How to Winterize Your Air Conditioner the Right Way?

Winter is already here but it’s never too late to prepare your AC for cold and harsh weather. It is important to take care of it by protecting it from freezing temperature and other elements because you don’t want to find out it’s broken 6 months later when summer heat starts creeping in.

Repairs are expensive and unnecessary when there’s a way to avoid that headache and have your AC properly winterized. Anyone should be able to do it, especially with hints from Hughes Air who have been in business for a while and know how to do this right.

Turn it off

If you don’t plan on using it then the best thing you can do is avoid any risk and turn your AC off for the winter. You can do that by finding the circuit breaker and turning it off. We all know how moist winter can be, and that moisture can easily enter your AC on a warmer day and stay inside without enough time to evaporate before freezing temperatures hits again at night. That frozen water inside your AC can cause a lot of trouble.

Clean it

Just as any appliance in your home, your AC also needs regular maintenance and cleaning, especially due to the fact that it’s sitting outside all the time and falls victim to all types of weather, animals, birds, insects, etc.

The unit was built to sustain any type of damage caused by weather conditions but is not 100% proof from debris, specks of dirt, birds nesting, leaves, etc. This problem will slowly pile up if you don’t clean it regularly and eventually prevent moving parts inside the unit from doing their job thus causing overheating and even fire.

So once a year you need to remove debris both from interior and exterior by using a vacuum cleaner and cloth. If the damage was already done, make sure to hire a licensed air conditioner repair company to assess the damage.

Cover it

This is the next step after you’ve turned it off and cleaned it. Now that it is prepared for the next season it is time to protect it from the winter. What you need is a cover, preferably made of vinyl and it has to be waterproof.

After you’ve covered it you need to tighten it up with cords or whatever you can find to prevent debris or small animals from finding shelter there. You want to start a new season ready and without having to deal with issues caused during winter’s harsh conditions.

When you’ve sealed it off you need to check it on a regular basis to make sure the cover holds, and especially after periods of bad weather.

What to do with window units?

There’s no reason open up a window unit and clean it. The best way to handle it is to take it down from the outer wall and put it inside the house. It does seem like a lot of work, but it is definitely the best way to protect it from outside elements, and you’d have a clean, ready and waiting AC unit at the start a new warm season.

Another potential issue is cold air which might flow in through the hole in the wall where the AC hose is placed since units were not primarily designed to provide isolation, you can remove it and close off the hole to prevent heat leaks.