How cool will your house be this summer in Tampa FL when the spring and summer sun comes?
Just like your car, truck or boat, your air conditioner at home needs a regular tune-up. Assuming you don’t know much about air conditioners, we wanted to share some quick tips and facts:
Your home’s air conditioner consists of three main parts:
- The compressor: That is that large outdoor unit which is usually on the side of your house or behind the garage. It compresses the refrigerant, or Freon®, into a liquid which evaporates, resulting in cooling.
- The blower unit: Pushes the air throughout the system.
- The ductwork: Circulates the air. Cool air is carried into the home; warm air is exhausted.
Now if you have some going wrong or anything having to do with refrigerant, you should be leave that to Tampa air conditioning professionals. It's always a good idea to hire someone to inspect the refrigerant and the compressor lines of your air conditioner(s).
Here are several do-it-yourself tune-up tasks for your home’s air conditioner:
- Change your air conditioner filters: Pick one day per month to change your filters. It can be the first, the fifteenth or any day you will remember each month, just pick a date so you do not forget. Check the number on the filter that is already in the system, and buy the same size when it needs to be replaced.
- Check for debris: After you change the filter, walk around the outside unit and check for obstructions. Clear any leaves, grass or other debris that might be caught in the grate. Cut back bushes that may be preventing airflow to the unit. There should be two feet of clear space around the unit.
- Check the condensate removal system: When warm air passes through the cooling coil, condensation occurs. And that condensation has got to go somewhere, so it usually drips to a drain or a pan under the unit. If there is a pan, you need to empty it as it gets full. Sometimes, with new construction homes in Tampa, there is a stand pipe that is connected to your home drainage system
- Clean the compressor: The outdoor unit will get dirty and need cleaning, at least annually. REMEMBER, make sure you shut off the power to the unit before starting. Then just hose the dirt right off.
If you’d like a referral to an air conditioning specialist for those times when you need to hire a professional, I’m happy to share my recommendations.
Make sure to visit our website and see our most recent Tampa Bay Real Estate Listings for Sale including Short Sales in Tampa FL
Comments(6)