dog days of summer

Is Your Air Conditioning System Ready for Summer?

air conditioning system from Finish Line Heating and CoolingWhile it’s been a long, cold winter, summer is coming. And here in Denver, Colorado it can bring with it temperatures over 100 degrees.

That means uncomfortable conditions in your home or business. If you’re using an air conditioning system, it can also mean soaring electricity bills.

In order to optimize the amount of cooling your AC can supply to your home and keep expenses in check during the summer, making sure your air conditioning system gets prepared for hot weather is essential.

Our team at Finish Line Heating & Cooling have put together this list of tips to help you get your AC into proper shape so you can beat the heat!

1) Ensure Your AC Unit Is Clean, Particularly Your Condenser

Making sure that the integral components of your air conditioning are clean is important to it functioning.

Your AC unit has a component called a condenser. This is the part of the AC that is outside and consumes hot air and makes it cold.

AC condensers can get clogged up with dust and other particles. To clean it, shut off power to the unit. After the power gets shut off, you can begin to clean the condenser’s primary parts like its fan and grill.

It’s best practice to repeat this cleaning process yearly just before the hot weather starts.

2) Swap Out your Air Conditioning System Filter

The air filtration component in your AC gets dirty fast. That’s because it’s responsible for making sure the air your AC unit pumps into your house is clean. It does this by capturing dust and other particles present in the air.

Your air conditioning system may have reusable filters. These filters just need to be wiped down and reinserted back into your AC.

Other units have one-time use filters that need to be replaced as frequently as once a month.

Consult your AC unit’s instruction manual to determine which filter you have and the maintenance it requires.

3) Continually Monitor Your System

Air conditioners give you signs before potentially larger problems occur. These signs can be odd noises or your unit simply not pumping out chilly air.

As soon as you start noticing these signs, it’s important to contact an air conditioning expert immediately.

The small quirks an air conditioning unit displays can turn into bigger problems that may lead to your needing to replace your system. In order to save money, get any problems you’re noticing diagnosed and fixed immediately.

4) Check Your Coil Fins

Around your air conditioning system, you’ll notice malleable fins. These fins sometimes get bent shut due to impact or objects leaning up against them.

Bent air conditioning fins reduce air flow to the unit and reduce its cooling efficiency. To help ensure you’re getting optimal performance out of your unit, power off your air conditioner and straighten any bent fins you see.

5) Make Sure You Protect Your Unit When Summer Is Over

Air conditioning units get put to work during the summer but lay dormant during the winter. While window units need to be removed and stored in a garage after the summer to make sure components don’t freeze, central AC condensers should be fine out in the elements.

Some people cover their AC unit during the winter to protect it, but this is highly debated since covering a unit can invite mold to grow and even mice to take up residence.

Knowing that it would be sitting outside all year long, AC engineers and designers created these things to withstand Mother Nature.

6) Make Sure Your Home Is Properly Insulated

If your AC is working well, you may be confused as to why your home is still hot. Lack of proper insulation may be the culprit.

A poorly insulated home is unable to retain the cool air an air conditioning system provides. This will lead to excessive unit use, a reduced lifespan of the unit, and high energy bills.

You can better insulate your home by having double pane glass windows. Another low-cost way to better keep cool air in your home is by purchasing a drought excluder and using it to block the gap at the bottom of your door.

7) Consult a Professional

The AC maintenance tips discussed so far just scratch the surface of what you should do to properly care for your unit. Even when performing the tasks above, if you’re not specially trained to be able to manage things like replacing filters or cleaning your condenser, you may not perform those tasks adequately. You may even cause damage to your unit.

To make sure you’re getting the most out of your AC unit this summer, it’s important to have a professional look it over both at the beginning and end of the season.

Having a professional run your AC through their checklist can extend your unit’s life substantially. The small cost involved in having a professional manage your unit is a drop in the bucket in comparison to the reduction in costly repairs your AC will need if it goes unchecked.

Get Your Air Conditioning System Summer-Ready

Your AC may have been lying dormant all year but once summer rolls around, it’ll be working hard to make up for lost time. To make sure that your AC cools to your liking and that you don’t end up paying unnecessarily high electricity bills, maintaining your unit is important.

Doing things like checking on your filter, your condenser and managing your AC’s coils are all ways to get started with managing its health. To give your unit the full level of care it needs for optimal performance, contacting a qualified AC maintenance service is the way to go.

If you live in the Denver area and are looking to get your air conditioning system into shape for the summer, look no further than Finish Line Heating & Cooling.

Our team of AC experts can diagnose any issues your unit may be having and save you money as you use it throughout the summer. We offer upfront pricing for the services we perform. To learn more about what we can do for you, contact us today!

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