Springtime in Seattle is a time of freshness. With the spring comes warmer weather, birds chirping, and flowers blooming. Spring also signals that summer is drawing nearer. With summer approaching, now is the best time to ensure your air conditioning system is ready for the elevated temperatures so you can stay cool throughout the hot season. The best way to prepare your AC is through professional maintenance and tune-up service. Take a look at the steps involved in this annual service so you know what to expect and why this service is critical.
Clear Outside Unit
While most maintenance tasks are best left to the professionals, this is one step in the process that homeowners can help with. Before our technicians arrive for your scheduled tune-up appointment, be sure your outdoor unit is clear of debris and clean. Clear all vegetation away from the unit, creating a clearance of two to three feet. Use your garden hose at low pressure to remove pollen and cotton that might accumulate in the fins of the unit. Once done, clear the way, and we’ll handle the rest.
As we work through your system, we’ll continue cleaning dust, debris, and other contaminants from the air conditioner, both inside and outside. This cleaning allows your system to work with less added weight and stress and promotes better air quality inside your home.
Visual Inspection
One of the most important parts of annual maintenance is assessing the condition of the components of your cooling system. Our technicians look for signs of damage or malfunction. We check for excessive wear and tear that could indicate a more severe problem. We particularly look at the belts for cracks, the motor for operating issues, and hoses for proper connection and leaks. By completing this visual assessment, we can find problems and fix them early so your system is ready to go.
Assess Condensate Drain
When cooling the air, your AC also creates condensation. This condensation needs a channel to direct water away from the air conditioner unit to prevent water damage to the electrical components. A condensate drain line provides this passageway. Our technicians check the drain line and ensure there are no leaks or clogs that may prevent water from running through the line and smoothly exiting your AC.
Check Refrigerant
Refrigerant is necessary for your air conditioner to create cold air. We check the refrigerant in the AC and replenish it if needed. If the refrigerant is extremely low or empty, we may check for leaks. Leaking refrigerant is extremely harmful to the environment. Any leak in the coolant system requires repairs before adding more refrigerant and running the system.
Test Safety Controls
Most cooling systems feature safety controls that prevent the unit from operating during certain malfunctions. Our technicians test these controls to ensure they respond as designed. If the safety tests fail, your system is not safe until we repair it.
Inspect Wiring
The electrical wiring inside and connected to your air conditioner is essential for proper operation. Faulty wiring may lead to a loss of power, resulting in no cold air for your home. Frayed or damaged wires are also hazardous to the safety of your system and home. Our technicians carefully inspect all the wiring to and inside of your air conditioner to ensure it is safe, secure, and properly connected.
Test Airflow
Once we’ve finished combing through the inner workings of your cooling system, we power the system on and observe its operation. Our technicians check to make sure that cold air is blowing from all the vents inside your home and cooling your entire home to an even and comfortable temperature.
If insufficient or uneven airflow is noted, there could be a number of issues for further investigation. Although the air conditioner itself could cause these problems, it’s also likely that your home’s air ducts are the culprit. Either way, our technicians will find the cause of the problem so that you can schedule repairs, duct cleaning, or other services promptly.
Listen and Smell for Abnormalities
While the system is in normal operational mode, our technicians listen for strange sounds and check for odd odors. The air conditioner should run quietly, with only a slight mechanical sound heard during the cycle. Any loud or unusual sounds require a second look. A failure inside the system could cause these noises, or they could indicate a problem inside the ductwork. Likewise, your AC should operate without smells. Odors are not normal and need investigation. Again, unusual odors may signal an issue in the air conditioner or in the ducts. You should keep your system off until we fix these problems.
Thermostat Adjustment
Your thermostat is a crucial component of your HVAC system. Through the thermostat, you control the comfort of your home. We check that the thermostat is correctly mounted in an open area away from vents and heat-producing appliances that can alter a reliable temperature reading. We also check that the device displays the correct room temperature. If the thermostat doesn’t read properly, we calibrate the device so that it does. We may also recommend upgrading to a programmable and smart thermostat for better control and efficiency.
Benefits of a Spring Tune-Up
Spring tuning is meant to keep your cooling system healthy so you can enjoy summer without discomfort inside your home.
Your cooling system is more reliable after maintenance in a couple of ways. First, we find problems when we conduct maintenance so that they can be repaired before summer comes. This means that your AC is ready for warm, humid summer days. Second, tuning and cleaning keep the parts inside your AC in better shape, leading to a longer life.
Annual maintenance also extends the life of your cooling system. When the components of the system are tuned and cared for, they last longer and create less stress overall for the system. A well-cared for system can give more than a decade of reliable and efficient cooling.
Regular tune-ups help lower stress and strain and keep your system running efficiently. This efficiency translates into lower cooling costs throughout the summer, helping you save money.
Choosing not to schedule annual maintenance to try and save money may have the exact opposite effect. Failure to schedule tune-ups every year could cost you a small fortune in repairs, a larger fortune for a replacement unit, or a hefty amount of extra money on your utility bills.
Check Out Our BAM Plan
The Black Lion Annual Maintenance Plan, or BAM plan, gives our loyal customers special discounts and perks while providing all the great benefits of annual maintenance. Our experienced technicians perform comprehensive, high-quality maintenance tasks, so we know just what your system needs to be ready for summer.
Stay ahead of the changing seasons and contact Black Lion Heating & Air Conditioning today for your HVAC tune-up and the BAM maintenance plan.