Part of owning an HVAC system and keeping it running is giving it proper maintenance. Most people recognize the need to change filters, but what about the tune-ups recommended by professional Dallas, GA, HVAC companies? Discover what’s included in these tune-ups and the seven reasons why they’re necessary for your system.
What’s Included in a Spring HVAC Tune-Up?
Your HVAC system tune-up starts with a visual inspection of the exterior of the unit, with spring tune-ups focusing on your air conditioner. Signs of corrosion on the casing may indicate the system’s age and the possible condition of internal components.
From there, a technician will perform a deep cleaning. This usually includes cleaning the evaporator coil inside, the circulating fan, and the condensing coil outside.
After cleaning the unit, our technicians move on to testing the system. This includes testing how the system activates as it moves through the cooling cycle. It also means testing individual components such as capacitors, the blower motor, the compressor, and the contactor, just to name a few. They’ll also test the refrigerant pressure to ensure that the system has the proper level of refrigerant to run effectively.
While moving through testing, our technicians will check the mounting hardware and electrical connections. They’ll tighten any loose hardware or connections to reduce the wear from excess movement and prevent increased electrical resistance. To further reduce wear, they’ll lubricate the blower motor bearings if the motor isn’t sealed.
1. Prep Your Unit for Summer
Chances are that your system has sat unused for some time. That said, you may not have a great sense of how your system is running, which means it may not effectively cool your home when you need it. Opting for maintenance in the spring ensures that your system is ready for you to turn it on and start pumping cool air.
2. Reduce the Risk of Mid-Summer Breakdowns
Air conditioners strain more when the temperature and humidity climb, which makes them more likely to break down. Air conditioners breaking down under the summer strain is often due to components that are already working less than optimally.
Aside from ensuring your system turns on and produces cold air, the testing a technician performs is to find any parts that aren’t working properly. Fortunately, when you find these issues early, you can repair them before suffering a complete AC failure. These problems may include electrical components not passing current properly, the compressor not providing enough pressure, or a fan motor not spinning the fan at the right speed.
When a technician identifies these problems during routine maintenance, you may not have noticed any performance differences. You’ll have the opportunity to correct the problem without having to deal with a mid-summer emergency repair.
3. Increase Cooling Efficiency
Homeowners want to find ways to reduce the cost of cooling their homes. Inevitably, this leads to evaluating a system’s efficiency and looking for ways to make improvements.
When it comes to maintaining or improving your system’s efficiency, the first thing to consider is airflow. Your AC works by drawing air in, cooling it down, and pushing it back out. When it can’t circulate air effectively, the system’s efficiency drops significantly.
Maintenance does several things to help maintain or improve your system’s airflow. First, it gets rid of physical airflow restrictions by cleaning the circulating fan wheel and the evaporator coil. Further, the testing of the wheel makes sure that the fan is drawing the proper amount of air. Finally, ensuring you have the right refrigerant prevents coil freezes, which further inhibit airflow through the system.
4. Improve Indoor Air Quality
Air quality affects many things in your home, from your HVAC system’s efficiency to your family’s health and comfort. The aspect of air quality that receives the most attention is particulate matter, which is something that a filter can remove. However, it also includes gas and vaporized liquid.
Your air conditioner helps with air quality by drawing air through the filter to remove particulate matter and by helping control humidity. When a technician works to improve airflow through the system, it allows more air to move through the filter, which then removes more particles from around your entire home.
As the system runs, the evaporator gets cold to absorb heat from the circulating air, providing the cooling effect. You’ve probably seen how moisture condenses on a glass with a cold drink. An air conditioner does the same thing, condensing moisture from the air moving over the cold evaporator coil, helping control your home’s humidity.
5. Prevent High-Cost Repairs
As a mechanical system, every part depends on the others. When one component isn’t working optimally, it adds strain to the rest of the system, which causes excessive wear.
In too many cases, homeowners wait until the system simply won’t run before they call for service. This results in large repair bills. In many of these cases, routine maintenance and testing would have uncovered minor problems. Fixing them when they’re first found during testing rather than waiting for symptoms prevents wear that will cause other components to fail. Simply put, small problems turn into larger problems when they go unresolved long enough.
6. Extend System Service Life
Air conditioners typically have a service life of 10 to 15 years when properly maintained. However, ignoring routine maintenance can drastically reduce that lifespan.
It’s important to understand how a professional will determine the end of a unit’s service life. There are generally two methods of determining when it’s time to replace one of your HVAC units. The first is to look at the cost of any single set of repairs. If that equals more than 50% of the cost of a new system, it’s time to consider a replacement.
The other looks at the total repairs over two years. Take your air conditioner as an example. Add up all of the repairs from the last two years. Then, multiply that number by the age of your unit. When that equals more than the cost of a new unit, it’s time to consider a replacement. You can see how adding repairs due to excess strain can drastically change the curve of when you’ll need a replacement.
7. Protect Your System’s Warranty
Most professionally installed HVAC systems come with a short labor warranty and a factory equipment warranty. When you read the details of factory warranties, they often require routine maintenance. This is because the manufacturer understands that all mechanical systems need routine work to keep them working efficiently and to avoid excess stress. By ensuring your air conditioner receives its spring tune-up every year, you also protect the factory warranty.
Keeping your Dallas, Georgia home safe and comfortable is easier when you work with the expert team at Precision Heating & Air. Our technicians have provided heating and AC maintenance, repair, and installation, along with duct cleaning, water heater services, and indoor air quality solutions, for the last 30 years. Call to schedule your spring HVAC maintenance appointment with one of our NATE-certified technicians today.
