Maintenance

Can I ask you something? Do you brush your teeth? What about taking a shower every now and then? Oh, you do? Why do you do that? Do you have a particularly dirty job or eat a lot of dirty food?

It just makes sense, right? General maintenance is a part of everyday life but somehow air conditioning, heating and refrigeration system maintenance is largely overlooked. I know, we are all busy and have higher priorities to take care of first. That is, until that dreaded day comes.  You call the contractor, they find your compressor has burnt up and it was likely caused by a clogged coil. Now they are recommending a 5 to 10-thousand-dollar system replacement and you need a loan to make it happen. For the cost of the interest you are going to pay on that loan, every month, for the next 3 to 5 years, you could have had your system tuned up several times a year.

Your AC system does have a dirty job. Half of it sits outside all year. Think about that, how dirty would you be if you just sat outside every day 24/7. Your indoor unit, that unfortunate thing, it must inhale your hair, skin dander, fur from your pets, dust from the attic, VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) grease, should I go on? Nah, you get it. Right?

Before each cooling season, it's recommended that you have a professional tune-up.  Notice the word professional there? Yeah that’s a tough one. I can’t tell you how many times I have been called to check on a system after a so called “Pro” had just performed their “super-duper tune up” and it looked like the system was sabotaged on purpose. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Scam artists taking money and ultimately food off the tables of unsuspecting customers.

A thorough maintenance for the average sized AC system is generally between 1 and 1.5 hours