Monday, April 29, 2024
As temperatures continue to skyrocket and reach scorching temperatures of 109 degrees, it’s more important than ever to make sure your air conditioner is reliable and running efficiently.
The main preventative measure you can take — recommended to do before the summer — is to have routine maintenance checks done on your air conditioner.
“Regular maintenance is key,” said Ronnie Daffan, owner of Texas Made A/C and Heating. “Everybody talks about doing regular maintenance on cars, which I agree with as well, but it's no different than that air conditioner because if you don't have the proper charge on an air conditioning unit, it overheats that compressor and wears it out prematurely.”
Maintenance tasks include regularly checking the filter and spraying water on the outside A/C unit.
“Keeping your unit clean by washing it up to a few times a year is one of the best things you can do to make it run efficiently,” said David Daffan, president and sole proprietor of Daffan Cooling & Heating. “Spraying water on the outdoor unit will make it cool better in extreme temperatures. However, there can be some safety issues with electric motors, wiring and water. We have seen people rig an automatic sprinkler system on their units also which can use a great deal of water, make a giant mess and increase the corrosion on your outdoor components.”
“Washing out the outside coils periodically, especially when it’s as dry as it is when we're not getting any rain, it's a good thing because in between those fans, you do get cottonwood, dust, dirt buildup and that outside unit is what transfers heat from the inside of the house to outside, so while washing, you cool the coil down,” Ronnie said.
Ronnie recommends homeowners to get an A/C unit serviced at least twice a year by a technician, which could also help lower electricity bills.
LOWER A/C BILL
One simple solution that an individual can do to lower their monthly electricity bill is to raise the temperature in their home.
“Raising your thermostat to make your unit work less is (one way to lower your bill). This doesn’t seem to be a very popular option and rightfully so. Everyone wants to be as comfortable as possible in their homes and work,” David said. “However, when we see temperatures in the triple digits as we have so often this summer, it causes the capacity of your A/C to drop and that makes it work even harder to meet the set temperature you have on your thermostat, so raising your thermostat from 70-72 up to 78 or so can make a sizeable difference on your utility bill and reducing the workload of your A/C system.”
Ronnie said he keeps his own home at a constant temperature of 73, so that his A/C unit is constantly running and not shutting off and turning on several times during the day.
“When it's 107 and you’re trying to cool your house down 70 degrees, unless the unit is oversized, it's really tough to do,” he said. "At this time of year, I would leave it at a constant temperature and leave it there to try to maintain it. If you like it at 73 when you go to bed at night and you cut it up at 78 degrees during the day when you're not there and then at night you try to cut it down to 73, you got to remove five degrees from everything in that house — the walls, the ceiling, the furniture, the chairs, everything, so it takes a while for you to overcome those five degrees, especially when we're having 105-degree days.”
COMMON A/C ISSUES
Common issues that customers face with their A/C units can include simple issues like maintenance and dirty filters up to major problems like the unit leaking refrigerant and failed compressors.
"You would be surprised to know most people have no idea where their heating and cooling systems filters are located,” David said. “The increase in the housing market has lots of folks moving in and out of houses so fast that they have never been shown how or where to change their filters.”
David said a common misconception that customers have is thinking a drain issue is normal.
“Water dripping out above your front or back porch is not normal even though its coming from a PVC pipe. That is typically the unit overflow and should be checked very quickly before it gets worse and potentially causes damage to your home,” he said.
BROKEN A/C TIPS
If you suspect your air conditioner might be going out, the first step is to check your circuit breakers and filters. If everything is working correctly, the individual should contact a reputable A/C technician.
David recommends homeowners to perform their own maintenance checks so their technician can get an idea on what the problem could be, like checking to see if air is blowing out of the vents or if the outside unit is running.
“Sometimes when the unit is running but not cooling, it could be frozen up with actual ice. We would normally ask an owner to look at the refrigerant lines going from the outdoor unit to the house and see if they have any ice or frost on them. If ice is present, it’s best to turn it off and let it thaw out while waiting on a Daffan repair technician,” he said. “The cause of this could be as simple as a dirty air filter which a homeowner can check and change themselves in most cases or it could be more serious and require a professional to look at.”
Regular A/C maintenance is imperative, especially during the hottest time of the year. Follow these tips to help beat the heat this summer.
