Keep Your Air Conditioning System in Shape with These Home Maintenance Tips

The summer is but a distant memory. Now that we’re deep into the orange, red, and yellow days of autumn, the days are getting darker quicker, the green is fading from the world, and warm summer winds are giving way to harsh autumn gusts. If you live in one of the parts of the country that quickly makes the transition from autumn to winter, you know that this is just the beginning.

One of the keys to surviving the harsher months is air conditioning. As The Atlantic details, 87% of American households use air conditioning, especially as the skies turn from blue to gray. Because of the constant wear and tear that comes with trying to keep our homes warm through the fall and winter, our heating and cooling systems need regular home air conditioning repair, a necessary but ultimately costly procedure. While many of these issues cannot be avoided, by learning some simple home maintenance tricks, you can keep your home comfortable and keep your bills for home air conditioning repair low.

How to Keep Home Air Conditioning Systems in Tip-top Shape

• Keep the Condenser Nice and Clean

As HowStuffWorks writes, keeping the condenser on your unit clean is essential to a healthy air conditioner and a comfortable home. Simply remove the paneling from the air conditioning unit to expose the condenser fins. Next, apply coil cleaner to a soft brush and gently rub away any detritus that has built up on the condenser fins. Replace the paneling on your AC unit and cover with a specialized cover to help ward off the effects of the elements in the cooler months.


• Replace the Air Filter Every Month

While there may not be all the dander of the spring and summer flying around in the fall and winter, you still need to change your air filter every month, as the popular do-it-yourself community DIY Network suggests. Keeping your air clean during flu and cold season can drastically reduce your chances of getting sick. Replacing your air filter is both cheap and easy, so why wouldn’t you do it regularly?


• Keep the Area Around Your Unit Free of Leaves, Snow

As you likely realize, air flow is essential to your air conditioning unit’s ability to do its job. Subsequently, whether you’re talking about piles of fallen leaves or feet of fallen snow, you need to make sure that the area around your unit stays clear. In the case of leaves, the decaying plant matter can easily be pulled into the unit, leading to all sorts of issues, including a fire.

Do you run a home air conditioning repair service? Did we forget to mention something homeowners should be doing to keep their heating and cooling units running properly? Share your expert opinion with us in the comments below. See this link for more references.