The air conditioner unit works pretty much all day every day and we don’t give it a second thought. But when it fails to push out that cool air, it can make you steam.
Air conditioners tend to get our full attention when they aren’t working. Taking care of your HVAC system before it fails can save you from long hot days with no cold air and save you from a hefty repair bill.
A multi-point inspection once a year can keep the hum in your HVAC. It’s cost-effective, saves energy and can extend the life of your hardworking AC unit. No matter what type of heating and cooling unit you have, it should get a thorough check-up once a year. You take your car in for an oil change and tune-up once a year, and it doesn’t work half as hard as your HVAC unit.
Many people think that if they have a new unit or relatively new unit that it is good to go for at least a few years before it needs any maintenance. That’s a myth. An AC requires maintenance every year no matter what its age. The annual cost of maintenance is minimal compared to costly repairs or completely replacing a unit. AC units break down in summer because they have to work 50 percent harder than in the cooler months. More than 75 percent of our service calls are from no-heat calls in winter or no-air calls in the middle of summer. All of these are related to a lack of maintenance. If you have a warranty, the company may ask for your maintenance service records before they grant the warranty.
A professional HVAC technician will clean the cooling and heating system to improve its efficiency and save you money every month on your utility bills. They will check all the controls for safety and give you peace of mind for the season.
An experienced technician will also:
- Check the thermostat settings to make sure the system is running smoothly.
- Inspect electrical connections and test the voltage to prevent a small potentially weak component from failing and bringing down the entire unit.
- Lubricate moving parts, inspect the condensation drain and make sure it isn’t blocked by debris from our valley’s strong winds.
- Ensure the system’s start-up and shutdown controls are working properly.
Regular maintenance on your unit helps you to be more familiar with how it runs so you can know when something’s not quite right and can give your technician a call before a problem has a chance to snowball into a larger issue. Addressing a problem early will save you time and money.
If you run into issues in the middle of summer, you run the risk of not having air for days while the temperatures climb and your comfort level plummets. A thorough multi-point checklist gives your AC unit a head start for all the hard work it will do this summer.
Call 702-745-4923 to schedule your maintenance today.
Members of the editorial and news staff of the Las Vegas Review-Journal were not involved in the creation of this content.