May 14, 2014

Air Conditioning - Preventative Maintenance

If you are a homeowner with Central Air and have experienced problems with your air
conditioner you may want to continue reading.

When summer arrived together with the heat, the average homeowner simply switched
their thermostat from 'Heat' to 'Cool'. In a perfect world, that would be the simplest
solution, unfortunately our HVAC systems are not that simple. Below are quick and easy
steps to help maintain the air quality in your home, improve efficiencies, prevent
nuisance service calls and save money.

BENEFITS OF switching your fan to 'ON' vs AUTO

Own a Media or Mechanical Air Cleaner or any other type of air cleaner (non electric)?
Switching the fan to ON will clean the air continuously, thus improving the quality of air
distributed through out your home.

Humidifiers installed on your furnace if new type humidifier (as above), you must close
duct damper in order to prevent the air you paid to cool, mixing with warm air. Perhaps
you have an old style drum humidifier, you may a damper (similar to picture below) you
would then close damper. (Notice markings used to help remind homeowner when to
open and close damper (depending on season). Perfect analogy, when driving in a car,
do you have the Air Conditioning on and windows open? If so, you will notice the warm
mixes with the cool air and does not feel as cool.

Cold basements? Set Fan to "ON" and the air returns in the basement will vacuum the
cold air that settles in the basement and distribute it throughout the home. Giving your
Air Conditioner a break, yet still moving the cold air to other parts of the home.
Warmer rooms? The air is changing 24hrs per day and helping those warmer rooms to
cool down.

Does you're Air Conditioning Col Freeze up? Try switching the Fan to ON, this will
help prevent coils from freezing up. Some coils may be under sized or perhaps just not
enough air passes through to prevent the cold from freezing. Air distribution to any
HVAC system is vital to the performance and efficiency.

DID YOU KNOW? most furnaces built over the past 15 years run at a low speed,
saving you energy and money, when Air Conditioning is not running.

If you feel these items are too difficult of a task to perform on your home, then perhaps
renting an air conditioner is an option for you, since it includes parts & labour. Either
way, if you choose to rent or neglect your HVAC equipment, you will NOT feel comfort
and WILL pay more money out of pocket.