Air Conditioner Tips

So by now you may have an A/C in your window, your wall, or rolling around your home (if not, this weekend you will. I'll talk about that tomorrow). But how do you make it so that your investment works at 100% each and every time, each and every year? I'm going to give you a few tips you will help your A/C last for years to come. If you haven't purchased a new A/C in the recent years, these tips may help you even with your older model.

1. Keep the outside clear.

If you've ever put an A/C in your window/wall yourself, you know that the back of the air conditioner that sticks outside is sharp and full of metal "fins". It's kind of painful if you grab it the wrong way and it actually can dent very easily. Behind these "fins" is actually the condensing coil. This is the part of the air conditioner that handles the warmer air that is pulled from your room and it evaporates outside. This part of the A/C is very important and needs to be free of any fences, debris, decks, grass, leaves, or anything else that would prohibit the evaporator from working properly. The more it's blocked, the less warm air gets pulled from your room.

2. Keep the inside clean.

Along with the condensing coil, there is an evaporator coil. This is located at the front of your A/C unit. It can get dirty over a few years time as well as the rear condensing coil. Both of which can be cleaned by any service technician (schedule yours here) and can greatly improve the length of time your air conditioner lasts, as well as the efficiency of the air flow. If the front coil is NOT cleaned regularly, it can be very unhealthy for you and your family and could also cause the air conditioner to run more frequent. What would cause it to run more frequent? Well, if the dirt and debris isn't cleaned from the front coil, in turn, this means less humidity being allowed to pass through the coils. If the thermostat is set to a certain temperature, then the unit will continue to work until it reaches this temperature. Keep the inside clean and you'll have a more efficient air conditioner. And don't forget to change your filter (if equipped) regularly. Most of these filters can be found at any hardware store.

3. Simple tips that help.

Raise the thermostat a few degrees and use fans to circulate the air instead of keeping it blasted at 52º. The higher you raise the temperature the more money you save (each degree saves you 5% on average). When you leave your home for a day, few days, or even a week, turn your air conditioner off completely and even unplug the unit to save on energy. Keep your window shades or blinds drawn to keep the solar heat out of your home. The "darker" or "shadier" your room is the cooler. And as always, keep all windows and doors closed to keep the maximum amount of cooler air inside your home.

Following these simple tips will help your air conditioner last from summer to summer. If you need a new air conditioner, we have models starting at $89 after rebate. If you're just not ready to pull your old one out but need some expert advice, call us at 1-866-590-1777, or click here.



Quick History of the Air Conditioner:
information courtesy of wikipedia.org

"In 1902 the first modern electrical air conditioning was invented by Willis Haviland Carrier. Designed to improve manufacturing process control in a printing plant, his invention controlled not only temperature but also humidity. The low heat and humidity were to help maintain consistent paper dimensions and ink alignment. Later Carrier's technology was applied to increase productivity in the workplace, and The Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America was formed to meet rising demand. Over time air conditioning came to be used to improve comfort in homes and automobiles. Residential sales expanded dramatically in the 1950s.

In 1906, Stuart W. Cramer of Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, was exploring ways to add moisture to the air in his textile mill. Cramer coined the term "air conditioning", using it in a patent claim he filed that year as an analogue to "water conditioning", then a well-known process for making textiles easier to process. He combined moisture with ventilation to "condition" and change the air in the factories, controlling the humidity so necessary in textile plants. Willis Carrier adopted the term and incorporated it into the name of his company. This evaporation of water in air, to provide a cooling effect, is now known as evaporative cooling."