Before the extremely hot summer weather sets in, it’s important to prepare your air conditioner for the upcoming season. One of the best ways to do this is to get professional maintenance service. Below, we’ll address what this service is and why it’s highly beneficial for all Florida homeowners.
What Is a Professional AC Tune-Up?
For your air conditioner to stay in good working condition, it needs to receive routine care and maintenance. We recommend having one of our professional HVAC technicians service your air conditioner in the spring. This annual service includes many different things like lubricating moving parts, calibrating your thermostat, recharging refrigerant levels, and so much more.
This service is aimed at ensuring your air conditioner is functioning as efficiently as possible. Our service will detect if there are any potential problems with your system or worn-out components that need replacing to greatly reduce your risk of experiencing an unfortunate summertime breakdown.
Ensure Energy Efficient Operation
One of the best reasons to invest in annual maintenance for your air conditioner is to ensure that it’s operating efficiently. No one wants to spend their hard-earned money on paying excessive energy bills when it’s not necessary. Our professionals will ensure that every component of your system is working correctly so you can have the peace of mind that you’re not overpaying for your summertime cooling bills.
Maintain Warranty Coverage
One thing to keep in mind is that professional maintenance service is typically a requirement to maintain the warranty coverage on your air conditioner. Most manufacturers require annual maintenance, or they may deny future warranty claims you submit. Since you don’t want to pay out of pocket for expensive repair bills in the future, it’s best to invest a little in annual maintenance.
Extend System Lifespan
There’s no doubt that purchasing a new air conditioner for your home can be quite expensive. In fact, most homeowners have to finance the purchase of their new system due to its high upfront cost. It only makes sense to do everything possible to extend the longevity of your air conditioning system as much as possible. One of the best ways to extend your system’s longevity is with routine maintenance. When all the components of your system get the care they need, they’ll last much longer than if they didn’t.
Understand Remaining Unit Lifespan
Most central air conditioners have a usable lifespan of 15 to 20 years, and heat pumps and ductless mini-splits can last about 10 to 15 years. If your unit is getting older, you may be worried about when it will need replacing. It’s never a good idea to just wait until it completely breaks down in the middle of summer to do a full replacement.
Rather, with annual maintenance service, you can learn about how much longer your unit is likely to last. This can give you the necessary time to plan for a replacement when it is convenient for you. It also gives you time to find favorable financing terms so you can purchase a new system that fits within your budget.
Early Problem Detection
Nearly every homeowner tends to fear that their air conditioner will break down on a hot summer day. One of the best ways to greatly reduce your chance of experiencing a system breakdown is to get routine maintenance.
One of our professionals will thoroughly assess every component of your air conditioner. If any component is malfunctioning or wearing out, we’ll let you know so it can be replaced before the summer season. This will go a long way in preventing your air conditioning system from experiencing major damage.
Peace of Mind
One lesser-known reason to get professional maintenance is that it gives you peace of mind. Whether it’s wasting your time worrying about whether your system is going to break down or if it needs a replacement, our professional maintenance service can take care of answering all those questions for you. This will allow you peace of mind so you can focus on more important things in life.
Boost Resale Value
When you go to sell your home in the future, having records showing that you got routine maintenance every year for your air conditioner can greatly help to increase the perceived value of your home. Homeowners are likely to pay more for a home that has systems that are properly taken care of as opposed to ones that aren’t.
Ensure Better Comfort
Another major reason you want to get professional maintenance for your air conditioner is to ensure that you’re completely comfortable throughout the summer months. A system that’s functioning at its optimal will be able to produce an adequate amount of cool air to keep you and your family home.
Even better, our routine maintenance includes calibrating your thermostat to ensure that it’s reading the appropriate temperature. This will avoid uncomfortable issues like your thermostat reading too high and leaving your home feeling hot.
Homeowner Maintenance
Apart from professional maintenance service, there are also things you’ll need to do as a homeowner to ensure your air conditioner operates efficiently throughout the entire summer season. One of the most important is keeping up with air filter changes. It’s best to check the air filter for your AC at least once a month. Hold it up to a light, and look through it.
If you can’t see through the filter, it’s time for a replacement. Always have a spare filter ready to go so that you can do a replacement whenever necessary. Additionally, you should inspect your outdoor condenser unit every couple of months and remove any debris that is within three feet of it. This includes anything like leaves, twigs, and even shrubbery.
Before the summer season hits, there are also annual tasks you’ll need to do to ensure the best environment for your air conditioner to function. Make sure that all the supply and return vents throughout your home are completely open and unobstructed. Check your attic to ensure that all the attic vents are completely open. Inspect your insulation, and fill in any locations that are missing insulation or don’t have enough.
Bonus Tips for Energy Savings
Apart from the steps that we went over, there are some other things you can do at the beginning of the summer season to help reduce your cooling costs. One of the most effective is to use ceiling fans. Having ceiling fans in all the major rooms of your home will allow you to enjoy a gentle cool breeze that can decrease your body temperature and increase your comfort.
Using ceiling fans in conjunction with your air conditioner is a great tactic to boost your comfort while keeping your energy bills in check. Also, consider sealing up leaks on your exterior walls with weatherstripping, spray foam, or caulking to keep hot air out.
Reliable AC Maintenance Service
Ahoy! Cooling & Heating offers reliable AC maintenance service for the Tampa Bay, FL area. We can also assist with all your cooling system repair, replacement, and new installation needs. Just phone us today to get the professional assistance you need with your AC unit. Be sure to ask us about our Stress Free AC Program. We make it easy to take care of your AC!
