Maintenance To-Do's for Your Air Conditioner

Air-conditioning maintenance may not be on your list of chores to do this spring, but it should be. Maintaining your air-conditioning unit is important, as it helps keep your unit running efficiently and properly as well as lengthens the life of your unit. If you can prevent spending money on a new unit before its time is up, wouldn't you do what you could? These maintenance chores can be done in a single day and won't take you long to do. See below for some helpful tips and instructions.

Clean the Perimeter

Clean up the perimeter of your unit by removing tall shrubbery that could be blocking the air flow to your unit. Pull out tall grass, weeds, and even flowers surrounding the unit. Remove any objects that could be blocking the air flow as well. 

Mow Away from Your Unit

When you are mowing, be sure to mow the grass away from the unit. This way grass clippings don't wind up inside the fins of your unit, clogging and choking it and blocking the flow of air. Also be careful when weed eating around your unit to help prevent small clippings from going into your unit.

Clean the Unit

Clean up the unit itself by spraying it with a garden hose to clean up any debris, such as cottonwood, dirt, dust and other debris, in the fins. Be sure to use only a garden hose and not a power washer so you don't bend those fins, as they can bend easily. If you bend any of the fins, or if you notice any that are bent, you can use a butter knife (or other dull knife) to bend them back in place. To get to the fins, you'll need to take the exterior cover off. To get to this, you need to first turn the power off and then take the screws holding the fan in place. Carefully lift the lid, as the fan's wires will still be in place. Then take the exterior cover off. While the unit is open, reach inside to clean up any debris, such as leaves and twigs, laying inside your unit as well. Replace the cover, and then the fan. Finally, turn the power to your unit back on.

Maintaining your air-conditioning unit should be done twice per year (before and after summer) and can be done fairly quickly. Add this to your chore list to help keep your unit running efficiently and properly season after season.

Talk to a company such as Air Cool AC Inc to learn more.