Every home requires annual maintenance including the central air conditioning. Irrespective of how much you use it throughout the year, there are certain factors that should be kept in mind to ensure the unit runs smoothly such as an annual maintenance by an AC repair service. In this blog, we are going to share a checklist that will help you develop a maintenance routine.

Clean The Evaporator Coil

Mostly ignored, the evaporator coils need to be cleaned in order to keep them running at their optimum capacity. Overtime, dust and dirt accumulates on the coils, which creates heat and prevents the coils from doing its job properly. The good news is that cleaning the evaporator coils is neither difficult nor requires much effort. Simply use a brush and water to clean the dirt. However, if the accumulation is stubborn, you might want to use soap.

Clear Out The Evaporator Drain

An evaporator drain is designed for the exit of dirt and dust. Like other components inside a central air conditioner, this part can become clogged as well since it deals with dirt and dust on a regular basis. If the evaporator drain is clogged, it will cause your water to back up. As a result, the water will find its way inside your house or room. To clear and clean up the evaporator drain, you can pour vinegar or a drain cleaner.

Clean And Clear The Condenser

The condenser is located in the outside unit. While installing an air conditioner, you should make sure that it is not surrounded by trees or plants etc. The reason being that the leaves or debris falling from the trees can be sucked into the outside unit damaging the unit. In addition to that, the condenser can also become dirty or clogged if a tree sap or leaves happen to block it.

Therefore, similar to the evaporator coils, you should use a soft brush and a coil cleaner to clean and clear the air conditioner condenser.

Inspect The Condenser Fins

Inspecting the condenser fins is important especially if you have an old air conditioner. The fins need to be straight and not corroded. However, if you have an old air conditioner, chances are that it might be corroded from certain areas. Plus, if you happen to live in an area that experiences extreme weather conditions, the fins might have become damaged due to tree saps and other hard materials crashing into it.

Professional Inspection

An air conditioning system comprises several components. From the outside, the unit might look as good as new but you might not be aware of leakage or any other type of damage existing deep inside. This is why a professional central AC inspection is necessary. Additionally, while you can easily clean the condenser and evaporator coils, other components need to be dealt with carefully and require special tools and equipment to reach.

With that being said, a professional checkup ensures that any damages or potential shortcomings are identified beforehand. Otherwise, if left ignored, one small problem might turn into an expensive one down the road.

Plus, a professional checkup is not that expensive either given the cost to repair or replace an expensive component such as the compressor. Therefore, if you are able to identify any leakages or cracks, it might save you a huge amount of money in the long run.

Fans Cleaning And Lubrication

Air conditioners contain fans in your blower as well as the condenser. Since it is directly in contact with air for hours during the day, it cannot prevent the dirt and debris from entering or accumulating over it. With time, the dirt and dust will accumulate to the point where it can give the fans a tough time to rotate. As a result, this puts immense pressure on the components and the unit is not able to produce and distribute cool air properly.

Therefore, it is important that the fans are inspected as well, cleaned and lubricated every once in a while. You should ensure that all moving parts of the air conditioner should be clean and dirt free.

Final Word

Concluding, this checklist will enable you to perform a periodic inspection and cleaning without having to call an HVAC contractor Vienna each time. It will ensure longevity of your HVAC unit.