The dog days of summer are here, and unless you’re cold blooded or have decided to make do with fans, you most likely have an air conditioning unit in your house. Residential HVAC or “heating, ventilation, and air conditioning” are systems that you probably already have in place for controlling the temperature in your home during the summer and winter seasons. Additionally, air conditioners filter the air in your home for allergens along with adjusting the temperature.
What you may not know is when your HVAC system or your air conditioning unit needs to be serviced, and when to call air conditioning companies. For example, a home with central air should be serviced at the beginning of every summer, whereas you yourself can perform maintenance on a window unit about once a month. You know you want to be comfortable when it’s starting to cook outside, but what are the signs that you need someone to take a look, and not just replace the HVAC air filters?
- Lacking Cool Air. While that may sound fairly self-explanatory, you might be tempted to just leave the unit alone and hope that the air temperature will simply get better on its own. However, this is an indication that something is wrong, and you should look into having one of your local air conditioning companies come out to service the unit, as the condenser or the Freon could need to be checked.
- Leaking or Dripping. Window units will sometimes drip due to humidity and condensation that builds up as the unit is working, but if the unit is dripping too much water, or if it’s coming from your central unit, that can be a big problem. This could be several issues, including that your air conditioning evaporator coil is dirty or needs to be looked at by a technician. The air conditioning coil is a part that you can also keep clean yourself, but should also be serviced professionally.
- Lack of Air Flow. Sometimes you might find that there is very little air flow coming from your central unit, or that some rooms are getting air while others aren’t. This more than likely means that there is a buildup of debris in the AC system and ducts, and it needs to be addressed quickly, and cannot be totally avoided by changing the filters. Talk with local air conditioning companies about fixing the problem, and what other methods you can do to keep the duct pathways clear.
Be on the lookout for these problems, take care of them, and your summers should always be cool. A technician looking at your unit should do a thorough inspection of the unit to ensure that no future problems are apparent at the time, and will also help you perform routine maintenance.