The comfort of your home during the summer months depends in part on your air conditioner. To maintain healthy air, improve performance and keep your air conditioner running, it’s important to take care of it. What maintenance is required for an air conditioner? How to clean it yourself? Find the answers to your questions by following the guide.
Maintain the air conditioning: yes, but why?
Indoor air saturated by dust and moulds inevitably give rise to health problems such as allergies and respiratory problems. This is one of the reasons why it is important to clean the air conditioner.
Regular cleaning is necessary if you have furry pets in your home, if one of your family members suffers from respiratory problems such as asthma, or if you have young children or an infant.
To prevent the air conditioning from becoming a veritable nest of bacteria, it is important to check and clean the air filters every time the season changes.
In addition, it is important to know that air conditioning filters retain all odours: cooking, perspiration, mould, etc. When the filters are overfilled, they send the bad smells through all the rooms of your home.
This is even more unpleasant when the unit is no longer able to dehumidify the air and the heat starts to be felt. Again, the solution is to clean your air conditioner’s filters.
If you want to get the most out of your investment, nothing beats good maintenance. That’s because when the air filters, coils and fans are properly cleaned, the air conditioner is never prone to overheating. You will also avoid breakdowns with repair costs that are not cheap.
With proper maintenance, your air conditioner will work better, it will also benefit from a much better performance over time and will also see its lifespan drastically extended.
Finally, remember that a well-maintained air conditioner will save you money on your energy bills. Indeed, when the air filters are dirty, not only the efficiency of the air conditioner is down, but it also consumes more energy.
Some tips for easy air conditioner cleaning
To ensure the quality of the air you breathe, it is essential to clean the filters of your air conditioner, which is a real dust mite nest because of the dust and pollen they retain. Cleaning the filters is quite simple. Just that your AC is turned off!
Then, remove the cover of the unit and remove the filters. No tools are required to remove the filters. However, you should be flexible and gentle in your movements to avoid damaging them. To remove the dust from each filter, simply use a vacuum cleaner.
Finish the operation by cleaning the filters with a cotton cloth soaked in water and soap. Before putting them back in place, let them air dry.
Don’t forget the outdoor unit, it just as important to clean this unit of your air conditioning system. Dust, leaves and other dirt often get trapped in the air vent and affect its operation.
To do this, take a damp sponge and clean the grille. However, be careful not to touch the fan and the condenser. Do the same with the unit’s indoor unit.
Have your air conditioning system professionally maintained
To get the most out of your air conditioner year-round, it’s a good idea to sign up for an annual maintenance contract with a professional when you first install the unit. This maintenance will cost you, as an indication, between 90 and 200 dollars. If that’s not the case, just look for Aircon repair and maintenance services near you, and get your AC maintained over time.
The maintenance rate depends on several parameters such as the number of units in the installation, the number of visits to be made in a year, the configuration of the device and its level of access as well as the location of your home in relation to the perimeter of intervention of the professional.
If your air conditioning system contains more than 2kg of refrigerant, you are required to have its tightness checked every year by a certified installer. The latter will also be able to offer you quality replacement parts, should your unit need them. On the other hand, if your installation is just a backup solution consisting of a mobile air conditioner monobloc or split, the frequency of maintenance will be reduced.