Tips To Help You Get Your Air Conditioner Ready To Cool This Summer
With the temperatures around the United States warming up earlier this year for summer, you may need to get your home's air conditioner up and running much earlier. A longer summer and higher temperatures can put excessive wear on your air conditioner, so it is a good idea to get it prepared and serviced for a long summer of hot days. It is always a good idea to hire a professional HVAC technician to complete required repairs and check for your AC's proper functioning, here are some tips you can complete to help you get your air conditioner ready this season:
Clean Out Your Compressor
If your air conditioner has an exterior compressor that has sat over winter, it may have collected leaves and other debris inside its interior and around the fan. Turn power off to the unit and remove the screws fastening the exterior cover to the unit, carefully lifting it from the compressor. Scoop out any debris that has collected inside the unit.
Next, use a hose and spray off the coils within your unit, removing any dust and dirt buildup. You can also apply a coil cleaner, which you can find at most home improvement stores. Be sure to follow the product's directions and wear protective clothing while you complete this process. For your coils to expel heat properly, they need to be clean and free of build-up. Rinse off all the cleaner with your garden hose or a pressure washer, and replace the condenser's exterior cover, reattaching all its fasteners and restoring power to your unit.
Repair Bent Cooling Fins
Whether your air conditioner is mounted in the window or you have an exterior compressor, it is a good idea to watch for any damage to the unit's exterior fins. The metal fins, which are set closely together on the unit's exterior help expel heat from your unit's condenser coils. When these fins become bent and damaged, they cannot properly allow heat to vent to the outside air and your unit will work harder to cool your home. The fins can easily become bent from being struck by a forceful object, such as a rock, hail, or outdoor toy.
You can straighten your condenser's coils with the use of a fin comb repair kit, which you can find at most home improvement stores. Measure the number of fins set within an inch of space on your air conditioner, and the number of fins will tell you the size of fin comb you will need to use.
Push the fin comb into the bottom of the fins on your unit and run the comb upwards, realigning the fins in their proper position and removing any dents. Continue this process over all bent areas of the fins to realign them.
Contact a company like Aggressive Mechanical Contractors, Inc. for more information and assistance.