What You Need To Know About Air Conditioning Service And Maintenance | Dallas, TX
Photo By eric watson at istock
If you live in Dallas, TX, then the air conditioner is your best friend. It keeps your home or office comfortable, particularly in summer when the weather around here can become extremely hot. Without it, it is hard to imagine how badly the comfort and productivity of your family and employees would get affected. But in addition to having an air conditioner installed in your home or office, you need to ensure that the equipment is properly maintained. Without adequate maintenance, the efficacy and efficiency of your air conditioner will drop severely. Lack of maintenance can also expose your air conditioner to the risk of unexpected breakdowns and even reduce the lifespan of your equipment. Therefore, for you to protect your air conditioner and keep it running optimally, you need to stay in touch with a reliable air conditioning service for routine air conditioner maintenance and timely repairs. But what exactly does air conditioner maintenance entail, and what can go wrong if you miss routine air conditioner maintenance?
What Does Regular Air Conditioning Service Entail?
The right time to serve an air conditioner can vary from one HVAC system to another. But generally, air conditioners need to be serviced and cleaned at least once per year. All in all, it is wise to get air conditioner maintenance done in spring to ensure that the equipment is running at its optimal level when summer comes. Even though we have months before spring it’s a good idea to know what’s involved ahead of time. Here is what routine air conditioning service involves.
Cleaning or Changing the Filters
The filters are some of the most important components of your air conditioner. Their job is to remove dust, pet danger, and other particulate pollutants from your indoor air. Unfortunately, the accumulation of impurities in the filters can have negative impacts on the performance of your air conditioner. For instance, if your air filters are clogged, you can expect the circulation of air through your air conditioner to be reduced, and therefore, your air conditioner might be forced to work harder than necessary to keep your home comfortable. Therefore, your air filters need to be cleaned or replaced regularly. During the routine air conditioning service, you can expect your HVAC services provider to either clean or replace your air filters, depending on the kind of air filters you are using and how long you have been using them.
Checking for Refrigerant Leaks
Your air conditioner relies on a refrigerant to cool your indoor air. For the air conditioner to work optimally, it must have enough refrigerant. Unfortunately, if the tubes carrying the refrigerant are leaking, the refrigerant level can go below the required level, which might reduce the efficiency of your air conditioner. Low refrigerant levels can also expose your air compressor to the risk of getting damaged. To prevent such an eventuality, your Dallas, TX HVAC company will thoroughly inspect your air conditioner during routine air conditioning service, and if there are cracks or other signs of deterioration that might cause the refrigerant to leak, they will be fixed accordingly. If the level of the refrigerant is too low, your air conditioning professional will also do a refill to keep your air conditioner running optimally
Greasing the Moving Parts
Your air conditioner is a mechanical piece of equipment with several moving parts. For the moving parts to continue working optimally, they might need to be greased from time to time. If they are not greased properly, they will wear out more rapidly due to fiction. This means that failure to ensure that your air conditioner’s moving components are properly greased will force you to look for repair or replacements sooner than the manufacturer intended. On the other hand, by ensuring that all the moving parts are adequately greased, you can effectively reduce friction and protect your air conditioner against premature damages. As such, to keep air conditioners running optimally for many years, greasing is an important part of routine air conditioning service.
Check Electrical Connections
Air conditioners are usually powered by electricity. Therefore, if there are any electrical faults or loosely connected wires, your air conditioner might fail when you need it the most. To prevent such an eventuality, your routine air conditioning service provider will have to examine the condition of your air conditioner’s electrical components. If some electrical components are showing obvious signs of deterioration, they will be replaced before forcing you to seek emergency air conditioner repairs, which might cost you a lot. Similarly, if there are any loose electrical connections, you can count on your Dallas, TX air conditioning professional to fix them during routine maintenance. Timely air conditioning maintenance will go a long way in helping you avoid the inconvenience that comes with abrupt air conditioner failure.
Check Condensate Drain Lines
As your air conditioner cools your indoor air, the humidity or water vapor in the air condenses. The liquid water that is formed in the process has to be drained out through the condensate drain lines. Unfortunately, the condensate drain lines can sometimes get clogged and cause the water to back up. This can have several devastating impacts. For instance, the water can potentially damage your air conditioner and force you to seek air expensive repair services. Besides, the water can cause dampness, which can encourage the growth of molds. Unfortunately, molds are known to negatively affect the structural integrity of homes in addition to reducing the quality of indoor air. Therefore, during routine air conditioning service, your HVAC contractor will assess the condition of the condensate drain lines, and if there is a clog that is developing, they will ensure that it is removed before causing any problems.
What Happens If Your Air Conditioner Is Not Properly Maintained?
