Central air conditioning can be a hassle to fix when something breaks or a certain component malfunctions. But there are also some very easy preventive maintenance stuff that you can do to evade many common problems that happen in central air conditioners.
I will be referring to the air handler and the condensing unit a lot. To make things perfectly clear the air handler is inside, usually in a closet, and the condensing unit is outside of the home.
The first thing you can do is to make sure that you have a clean air filter at all times. You should check it and replace it once a month, depending on what type of air filter you have. If you have a dirty air filter the air will be restricted and cause your HVAC system to operate less efficient.
Clean out your condensate line in your HVAC system every couple of months. This can be done by purchasing slime tablets, blowing out the line with CO2 or nitrogen, or by using a wet dry vacuum. When a condensate line gets clogged up it could shut down your unit, or flood your house.
If you find that your line backed up and shut down your air conditioning system, or flooded the house you will have to clean the line out. It will probably require a wet dry vacuum to do this, since the slime tablets are mainly made for preventing slime and sludge inside the condensate line.
Keeping both sets of coils clean on both the air handler and the condensing unit will also help prevent problems. Keeping the air handler coils clean is easy, all you have to do is make sure that you have a clean air filter inserted at all times. Over time they may get dirty still, but there are many coil cleaners that are out there in the market you can use.
For the condenser coils, it is very important that there is nothing that will restrict the air being blown out. Some common things that cause problems are excessive leaves, plants and shrubbery rubbing up on the condenser, or having anything big right next to the condensing unit.
When your HVAC system is cooling properly, there should be cool air coming out of the vents inside and hot air from the condenser outside. If this is not happening then you could possibly have a Freon leak, which can only be fixed by a licensed HVAC technician.
If you follow just these few HVAC preventive maintenance tips you can avoid a lot of problems with the way your system runs. Not everything can be prevented but these should help you out a lot with your HVAC system.
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