It’s easy for things to get away from us as the seasons rush by. Before you know it, summer is half gone and you haven’t gotten AC maintenance done! Should you put it off until next year? Definitely not! There are many reasons to have maintenance done on your air conditioner every single year, even if you didn’t get it done before summer really started.
A question that often comes up among homeowners looking to save money is, “can’t I just handle air conditioning maintenance on my own?”
The truth is, you could probably find a video online of how to DIY inspect your air conditioner. But the real question is, do you really want to? If something gets missed, you could end up with an unexpected and expensive repair need, or maybe even a sudden AC breakdown when you need your system the most.
Not to mention, professional air conditioning maintenance helps keep your manufacturer’s warranty current. This means that if you have a defect that causes an AC problem, the manufacturer will be held accountable for it, instead of it coming out of your pocket. If you try to repair or maintain your AC on your own, however, it voids the warranty.
Okay, so, aside from warranty protection, what’s so great about professional AC maintenance? Read on to learn what actually goes on during these sessions, and to get the answer to that very question.
There aren’t too many homeowners out there who really understand how air conditioners work. This isn’t a bad thing or something you’re expected to know a lot about—after all, that’s what the professionals are here for!
However, because many homeowners aren’t well-informed, they can be led astray by amateur repair people or handy people claiming to be HVAC pros. In fact, one of the most common things these folks tell homeowners is that refrigerant is something that gets “used up,” like gasoline from a car, and must be refilled (what we in the industry call recharged) once a year during maintenance or more often. And this is a refrigerant myth that could potentially harm your air conditioner. Read on to learn how!
It’s easy, especially this late in the summer season, to ignore small signs that something might be amiss with your air conditioner. But the fact of the matter is, this is when your air conditioner is most likely to break down, because this is the time of the year it runs the most and essentially works the hardest.
This is particularly true if you skipped maintenance this year. Maintenance allows our technicians to thoroughly inspect, clean, and adjust your system to ensure proper, efficient functionality. It also allows us to spot small repair needs before they become bigger ones! But this doesn’t mean you can’t spot small repair needs on your own—and when you do, the next best step is to give the pros a call. Read on to learn more about these signs.
You likely already understand that there isn’t much point in getting an air conditioner that’s too small,—that is, underpowered—for your home. But did you know that, yes, an air conditioner could actually be too big—or overpowered?
With summer right around the corner, you want to ensure that your air conditioner is fully equipped to handle the heat. For some people, that means scheduling another maintenance appointment for this year. But for other folks, it means investing in a complete air conditioner replacement.
Of course, you may be tempted to buy the biggest, most powerful cooling system you can afford for your needs. But we’re here to tell you that this isn’t necessarily a good idea. When it comes to your air conditioning system, size really does matter, and we’re going to explain why below! Read on to learn more, and when the time comes for you to purchase your new air conditioner, reach out to our team of professionals.
Have you ever heard someone say that it’s okay for an air conditioner to operate louder on a muggy day, because it’s “working harder?” Unfortunately, even if it was an HVAC technician that told you this, it’s just not true. Nor does a grinding noise mean that your system is just “warming up.”
Take our word for it, these silly claims are not right.
Air conditioners are built to operate as quietly as possible. In fact, the only sounds you should hear coming from a functional air conditioner is the sound of the air “wooshing” through your vents, and the hum of the compressor outside. True, these not be “quiet” sounds to you, but in relation to the noises that we’re about to describe below, they’re pretty minor.
The short answer to this is “no.” It’s important that you have maintenance done for your air conditioner every year (or every 6 months, in the case of a heat pump) but frequency and consistency are more important than what time of the year you have it done.
The next most common question we get about maintenance is “Is it really worth it? What does this service actually do for my air conditioner, anyway?”
We totally understand the inquiry. So, we want to share what actually happens during a maintenance tune-up. This way you can feel informed and confident that your investment in maintenance is a good one.
