A Checklist For the AC Service Person

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When you have a central air conditioner in the home, as many people do, you certainly want it to operate with a very high level of efficiency. That is the key to the safety and comfort of you and your family, as well as keeping those utility bills under control.

If you have had a talk with any HVAC professional, they would have told you that one of the aspects that makes this happen is to maintain the system correctly. As a result, you will have maintenance scheduled.

It could be that you need a repair, but that it is something that can be taken care of with some simple maintenance tasks. Whatever it is, it won’t hurt you to know what the service person generally goes through when he visits your home.

These are things that are critical to conducting proper maintenance of your system:

  • The electric connections must be tightened and the motors must be checked. When these things are not operating properly, your system is not going to operate the right way and you are going to burn it out.
  • Lubrication is important. All the moving parts of the system have to be lubricated. If they’re not, your system is going to have to work harder. When there is more effort going into running your system that is going to take more energy and translate to higher utility bills. Sure maybe this is something you could do yourself, but it is better left to an AC professional.
  • Make sure the condensate drain isn’t plugged. If it is, you are going to have problems. You’ll wind up with massive water backup and the humidity level, which is something your air conditioner is supposed to control, will get, in effect, out of control.
  • How about the controls on your system? They have to be working properly. Does you system turn on and shut off the right way? This sounds simple, but it has an impact on the safe operation of any AC.
  • The thermostat must be set the right way. A lot of people don’t know how to use the thermostat, and this can especially be the case when it comes to one that is programmable. Let the AC professional show you how to manage that part of your system, because when you can actually set the controls of your temperature according tot he time of day, you could be in for a lower energy bill.

How Affordable are Air Conditioner Repairs

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Nobody can survive without air conditioning these days. We become sweaty, kids develop rash problems and everybody faces an acute drop in productivity and energy levels. Thus, its not much of a surprise to see most of us stumped when our air conditioner runs to a grinding halt in the middle of a busy, swelteringly hot, sunny day.

To most of us, this would mean a nightmare of waiting for hours before an on-call serviceman shows up, and then probably waiting for days before your air conditioner is fully repaired and back on your wall. But almost all of us overlook this question of just how affordable these air conditioner repairs are. There are two kinds of air conditioner owners. Those that get maintenance done regularly, even more than regularly, just so as to prevent problems, and then we have those who continue to use their air conditioner even when a problem appears, without bothering to have it repaired till the air conditioner breathes its last.

Waiting till the last minute and postponing your air conditioner repair even after a problem appears is probably the last thing anybody should do. When the air conditioner does eventually stop working, it will cost you a lot more to get it repaired than usual. There are a number of ways to avoid this unnecessary expense. The obvious would be to get the problem rectified as and when it appears. Another option, while it requires more work and punctuality, has more lasting benefits. This option, usually overlooked, is called maintenance. Have your air conditioner serviced by a professional at-least once every six months.

A professional can check the direction of air flow, inspect the coils and assess its efficiency. When done on a regular basis, this greatly improves the performance of your air conditioner, and improves the efficiency by almost 1.5 times. Next comes proper and frequent up-gradation. The speed at which technology’s moving currently, any appliance we purchase today becomes outdated in a few years, and sometimes maybe even just a year. Thus, it is very important for you to have your equipment up to date, and in sync with the current technology. Not only does this give you the latest possible comforts, it is very easy to find spare parts in the case of failure of some of the components in your air conditioning unit.

Replacing An Old Air Conditioner

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Air conditioners play an important role in our lives. It is very important to keep our air conditioning systems maintained and in proper working order. But sometimes, the repairs are just too great and a replacement is needed.

Understanding your system is very important. When parts of an air conditioner break down, it may be one or several parts that are broken. It is best to replace the entire system since each part works together harmoniously and changing out just one part may not solve the problem.

1. The Two main parts of an Air Conditioner: The Evaporator and The Condenser

Air conditioners have two main parts: the Evaporator and the Condenser. The evaporator is located inside the ductwork and it works absorbing heat from inside the air towards the refrigerant.

The condenser is located outside of the home or business and it works to squeeze heat out of the refrigerant and pushes it outside.

2. Replacing only one of the two may not solve the problem

Most times, when repairs are needed, it is the condenser. One may think that replacing the condenser will fix the problem but that is not the case. The two main parts work together and replacing one part can make the two have trouble working together.

The two must adjust to how each one work’s and replacing one may still see problems with your air conditioner.

3. Replacing the entire system is always the best solution.

The evaporator can start to make problems because it can absorb too much heat and then the condenser will overheat. If the evaporator does not get the right amount of heat it will freeze. The only way to make sure the two are going to work together is to replace both main components.

It is usually very easy to match both parts when a new air conditioner is installed. However it can be hard to match components when a system is older. So it is best in this instance to replace the entire system.

The decision is yours. If your air conditioner is causing problems, have it inspected. If only one part is damaged, you can choose to just replace that part. Just be aware that you may encounter problems with your system in the coming months.

Also be aware that if you have an older system, it may be difficult to find replacement parts so an entirely new system may be needed. Be sure to contact a top rated HVAC contractor to diagnosis your system so you will know exactly what is wrong with your system.