AC Tips

Air Conditioning Tips

1. Avoid locating your air conditioner in direct sunlight-particularly on the south side of your home-where it will be forced to work much harder to do its job.
2. Have your system checked Yearly!
3. Keep leaves , grass, and storage at least 2 feet away from outside unit.
4. Clean outside coil with water monthly.
5. Help your air conditioner "breathe easier." Clean or replace the filter at least once a month this summer. A filter clogged with dust, pollen or soot "smothers" the air conditioner and wastes energy and your money. Let your monthly electric bill be your regular reminder to clean or change the filter.
6. When the "A/C' is on, shut off kitchen, bath and other ventilating fans as soon as they've done their job. In just one hour, these fans can blow away a houseful of costly, cooled air.
7. Annual service of your air conditioning equipment by a qualified service technician can reduce operating costs as much as 20%, extend the life of the system, and improve safety and air quality.
8. Remember that air conditioning systems that are ten years old or more are most likely not operating at peak efficiency. Installation of a high efficiency system can often cut your electric bill by 50% or more, and will more than pay for itself over the next few years
9. In light of current energy concerns and to make the most efficent use of your utility dollars, establish your comfort temperature, Set your thermostat and Forget you have one. It takes less energy to cool air 4-5 degrees than it does to cool air 8-10 degrees.
10. Before you call for a emergency service tech to come and fix your system. We recommend trying these 3 tips, they will save you $$$$ and time.

• Check the thermostat to verify that it is calling for cooling.
• Check your breaker box to verify if the breaker is on.
• Check outdoor fuses or disconnect.

More Tips:

(1) Air filter(s) MUST be clean. They should be located near the return air duct adjacent to the air handler or in a return air grill(s). Check your air filter every 30 to 90 days to make sure it is clean. Depending of the house, i.e. if you have animals you may need to clean the air filter more often. (Go clean them now!)

(2) Flip the switch on the thermostat for the fan setting to FAN ON, not AUTO. This will run the indoor fan nonstop. The outside A/C unit will still cycle with a call for cooling from the thermostat. The constant air moving will keep you cooler. You can probably keep the thermostat a degree or two higher than normal and still feel comfortable. You will also maintain a more even temperature between upstairs and downstairs. This will SAVE you MONEY because the outdoor condenser will not come on as much!

(3) Make sure that you wash the outside condenser coil once a year. If it's dirty, the A/C will run hot and inefficient. A sign of the coil being dirty is the small exposed copper (pipe) (tubing) line, usually 3/8" O/D connecting the inside unit with the outside unit will be HOT to the touch.

(4) If the small exposed 3/8" copper pipe connecting the inside unit with the outside unit is hot to the touch there can be several reasons why;

(a)    A/C is low on refrigerant.
(b)    The outdoor condenser coil is dirty. Those are the two most common reasons for it to be hot to the touch.

(5) "Warm Rooms" on the lower levels of the house where it is cooler cut back or cut off some vent registers (Diffuser) and make sure that all the ones on the upper floors where it is warmer are open all the way! Also, see paragraphs #2 & #9.

(6) "Doors" if you close the door to a room make sure that there is about a 3/4" gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. You may have had carpet put down on the floor and now there is no gap. This is necessary if you have a central return air duct in the hallway. The return air ducts need to pull the warm air from the room.

(7) Never leave the house and turn OFF the A/C. then come back home and turn it on and expect it to cool the house anytime soon. Doing this will not allow the unit to cool down the house for several hours. You can set the temperature up five to ten degrees but NOT OFF. This is because of Latent heat buildup in the walls and furniture in the house and will make the A/C work harder to remove the heat, this takes a long time.

(8) Never turn the A/C off than back on in less than five minutes, this will short-cycle the compressor and can trip breakers, blow fuses, or cause permanent damage the compressor. You should have a time-delay install on the A/C to prevent this during power outages! Some setback thermostats have a time-delay built-in. Having a start capacitor and relay is a good idea. This will increase the life expectancy of the compressor by starting faster thus keeping motor temperature down, using less electric to start.

(9) Keep blinds closed, curtains drawn, window shades drawn, a working attic fan would be a good idea, plenty of insulation in the ceiling & walls, air tight storm windows, keep outside doors and openings close, etc.

(10) "Icing of the indoor coil or the large insulated covered copper pipe "There are two main reasons for this, lack of air flow or low on refrigerant. Lack of air flow can be a dirty air filter, dirty indoor evaporator coil, dirty fan blades, damper in duct restricting air flow.

(11) "Water inside around air-handler" see paragraph 10. The condensate line is a drain pipe coming from the indoor evaporator coil to a indoor drain or to the outside. This can become clogged and cause water to backup and can produce about five gallons of water an hour. This is where all the humidity and moisture from the house goes.

(12) You should NEVER need to add refrigerant to a system, if you are adding refrigerant this means that there is a refrigerant leak in the system that SHOULD be fixed! "Why KILL the Ozone layer?"

(13) Checking the cooling with a thermometer. There should be a 15-20 degree temperature drop across the indoor coil at the air handler. Check the temperature drop in the duct close to the coil, if air coming into the coil is 75 degrees than the air leaving the coil should be 60-55 degrees. If it is higher or lower there is probably something wrong. Too high of a drop, IE more than 20 degrees drop, could mean lack of air flow or low on refrigerant. Less than a 15-degree drop could mean too much air flow, dirty outside coil or low on refrigerant.