As mentioned above the importance of regular air conditioning service cannot be overemphasized. Indeed, an air conditioner is not an appliance that you can just install and forget. To keep your air conditioner working optimally and efficiently, you need to schedule routine maintenance. But have you ever thought of what could happen if you neglected your air conditioner and decided not to schedule routine maintenance? Some of the problems that can occur due to poor or lack of routine air conditioning service include:
High Energy Bills
Your air conditioner is one of the biggest consumers of electricity in your house. But of course, you do not want to pay high electricity bills. One of the main reasons you need to schedule a routine air conditioning service is to keep your air conditioner’s energy consumption low. Subjecting your air conditioner to routine maintenance will ensure that your equipment is always running efficiently. It will ensure that your air conditioner does not need to work harder than necessary to keep your indoor temperatures within a comfortable range. Some people wrongly think that they can save some money by skipping a routine service. However, the truth is that if you neglect your air conditioner and fail to schedule maintenance, you might end up spending more money on electricity. In a nutshell, you will not save anything by failing to schedule timely service; you will instead lose money because you will be forced to pay higher electricity bills.
Increased Rate of Wear and Tear
Your air conditioner is not designed to last forever. Indeed, the lifespan of an air conditioner is 10 to 15 years. However, for your air conditioner to serve you for this long, it must be subjected to annual maintenance. If you neglect your air conditioner and fail to get it serviced regularly, its lifespan can be severely reduced due to several reasons. For instance, failure to grease the moving parts on time can lead to increased friction, which can cause some components of your air conditioner to wear out more rapidly. Similarly, failure to fix refrigerant leaks on time can expose your air compressor to the risk of getting damaged. If the air compressor gets damaged, fixing it can be quite difficult and expensive, and in some cases, you might be forced to replace the entire air conditioner.
Inconsistent Performance
Your air conditioner should work consistently. It should run when your indoor temperatures are extremely high and go off when the ideal temperature range has been achieved. However, for your air conditioner to work consistently, it needs to be subjected to routine maintenance. If you decide to neglect your air conditioner and fail to schedule routine air conditioning service, your air conditioner might start running sporadically. In other words, it might continue running even after your desired temperatures have been achieved. In other cases, it might go off when the temperatures are still uncomfortably high. Without adequate service, you might also notice temperature differences as you move from one part of your home to another. Unfortunately, an inconsistently performing air conditioner will have the effect of making your house less comfortable. To compensate for this failure, you might even be forced to run a portable fan, which will result in significant wastage of resources.
Low Indoor Air Quality
In addition to cooling your house, your air conditioner is also responsible for regulating your indoor air quality. Therefore, if you neglect your air conditioner and fail to subject it to routine maintenance, your home will end up with poor indoor air quality. For instance, if the filters and the entire unit are not cleaned on time, they can collect impurities that will end up polluting your indoor air when the air conditioner is turned on. Besides, if the condensate drain line is clogged or leaking, the water will create dampness in your house and encourage the growth of molds in your house. Unfortunately, molds can negatively affect your family’s health by increasing asthma flare-ups. During the routine air conditioning service, your Dallas, TX HVAC company will clean or change the filters and clean the entire unit to ensure the accumulated dust does not end up in the air you breathe. They will also check the condensate drain lines to ensure that any clogs are cleared. If the drain lines are leaking, your service will ensure that they are fixed or replaced on time before the issue goes out of hand.
Increased Cost of Repairs
Like any other electrical and mechanical equipment, your air conditioner is unlikely to run all its life without breaking down at some point. Therefore, calling an air conditioning service for air conditioner repairs is a normal part of life for almost every homeowner in Dallas, TX. However, with routine air conditioning service, the calls to an air conditioner repair expert should be few and far between. This is because routine air conditioning service ensures that any developing air conditioning issues are identified and fixed in their earlier stages of development. On the other hand, if you neglect your air conditioner and fail to schedule a routine air conditioning service, small problems will grow bigger and lead to other major problems. As such, you will eventually be forced to spend more money on repairs. Besides, inadequate service can increase the need for emergency HVAC repair services, which generally cost more. In a nutshell, failure to schedule a routine AC service will make it more costly for you to deal even with the basic air conditioning problems.
The Bottom Line
Overall, it is apparent that the importance of having an optimally running air conditioner in your Dallas, TX, home cannot be overstated. However, it is imperative for you to remember that for your air conditioner to run optimally, it must be subjected to routine maintenance. Without timely air conditioning service, running your air conditioner will get more expensive, and it could be full of disappointments. If you are looking for a dependable air conditioning service provider in Dallas, One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Dallas is your best bet. We have been in the industry for many years, and we understand what needs to be done to keep your air conditioner running optimally. Feel free to contact One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Dallas for more information about our company and services.
