A neglected air conditioner can cause a whole host of problems that could affect your comfort and budget. When your air conditioner starts to malfunction, you do not… cannot… simply ignore the problem. With summer in full swing, we want to stress the importance of regular air conditioning service and to have it done as soon as possible.
Skipping Maintenance Can Have Big Consequences
Skipping routine air conditioning maintenance, even once, is one of the worst things that you can do for your home cooling system. When it comes to keeping your air conditioner in the best working condition possible, preventive measures always beat reactionary ones.
There are many different ways in which routine air conditioning maintenance can benefit you and skipping this important service can come back to haunt you. Well-maintained systems will last years longer than neglected systems. Clean, well-running systems enhance air quality, lower humidity, and contribute to the health and productivity of occupants.
Skipping HVAC maintenance can cause dirt and debris buildup, hindering airflow and heat transfer. This reduces energy efficiency, increasing utility costs. Regular HVAC services ensure clean filters and optimal performance, preventing clogs and maximizing energy efficiency, resulting in lower energy bills.
Over time, your HVAC system’s components such as belts, motors, and electrical connections can wear out or become damaged. These issues are noticed and worsen without proper maintenance, eventually causing system malfunctions and breakdowns. Regular maintenance allows HVAC technicians to identify and address minor issues before they escalate, reducing the likelihood of unexpected breakdowns and the need for costly repairs.
Neglecting maintenance can have serious consequences for your HVAC system. Reduced energy efficiency, increased utility costs, frequent breakdowns, and compromised indoor air quality can all result from skipping regular maintenance. To avoid these issues, contact Aire-Tech today to schedule a maintenance appointment and keep your HVAC running smoothly for years to come!
How the Costs Add Up
Inadequate maintenance is known to be a primary cause of air conditioner malfunction. The costs add up in other ways, too, which can be summarized as follows:
- Difficulty achieving comfortable temperatures.
- Reduced humidity control.
- Major repairs as a result of neglect cost more over time than annual maintenance and cleaning.
- Air conditioner efficiency is compromised leading to higher monthly energy costs.
- Finding emergency service during a heat wave might be difficult and can cause you to spend more to have your problem resolved quickly.
You want to be sure that your AC can stand up to the cooling demands that come with the heat and humidity. An air conditioner that is not well-maintained is likely to fail when you need it most. A maintenance plan will make sure you stay cool and comfortable through the hot months.
Most Common Air Conditioner Problems
The air conditioning system of your home is well engineered as well as servers you by every day and night. But, it is also a high-tech system that depends on a combination of critical components that helps it to work properly.
If any of those components fail to work, it may prevent the system from cool your room. You can have a look at the 5 most common things that could go wrong with an Air Conditioner:
- A shorter service life. HVAC maintenance is an important part of improving the longevity of your HVAC system. Over time the components on your HVAC system can become dirty and worn down. With HVAC maintenance, your components will be properly cleaned and inspected, ensuring that they are in proper working order. The better maintained the components of your system, the longer the system itself will last.
- Lower capacity. An air conditioner that is not kept in peak shape through regular tune-ups and cleanings just won’t be able to do its job as well. It’s the same for a poorly maintained car. The air conditioner won’t keep your house as cool and you’ll soon start to notice rooms that are hotter than they should be.
- Loss of cooling power. Even a small problem in an air conditioner, like a fan running at half-speed, will lead to a drop in the cooling power of the system. Maybe you can tolerate this during spring weather, but when summer arrives you’ll be uncomfortable until you can get a technician out to remedy the issue.
- Higher electrical bills. One of the most obvious costs associated with poor or no HVAC maintenance is high utility bills. Over time, if your system is not properly maintained, it will begin to work less efficiently. When parts are dirty or broken or the airflow is restricted, it can cause your system to have to work harder than it needs to in order to maintain a consistent temperature. The harder your system is working, the more energy it will expend. This translates into a higher monthly cost on your utility bills.
- More repair calls. Regular HVAC maintenance is vital to monitor the wear and tear on your system and ensure that everything is functioning as it should. Without HVAC maintenance, you will likely be unaware when you have small problems with the components of your system, which can lead to a breakdown or major problem.
