As your prospective (or reoccurring) HVAC contractor in Arlington, VA, you’ve probably heard us mention routine maintenance quite a few times. It’s an excellent service that’s well worth the money it costs. Over time, maintenance can halt repairs before they become bad, keep efficiency levels high, and do a lot more for your home comfort. As far as yearly services go, this is one of the best you could hope for.
Unfortunately, the majority of HVAC system owners don’t schedule maintenance yearly. In fact, many people think they don’t need HVAC maintenance at all, and that they’ll be fine without it. This is what we’re going to address in this blog post.
Skipping AC maintenance won’t spell out the end of the world–but it will be pretty devastating to the condition of your system. We’ll see what happens when you skip maintenance over 1, 3, 5, and 10 years.
How is your air conditioner doing? Is it causing you to cover your ears multiple times a day because of a noisy problem? Or is it running silently in the background while you enjoy time with your friends and family. Most houses lie somewhere in between.
No, this isn’t the same as your kid asking you if your “refrigerator is running?” and subsequently following up with “well, why don’t you catch it!” Refrigerant leaks are a real problem, and as funny as they might sound, they’re not a laughing matter when you encounter one in your own home. They can cause energy bills to skyrocket, they can cause a whole system breakdown, and even lead to decreased cooling power to the point where your home is as hot and humid as it was before you invested in an air conditioner. Refrigerant leaks need to be dealt with by professionals.
You’re probably tired of people all around the country telling you how your air conditioning should work. How the heck would they know what the climate is like here in Alexandria? Our HVAC needs are a little specific, and our climate is different from that of New York up north, or Florida down south, so it’s important to remember that we need better advice.
If you’ve never heard the term “short-cycling” before, we don’t blame you. While it’s a well-known term that we use in the HVAC industry, it’s not exactly widespread in our everyday lexicon. So, if you’re just finding this blog post to get the lowdown on what short-cycling is, we’ll answer all your questions.
Imagine your air conditioner as the hero of a superhero story. When temperatures rise and things become muggy and uncomfortable, your AC always comes to save the day. It cools you off and makes you feel comfortable no matter what the temperature is outside. These systems really are like heroes to us when we need them!
Repairing your air conditioner is a lot faster and cheaper than a whole system replacement. It’s why so many homeowners opt to have their older air conditioners repaired when they really should be replaced. We understand why, people think their technology can last forever. If homeowners can fix up an old 1969 Ford Mustang and make it run like it did in the old days, why can’t they do the same thing to their air conditioner?
We talk about changing the air filter in your air conditioner all the time, but the problem we consistently run into is that not many homeowners know how. That’s why we’re going to get into specifics today about how to change your air filter. Different models of air conditioners have different specifications for how to change the filter, but the important part is that the process is relatively similar for all air conditioners, and it has to be done every 1-3 months regardless.
Air conditioners aren’t supposed to be noisy by any means. Sure, if you hear air gently whooshing from your vents and a slight “click” when the system starts or stops, that’s quite normal, but anything else can be a sign that something is wrong. Air conditioners are specifically constructed by manufacturers to operate as quietly as possible, so that they don’t disturb homeowners and allow us to pretend that there’s no air conditioning running in the first place.
Of course, we’d all love to turn on our air conditioners for the summer and find that there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. But unfortunately, things do happen during the winter, and you might just find that your AC is in need of repairs.