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Your air conditioner won't function properly without regular maintenance. Maintenance is important to prevent harm to the parts and to keep energy bills low. Air conditioning maintenance has two essential components: cleaning the equipment and servicing the parts. Here's a quick look at keeping up with air conditioning maintenance.

Keep The Filter Clean

When your AC runs all the time in the summer, you may need to change the filter as often as once a month. The filter may get dirty faster if you have pets that shed hair or if your house collects dust. You can tell if a filter needs to be changed by holding it against the light and looking for dust clogs that block the light. If the filter is very dirty, there might be dust mats covering the filter. However, you don't want the filter to get that bad since a clogged filter restricts airflow, and that can cause your AC to shut down.

Check The Condensation Line For Clogs

The condensation line is what drains condensation away from the evaporator coil to the outdoors. If the line is clogged, water can't escape, so it builds up in the pan until the water spills over to the floor. This can contribute to mold growth and water damage around the air handler. If your condensation pan has a float switch, the switch might shut down your AC when the pan gets too full.

Algae and other clogs can be cleared out of the line with a wet vac or by flushing the line with water so water can drain freely. When you get an annual AC tune-up, the air conditioning maintenance technician should check for clogs in the condensation line and clear them. Since algae growth is a common reason for clogs, the technician might add algae killer to the condensation pan to keep algae under control.

Clean The Refrigerant Coils

It's important to keep the refrigerant coils clean so your home cools down properly. When the coils are coated with dust, heat can't transfer through them as well. The coils might even form ice that makes the problem worse. The air conditioning maintenance technician checks the condenser and evaporator coils and cleans them with a brush and cleaning solution if it's necessary.

They should also check the rest of the air handler and condenser for dust buildup and debris and clean the parts that need it. The indoor air handler can collect dust over the winter, and the outdoor condenser can collect leaves, dirt, and nesting material from pests.

Test And Service Parts

Preventative maintenance helps your AC last longer. Plus, it's better to repair or replace parts before they break down. The maintenance technician checks the blower parts in the air handler, wiring from the thermostat, and all the parts in the condenser to make sure none need to be replaced and that all the parts are operating as they should. Parts may need to be lubricated or tightened so they make it through another summer of heavy use.