Maintaining Your Air Conditioning

Regular maintenance keeps your air conditioner running as efficiently as possible.  Maintaining your air conditioner 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.

Air Conditioner Filters

The most important maintenance task that will ensure the efficiency of your air conditioner 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 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%.

Air Conditioning Coils

The air conditioner's evaparator 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.  To avoid this problem, check your evaporator coil every year and clean it if neccessary.

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.  Your dryer vents, falling leaves and lawn mower are all potential sources of dirt and debris.  Cleaning the area around the coil, removing any debris, and trimming foliage back at least 2 feet allow for adequate airflow around the condenser.

Hiring a Professional

When your air conditioning unit needs more than regular maintenance, hire a professional service technician.  A well-trained technician will find and fix problems in your system.

The technician should:

• Check for correct amount of refrigerant
• Test for refrigerant leaks using a leak detector
• Capture any refrigerant that must be evacuated from the systme, instead of illegally releasing it to 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 terminal, clean and tighten connections, and apply a non-conductive coating if necessary.
• Oil motors and check belts for tightness and wear.
• Check the accuracy of the thermostat.