Is your air conditioner ready for summer? After all, the onset of the new season means:
- Longer days.
- Warmer temperatures.
- Sunny weather.
- Your air conditioner is going to be hard at work.
That last point is especially true, since according to the Farmer’s Almanac:
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Summer will be hotter than normal, with rainfall below normal in Southwest Ontario and above normal elsewhere. The hottest periods will be in early and late June, early July, and mid- to late August. September and October will be warmer and slightly drier than normal.
As the mercury rises, you may be tempted to simply flip the switch on your home cooling system and enjoy the breezy, comfortable air.
Before you do that, you should learn how to clean your air conditioner (or better yet, have ClimateCare do it for you) and tackle some other jobs in order to get it ready for summer.
How to clean your air conditioner
Even though your air conditioner wasn’t used over the winter and spring, there’s still the chance that dirt and debris got inside of it (even if it was covered with a tarp).
So you must get rid of it. Otherwise, it could lead to unwanted and inconvenient air conditioner repairs.
Some cleaning tasks you should be able to handle yourself, such as:
- Cutting away grass growth. Ideally, you want a 2 foot clearance around your unit.
- Wiping the top of the unit clean with powerful cleaning wipes.
However, there are elements which are best left to the professionals at ClimateCare:
- Shutting off electricity to the air conditioner.
- Disassembling the housing and casing.
- Pressure cleaning the interior (without damaging things like the condenser fan and wiring).
- Putting it all back together.
Failing to clean your air conditioner could result in higher monthly energy bills. Of course, you don’t want that.
Clean your duct work
After knowing how to clean your air conditioner for summer, the next thing which should be done is to schedule duct cleaning.
Here’s why.
- The cool air from your AC travels through the ducts and into each room in your home.
- Any contaminants inside your ducts will be picked up and dispersed throughout the house.
Things like dust, dirt, debris, and even dead bugs can all be found inside your air ducts (yuck).
If you don’t clean your duct work:
- The indoor air quality of your home will be poor.
- You’ll breathe in those nasty pollutants.
- You’ll spend more time cleaning your home than usual.
Cool air from your AC should be fresh and clean. But that can only be the case if your ducts are free of any impurities.
What temperature should you set the air conditioner in summer?
When the heat is absolutely blistering, your natural inclination is to crank up the air conditioner as much as possible.
Here’s why that isn’t a wise thing to do:
- Thermostat readings can play tricks on us. An interior temperature of, say, 23°C is nice and comfortable.
- When it’s sizzling out, though, 23°C feels too hot. Instead, we set the temperature to something like 19°C.
The colder your AC is, the harder it has to work. That means you pay more while shortening its lifespan.
As you adjust the temperature, don’t look at the number on the thermostat. Instead, set it to what feels comfortable.
Does 23°C feel comfortable? Try 24°C.
Can you tolerate 24°C? Go up to 25°C.
When you reach a temperature that’s too hot for your comfort, that’s the limit of where you should set your thermostat.
Remember, you’re looking to be comfortable, not just cool.
What happens if you don’t properly get your air conditioner ready for summer?
The last thing you want is to turn on your air conditioner, only to discover that it doesn’t work.
And you don’t want it to suddenly fail on the hottest day of the year.
If you don’t learn how to clean your air conditioner and fully prepare it for the summer months, you run the risk of:
- Compromising its safety (in case something is interfering with the power source).
- Burning out things like the fans, coils, or coolant lines.
- Breathing in dirty, contaminated air and indoor pollutants.
- Spend more on monthly energy bills than you have to.
Look at it this way: If you hadn’t driven your car in months, and suddenly had to make a cross-country trip, you’d get it serviced first.
That same philosophy also applies to your air conditioner too.
We’ll handle your air conditioner. You enjoy the results.
Do you remember summer 2017? It was rainy and dreary.
As mentioned at the top of this blog, summer 2018 is expected to be crazy hot.
Your best bet to beat the heat (and be worry-free) is with some preventative and proactive maintenance for your air conditioner.
To start, all you have to do is find the ClimateCare location nearest you and book a maintenance visit before summer arrives (Thursday, June 21).
