Top Tips for Getting the Coolest Performance from Your Air Conditioner This Summer

If your home air conditioner has not been put to use during the winter months, then it is a very good idea to ensure that it is ready to put in its best effort to quell the heat of the sizzling summer. A badly-maintained air conditioner not only cools inefficiently but also wastes energy. It also has the potential to fail and require expensive repairs or even replacement. Some hot tips for a cool summer:

image:mannix.com.au

Put Safety First

Ensure that you switch off the power supply before you attempt to perform any maintenance work on your air conditioner. Identify the 240-volt isolation switch in the outdoor unit and turn it off also. Keep in mind that the outdoor unit has a highly-charged capacitor that can be hazardous when touched so allow at least half an hour for the charge to dissipate. Avoid touching any of the electrical components with your bare hands as an added precaution.

Clean the Dust Filters

A clean filter is perhaps one of the most important things that affect the cooling performance of your split system air conditioner so it is essential that the filters are cleaned periodically or replaced if your unit uses disposable filters. In case, the filters are reusable, you need to remove them from the unit, dust them with a dry brush or a vacuum cleaner blower and then wash them under running water gently to remove all the accumulated dust and grime. If you live in dusty conditions, you should ideally clean the air filters at least once a month.

Clean the External Unit

The outdoor unit houses the condenser coils of the air conditioner that are responsible for the heat exchange. The unit also has a very powerful fan that acts to cool down the hot compressor coils to aid the heat loss. It is normal that the unit would have a lot of dust, and debris like leaves and twigs that would be blocking the vents or fouling the smooth operation of the fan. Unless these are removed and the unit cleaned properly, the air conditioner’s performance will be negatively affected or the unit even damaged. A https://www.huffingtonpost.com article also suggests checking whether the external unit has shifted due to storm winds and are causing the ducts to bend and result in the compressor failing.

Call in the Professionals

Other aspects of the maintenance and servicing of the air conditioner like checking the condenser and evaporators’ coils, the electrical connections, the thermostat, the level of refrigerant, checking, cleaning, and repairing the ducts, etc., are not things that are DIY. You should call in a professional who will have the expertise and the right tools to undertake the inspection, cleaning, and repairs so that the unit runs efficiently and the chances of downtime are lessened.

Conclusion

Modern air conditioners are built tough and can operate for long without requiring repairs if the periodic maintenance is performed, especially at the start of the summer. By servicing the unit properly, it will cool better, consume less power, and is less likely to break down when you need it the most.