Is It Too Late For Air Conditioner Maintenance?

What a crazy summer it's been!  Mother Nature has given us a little bit of everything - cooler than average temperatures, rain, heat and humidity!  As we enter the last half of the summer, we are asked the question:  Is it too late to have preventative maintenance completed on my air conditioner?

The short answer is:  No!  It's definitely not too late.

Air conditioners run constantly so it's never too late to give them a good tune-up and cleaning.  Grass clippings, cottonwood, leaves and construction dust can all collect around and in the air conditioner.  If this happens, air will not flow through the air conditioner as it should.  This drops the efficiency of the air conditioner and causes pressures to change.

A tune-up not only checks the operation of different parts but also measures the temperatures and pressures too.  It may be seen that amp draws are a little off or pressures are a little low.  Finding these issues during a tune-up may very well prevent a service call and the inconvenience of being without air conditioning when it's hot out.  A repair may be made at the time of maintenance or the technician can inform you of a potential future repair.

Air conditioner maintenance also includes the drain clean out.  If debris gets into the drain, the drain may back up creating water to fill the drain pan.  Depending on the location of the furnace, you may find water around the furnace area or it will trip a switch causing the system to stop running so the water doesn't overflow. Again, preventative maintenance can prevent this water problem.

As you can see, preventative maintenance is beneficial at any time that your system is running!

There are also a couple of things you can do on your own throughout the summer as well:

• Keep grass, plants and weeds trimmed and away from the air conditioner.
• Turn the air conditioner off at the thermostat and then use a hose to spray it out.
• Check and change your filter regularly.

Keeping up on regular maintenance will keep your air conditioner running more efficiently than one that's not seen a tune-up in awhile!