- Unreliable performance. An air conditioning system that’s in danger of breaking down during the hottest days of summer will wreck your peace of mind. Unfortunately, that is a risk you run with an AC that’s had regular maintenance neglected.
- Poorer air quality. All the air circulated through your house’s HVAC system must pass through the air conditioner. A neglected AC will pick up so much dust and dirt that it will affect the quality of air circulating through it. It will also allow for humidity to increase. It may even start to develop mold.
- The risk of a full breakdown. The longer an air conditioner runs with a malfunction, the worse the malfunction will become, and the additional stress will cause other components to wear down. This puts your AC at risk of a complete breakdown—which will probably happen on the first blazing hot day of the year, when you’ll demand the most work from it. Breakdowns are not only inconvenient, they are expensive to repair. In a worst case scenario, you may have to replace the broken air conditioner—which is the most costly “repair” of all.
Top 7 Causes of Air Conditioner Problems
- Low refrigerant. Refrigerant is a chemical blend that cycles through an air conditioner, changing from a liquid to a gas and back again as it releases and absorbs heat. Through this process, heat exchange, the refrigerant removes heat from inside a house, cooling down the space, and releases the heat to the outdoors. Although the refrigerant goes through repeated cycles of evaporation (when it absorbs heat) and condensation (when it releases heat), it does not dissipate: it remains at a set level, known as its charge. Every air conditioner has a set charge level to provide the right balance for heat exchange.A low refrigerant charge will cause serious problems with the AC’s operation and will eventually lead to a complete loss of cooling ability. Whenever you think your air conditioner is malfunctioning, call right away for repairs.
- Frozen evaporator coils. Evaporator coils are critical components in the heat-exchange process; there is no heating or cooling without them. Your air conditioner’s evaporator coil is filled with refrigerant, and is responsible for absorbing the heat from the air like a sponge. It may sound counter-intuitive, but those coils need warm air circulating around them to work properly. When something goes wrong with the airflow and the evaporator coil gets too cold, a layer of ice can build up on the outside. When that happens, you will get warm air or none at all coming from your air conditioning supply registers.
- Dirty condenser coils. Condenser coils are one of the main components of your HVAC system that make sure your unit is reliable, effective, cost-efficient and operational for the long-term. It is located in your condensing unit outside of your home. The system itself works by a process of continually converting gas into a liquid. Thanks to a refrigerant material being used in the tubing, all of the hot air that is inside of your home is going to travel outside and into the condenser coils where the hot air is removed from your home. Since there is a lot of air transfer needed for your unit, you want to make sure the condenser coil is as clean as possible. When your coils are clean, the fan can easily do its job and take care of all the hot air inside of your home in no time.
- Fan problems. The outside unit transfers the heat from indoors to outdoors through a fan located in the outdoor unit. If the fan outside the house does not perform efficiently, proper heat transfer does not occur. As a result, the air conditioner’s compressor may overheat or trip the safety load. The worst case is when it may cause internal damage to the compressor, leading to replacing an air conditioner.
- Leaking ducts. When working as intended, ducts take conditioned air produced by your central air conditioning unit and send it through various vents in your home. Unfortunately, all it takes is one leak to make this process less efficient.
- Thermostat problems. Especially if you still have the old dial-type thermostats, they could be incorrectly calibrated, which means your air conditioner isn’t getting the right instructions from the control system. This problem is fairly easy to fix by replacing or recalibrating your thermostats. If you have new programmable thermostats, sometimes these are tricky to program and they may be set incorrectly. If you still have the manual, check the instructions to make sure your thermostat’s settings are correct.
Final Thoughts
As warm weather approaches, it is important to take a few preventative measures to protect your home through the scorching months. You can always count on the Aire-Tech to keep your home cool. Perhaps you need repairs, new thermostat installation, or preventative maintenance—whatever the HVAC issue is, Aire-Tech is ready to help.
If your system needs repair or inspection before winter, call us on 951-926-1002. You can also visit our Contact page and complete the contact form.