How Should You Be Maintaining Your Air Conditioner?
Does your home use a central air conditioner to keep it cool in the winter? If so, the air conditioner is not something you want to forget about since there are several things you should be doing to maintain it over the years.
Cover The Condenser In The Winter
If you live in an area that sees very cold winters, you should consider covering the outdoor condenser in the winter when it is not in use. This will help protect the exterior of the unit from being affected by ice and snow, which will help improve the longevity of the unit. The goal is to prevent it from rusting, and from having icicles and other debris fall onto the unit.
Clean The Condenser Coil
The condenser coil is going to get dirty over time since the unit sucks in air from the sides and vents it out through the top. This can cause a lot of dirt and debris to get sucked into the unit, which will cause it to become less efficient. The best way to clean out the coil is to spray the condenser coil down with a hose. You can power down the unit, take off the grate, and spray it from the inside. This will cause all the dirt to fall to the outside of the unit.
Check For Pests
If you are not going to clean out the condenser, at the very least you should check for pests. You do not know what kind of animal has made their home in your air conditioner during the winter months, and if something has made a nest, you'll want to remove it before you turn on your air conditioner for the first time in the spring.
Check The Wiring
You should also check the wiring to make sure that pests did not cause damage during the winter. This can be done by taking off the cover and just giving the wiring a visual inspection to see if wires are disconnected or chewed through. Just make sure to turn off the power before you open up the cover and investigate that wiring because electricity will be flowing through it otherwise.
Check The Insulation
Your suction and refrigerant lines should have insulation around them, but that insulation can become brittle over time. If the insulation is in bad shape then you should replace it since it will prevent the refrigerant from turning into a liquid too quickly. Thankfully, the foam insulation is easy to replace on your own.
Contact a company for more information about air conditioning maintenance.
