How to take care of aircon
Aircon is a blessing. It keeps us cool and comfy in the space of our own home. It has become a prominent piece of technology that every household in Malaysia cannot live without. While breakdown of the AC is a possible risk, there are several steps on how to take care of aircon that can help prevent that.
Here’s some essential tips on how to take care of aircon:
1. Schedule your annual aircon service with your trusted local AC contractor
It is important to make this investment for your air conditioner, especially when you’re using it quite frequently.
Most air conditioner brands will offer maintenance packages to keep your air conditioning system running at its peak performance.
Keeping tight to the maintenance schedule will almost guarantee that you will never experience AC breakdown through its entire operating life.
The trained technicians will perform a thorough inspection on your aircon unit. Tune-up may also be performed to keep the system clean and efficient, making sure the fans are well oiled and lubricated, and the electrical connections are safe and secure.
These inspections also can help identify potentially harmful issues such as refrigerant leak that can damage the aircond over time. The Worst scenario is that you will need to replace it as it’s damaged beyond repair.
You can think of it like keeping your car in check. The aircon service will help your air conditioner run longer and more energy efficient with less risk of breaking down.
The next step on how to take care of aircon is something that most of us pay less attention to. Read on for more info!
2. Keep the compressor unit outside clear and clean
The compressor unit is another component that requires care and attention. It is located outside the building, making it prone to punishment from the weather and the environment.
The easiest thing we can do for it is to make sure that there are no grass, weeds or branches that are getting near your air conditioner.
The grass and branches usually become a hotspot for critters and insects. You wouldn’t want them to be getting into your AC unit through the compressor.
Try to keep the ground clear of at least 3 feet away from your compressor. Don’t grow any potted plants around that zone. Just let it be a blank area around the compressor. That’s pretty much it.
There are more steps to care for your aircon compressor. But, it is quite technical and best to be handed to professional aircon technicians.
The coils can get dirty and hampering their efficiency to absorb heat. That’s when a aircond service technician comes in to clean the evaporator and condenser coils.
This has to be done carefully to prevent any electrical connection from getting wet. The interior of the compressor also may need to be opened up to get its spring cleaning. This can be complicated for untrained consumers.
3. Perform a wire inspection on your AC
This is often a less looked upon tip on how to take care of aircon for most consumers. It’s not always a feasible option depending on how the AC is installed.
However, for certain homes, some wiring is exposed and allows us to easily perform inspection on it.
Check the wiring of the condensing unit to look for signs of wear or burn. Do remember to turn off your air conditioner before attempting to perform this inspection.
It’s quite a simple action that you can do for your aircond. If you manage to see damage to the wires such as fray or scorch, give a call to us at Sol Aircond Service.
We will perform the necessary inspection and repair the damage of your air conditioner before it becomes a huge problem.
4. Clean the air conditioner filter
Next on how to take care of the aircon is another simple chore that all house owners should do, cleaning the filter.
The air flow will always pass through this component of your air conditioning unit. After the air is vented out into the living space, the air will return back into the system as well.
The air filter functions to capture the dust and particulates in the air to prevent them from going into your AC.
This is like the first defence layer for your aircond. Over time, it gets filled with dust and allergens and gets all clogged up.
That’s when it will obstruct the flow of the air into the air conditioner, making it run inefficiently.
Depending on the models, some are washable and some need to be replaced. Keeping this filter clean at most times is one essential step that can help extend the life of your air conditioner.
Get to know this little part about your AC, and you’ll know how to take care of it as best as you can.
5. Inspect the condensate drain
The condensate drain is an important drainage component of the air conditioning unit. As it cools the air, condensation can happen, allowing water to form.
This water needs to be channeled through the condensate drain to the outdoors.
So, when you see that your condensate drain is clogged with dust, it’s time to give it a clean up. Older units may even show signs of rust or have already rusted.
These imperfections on the condensate drain will block the water draining. Make your life easy by letting the aircond service provider near you to do the job.
6. Check the fins of your outdoor unit
The fins are part of the condenser and evaporator in every AC unit. Due to environmental factors, it will tend to bend as time passes, disrupting the flow of air into the system.
The fins have to be aligned correctly for your air conditioner to be working efficiently. So, when you do notice there’s bending going on, you can set them straight with a fin comb.
A fin comb can help you save the hassle of getting aircond contractor to come by just to fix that part up. But, if your outdoor unit is located at an unreachable height above ground, it’s better to let professionals do the work.
Working at an altitude can be dangerous without proper knowledge on ladder safety and equipment.
Other than a fin comb, some people in the community suggest using a dinner knife. You can insert the knife in an attempt to realign the bent fins with gentle pressure. If you’re trying this, let us know how it went in the comments!
7. Use smart thermostat
Everything is digitalized. There’s an app for everything including the controls to your air conditioner!
This next step on how to take care of aircon will require the use of a smartphone. Some brands of air conditioner have an app-integrated function to the air conditioner so the users get to control it while out of home.
It’s a cool way to control the cooling of the entire house.
You can turn off the air conditioner in case you forgot to do so before heading out. It’s also convenient to turn on the air conditioner at a steady temperature so you can come home to a cool and comfortable environment.
This is potentially save more electricity than blasting it at the lowest degree right after coming back home to relieve the hot weather outside.
8. Install whole-house fan for the house
A whole house-fan has been helping countless homes to achieve a higher level of cooling for decades. The idea of whole-house fan is simple.
It channels hot air out through the roof vents and allows cooler air to get into the house from the opened doors and windows.
This boost the ventilation greatly. As a result, the entire space of the house gets cooled in a rapid pace.
The heat built-up is removed in the matter of minutes and we also get to feel a cool pleasant breeze coming into the house.
How does this help with taking care of aircon? Well, we get the natural ventilation to achieve coolness. There’s possibly less need for us to turn the AC on.
Even if we do, the entire house will get cooled much faster as well.
9. Cover the windows with drapes and curtains
When you’re getting a house, other than facilities and cost, the direction of the house window is another factor that you should probably put into consideration.
If it’s facing directly to east or west, the sun is going to be shining through the window. And, that’s going to be unpleasant.
There will be a lot of heat entering through the windows. It’s also uncomfortable to open up the window.
The sunlight can hit the tile of the floor and get reflected into the entire room. Your air conditioner will have to work extra hard to counter the heat and keep the room cool.
The best way to overcome this is not to buy such a house. Kidding. Just put on drapes and curtains. Stick a layer of tint onto the window screen as well.
Keep the windows closed at all times when the sun is shining bright. These little steps will help your aircon from overworking.
These are a few steps on how to take care of aircon. Hope it has been informative and useful. Which steps will you put in as part of your house chores? Share with us in the comments. We would love to know what works for you.
Sol Aircond Service is a local aircon service provider in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. We are a team of experienced and trained aircon technicians that can handle air conditioner units of both residential and commercial size. We’ll take care of all the hassles of air conditioner for you, contact us today.
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