New Year’s Resolutions for Your HVAC System

It’s 2019, and with the change of the calendar comes many people who want to change something about their lives. Whether it’s improving your health, getting into shape and losing weight, or simply trying to pursue a goal that you set for yourself, now is the season of new year’s resolutions.

If you’re one to make these resolutions, and you’ve resolved to take better care of your house this upcoming year, why not take the opportunity to also resolve to take better care of your heating and cooling system? You depend on your HVAC equipment to keep you cool when the weather gets hot and sticky as well as warm when winter sends temperatures tumbling, so why not do everything you can to help it be at its best at all times?

Here’s the best part, not only can this help you save money, extend the life of your system, and even help eliminate stress from breakdowns, but it’s also extremely easy to do. Here are three new year’s resolutions for your heating and cooling system which you can follow in order to accomplish this goal.

Keep Your Outdoor Unit Clean

Your outdoor unit is responsible for taking the heat that’s accumulated from inside your home and releasing it outside. However, it can only do this effectively if it’s clean, clear, and has plenty of room to breathe. Tall grass, weeds, plants, shrubs, dirt, dust, leaves, and plenty more can all become lodged in the cooling fins of your outdoor unit, which prevents airflow from reaching the coil. As a result, your system won’t work as effectively, and you’ll spend more on energy to keep your home cool.

Once or twice a year, take the opportunity to check your outdoor unit and clear away any of this debris that may have accumulated over time. Use a broom or rake to sweep away the area immediately surrounding it, and then trim away any grass or plants that have encroached within three feet. This should give your system plenty of breathing room, keep your fins clear, and allow your system to work at its best all year long.

Change Your Air Filter

The importance of changing your air filter simply can’t be understated. Far too many people don’t do it often enough, and nearly every major breakdown can be attributed at least partially in some way to a dirty filter. Dirty filters not only cause allergy symptoms to flare up, but lead to excessive wear on your system’s important components and even force your system to consume more energy in order to operate smoothly.

Make a resolution this year to take better care of your system by checking your heating and cooling air filter once a month, and then replace it as necessary. How often you’ll need to replace it will depend on a few different factors. For example, if you live alone, have no pets, and aren’t home all that often so you don’t run your air conditioner very much, then you most likely won’t need to change your filter for four to five months or more. However, if you have a busy home with pets, smokers, and more, then you may find that your air filter is getting dirty enough to be replaced just about every month.

Get Your Maintenance Service

Regular maintenance from a Sarasota heating and cooling professional can do wonders for keeping your system working properly. Heating and cooling equipment is a lot like your car—the better care you take of it, the longer it will last, the better it will run, and the less you’ll have to spend in order to use it. A car that doesn’t receive regular maintenance will face serious issues, be less fuel efficient, and usually die far faster than a car that receives regular attention, and your heating and cooling equipment is the same way.

It’s strongly advised you have your system maintained at least once per year. However, if you use your system a lot, or you have older equipment, it’s strongly advised you have your system maintained twice, once in the spring and once in the fall. Doing so will not only help you avoid a potential breakdown that could get expensive to repair, but it’ll help your system run at its most efficient, which also helps you save money.

Need Air Conditioning Maintenance? Talk to your air conditioning repair experts at Airrific Air Conditioning & Heating today! Call (941) 371-3355.