National Air Conditioner Day is Here!

Wait, you didn’t know that it was National Air Conditioner Day? Well, now you do! Do you remember playing outside all day long as a kid, and then coming inside to cool down in your air-conditioned house? Those were the days. Just imagine what it must have been like before air conditioners.

After running around with your friends all day, you’d have to try to cool off in a house that was just as hot as you. Thankfully, in 1902, Willis Carrier invented the modern air conditioner. Not only are homeowners thankful for their air conditioner, but so are business owners.

Bakeries, restaurants, and stores were able to attract more business after Willis Carrier gave them a way to cool their buildings. Summer blockbuster movies would be impossible without an indoor cooling system, and server farms that power cloud computing wouldn’t exist without indoor cooling systems.

In celebration of air conditioners, let’s look at a few things you can do to maintain your units this summer.

Clean Your Air Conditioning Unit

After a long fall and winter, the outdoor component of your air conditioner can get pretty dirty. The first place to start your air conditioning maintenance is to clean up the area around your machine.

Clear a foot or two of space around it, getting rid of any dead plants or other debris. The thin fins on the exterior of your unit need to be clear to facilitate airflow.

An easy way to clean them is with a bristled brush on a shop vac. If the vacuum doesn’t quite do the trick, you can use a soft-bristled brush with some soap and water to clean it more thoroughly, then rinse with your hose.

If you have any bent fins, you can gently bend them back into place with a butter knife. Make sure that you only insert the knife a little bit or you could damage the coils and tubes inside the unit. Getting your fins back in line will help with airflow and unit efficiency.

Get The Dust Out of Your Ducts

If you feel like your HVAC system is blowing more dust around your home than usual, it might be time to schedule a duct cleaning.

Most homes don’t need to have it done every year, but it’s a good idea to clean them every few summers.

If you have allergy sufferers in your house or you have several pets, you may want to have your ducts cleaned routinely.

If you suspect that you have mold growing inside your ventilation system, you should schedule a cleaning right away. Mold spores travel through the air, so you should address the problem as soon as you discover it. It’s also wise to try to find the root cause of the mold so that it doesn’t come back.

In addition to the interior duct cleaning, you should also dust the registers in each room. A vacuum with a bristled brush head will make the job quick and easy.

Replacing Your Air Conditioner

Like all appliances, the time will come when you need to replace your air conditioner. HVAC technicians can do a lot to keep your unit functioning, but eventually, the cost of repairing it will surpass the cost to purchase a new unit.

AC replacement is expensive, so it’s not a decision that most homeowners take lightly. So, how do you know if it’s time for a replacement? If your unit is 15 or more years old, it’s probably time to purchase a new one.

The government has recently changed its regulations to encourage people to adopt energy-efficient units. Old units often use a coolant called R 22 Freon, which is getting harder and harder to source. The cost to refill your coolant has skyrocketed in the past few years.

If your air conditioner uses R 22 and is malfunctioning, it’s probably best to shop for a new unit. Another indicator is when major components of your unit like the blower motor, compressor, or condenser coils need a repair. Sometimes the cost of a significant repair isn’t much lower than a new energy-efficient machine.

Celebrate Air Conditioners!

Air conditioners make our lives so much more comfortable in the summertime. How will you celebrate this incredible invention?

You could catch a blockbuster movie, eat a piece of cake, or give a social media shout out to all the great HVAC technicians out there, all of which are now possible in the summertime because of air conditioning.