Why AC Maintenance is Important
One can never really fully appreciate one of the greatest invention known as air conditioner unless they have had to live without it for a time. It’s a very dark world when your air conditioner goes out, especially in the middle of summer. It’s more than an inconvenience, particularly if you live in a very warm place. If your air conditioning unit goes out, it can affect your mood, your atmosphere and everything about the way you live. The reason is, your house doesn’t just match the temperature outside. It’s hotter. Inside there’s not as much air flow, higher humidity and no breeze.
The temperature around you affects your body temperature which affects your hormones that control your moods. That’s why when someone is too hot or too cold they can tend to get irritable. If you need AC repair, then you should probably get it fixed very quickly in order to keep everyone happy and in good moods. Instigating fights and underlying tension could just be the affect of the altered temperature.
Not only does having the house too warm affect moods and attitudes but it can actually affect living organisms in your home. If you are growing any plants, the sudden rise in temperature can cause them to dry out and die, pets can go into stress, fish tank water can evaporate and experience a negative change in pH levels, paint can begin to peel and so much more, depending on how long it takes you to repair your heating and cooling system.
Sure, you might save a little money not being able to run your air conditioner, but for all of the negative side affects, is it really worth it? Besides, the length of time that your air conditioner will have to stay on in order to return the house to its proper temperature will negate almost all the time it was off. It’s better to just avoid the entire situation with proper AC maintenance.
Taking care of your air conditioning system will ensure less break downs and repairs. Simple things like changing the filter and having regular tune ups are imperative to keeping your unit intact. It’s recommended to have a professional come out and do a check up about twice a year. The best times to do that are when you are using the unit the least so during spring and fall. This will help you to be ready for the ‘heavy usage months’ which would be summer for the air conditioner and winter for the heater of course. Engaging in preventative care is the best plan when it comes to taking care of the HVAC unit. That alone will save you a lot of time and money.
A well maintained unit could last you up to 15 years but it has to be taken care of. If not, it should still last you 8 to ten years. If you can have an air conditioning company employee take a look at your unit every so often, then they will be able to tell you if there are small things wrong. Small things lead to big things so it’s a good idea to make sure you get those small things fixed right when you find out about them. This will help your unit to last longer and to not break down in the middle of summer.
Overworking the unit is another reason that it could break down. If you are running the system too cold, it could freeze over. It’s harder to freeze over a well taken care of unit but it can still happen. A good temperature to keep homes at is between 74 and 78 during the warm months and 82 and 86 in the winter. If your system does not seem to be cooling or heating to the amount shown on the thermometer then there’s a chance that there is something wrong with the unit itself. Have an AC company man come and check it out and let you know. It could be something big that needs your attention right now but it could also be something small and inexpensive that could make a huge difference to your electricity bill as well as the stress being put on your AC unit.