 collect dirt.  This dirt reduces airflow and insulates the coil, reducing its ability to absorb heat.  To avoid this problem, check your evaporator coil every year and clean it as necessary.

Outdoor condenser coils can also become very dirty if the outdoor environment is dusty or if there is foliage nearby.  You can easily see the condenser coil and notice if dirt is collecting on its fins.

You should minimize dirt and debris near the condenser unit.  Trim any foliage back at least 2 feet (0.6 meters) to allow for adequate airflow around the condenser.

Condensate Drains:

Clogged drain channels prevent a unit from reducing humidity, and the resulting excess moisture may discolour walls or carpets.

Hiring a Professional:

It is advisable to hire a professional service to carry out maintenance on your air conditioning unit at least once a year.  A trained technician will find and fix any problems with your system.  What the technician will do:

• Check for the correct amount of refrigerant gas.
• Test for refrigerant leaks using a leak detector.
• Capture any refrigerant that must be evacuated from the system, instead of illegally releasing into the atmosphere.
• Check for and seal duct leakage in central systems.
• Measure airflow through the evaporator coil.
• Verify the correct electric control sequence and make sure that the heating system and cooling system cannot operate simultaneously.
• Inspect electric terminals, clean and tighten connections, and apply a non conductive coating if necessary.
• Check belts for tightness and wear.

Should your air conditioning unit need a service or a maintenance or if you are interested in installing a new unit, please do not hesitate to contact us here at Reliant Engineering and we will call to you and carry out a survey before providing you with a quotation.