How To Maintain Your AC in Great Working Condition?
As the heat of the hot summer months approaches, people begin to turn their air conditioners on. These units can help keep you cool, and ensure that your home is a comfortable place to be even when the outdoors is anything but comfortable.
However, if you haven’t paid any attention to your air conditioner recently, there are no guarantees it will work how you expect when you turn it on. It can take some effort to keep your AC in working condition all summer long.
But thankfully, there are some things you can do to maintain your air conditioner and keep it in great shape. This article is going to go over a few of them, to ensure that you stay as cool as possible this summer.
Get it Looked at by a Professional
One of the best ways to keep your air conditioner in great shape is to get it looked at by a professional every now and then. These professional air conditioning services can check your HVAC system and ensure everything looks good and is working well behind the scenes. They are complex machines, so doing the work yourself will often be quite challenging.
Many problems can materialize and begin to get worse without you even knowing, and won’t become obvious until they are major. Getting a professional in can find these issues when they are still small and affordable to fix. A yearly inspection and maintenance check on your air conditioner by a professional can work wonders and ensure it works well for years to come.
Keep the Filter Fresh
Something you can do between visits from professionals to keep your air conditioner in good shape is to make sure you change out the filter often. Your HVAC system has a filter that keeps dirt, dust, and various other types of debris from getting in the system. It can also help to improve the indoor air quality in some cases, too.
But if you leave this filter alone for too long, it can become a clogged up mess, which can actually hurt the condition and performance of your AC. When it comes to how often to change your air filter, it normally depends. Some filters will only last a month before needing to be replaced, while others can last up to three. Other factors that influence how often to change include the size of your home, whether you have pets, and if you have children in the home.
Don’t Unnecessarily Overwork it
Oftentimes, an air conditioner working too hard can ruin its longevity and hurt how long it can remain effective for. There are several things you may be doing (or not doing) that could be hurting how well your air conditioner continues to work over time.
First of all, always remember to turn your air conditioner off when you don’t need it on. Letting it run for hours when you are gone, or when your home is not warm, can decrease the lifespan of the system. Also, make sure you are not blocking the vents or registers throughout the home, as that can lead the system to working harder than it should to reach the desired temperature.
Also, take some time to seal up any air gaps and leaks in your exterior walls. Letting in hot outdoor air while you are trying to cool things down inside will only make the process longer, and force your system to work harder.
In conclusion, keeping these tips and ideas in mind can ensure that your air conditioner remains in great shape.
