Summer in southwest Arizona is long, hot and dry, which makes a functional air conditioner essential to your comfort.
While there are some repairs and maintenance checks that only a trained technician can take care of, here are several do-it-yourself tips for keeping your A/C humming from now until fall:
- Clean or replace the air filter. Every month, you should check your air conditioner filter and change it if it’s dirty. If you have pets, you may find that the filter becomes dirty faster. A clean filter will keep energy costs 5 to 15 percent lower than if you run your air conditioner with a dirty filter.
- Keep the outdoor condensing unit clear of debris. Clean up the area around the large metal box next to your home by trimming back branches and weeds and clearing away leaves and other debris.
- On occasion, spray the outdoor condensing unit with a hose. This will help dislodge anything that is caught between the evaporator coil fins.
- Check the indoor air conditioning vents. These should remain unobstructed by furniture, curtains, toys and other items to allow the air to flow freely.
- Close off unused rooms and shut the vents in those rooms. This can help you save money on your cooling bills. An even more effective tactic is to invest in home zoning controls. This gives you more than one thermostat to control the temperature in various rooms of your home. Such an investment could save you 20 percent on your cooling bills.
- Run your air conditioner on high. Since it’s dry in Arizona, you don’t need to worry about the dehumidification function of your air conditioner. People in other areas may need to run it on low so the unit stays on long enough to dehumidify the air effectively.
Your home is where you spend a lot of your time. You should be comfortable in all kinds of weather, and these six tips can help you save money while increasing home comfort. Contact Hansberger Refrigeration and Electric Company in Yuma for quality products, maintenance and repair.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Hansberger Refrigeration & Electric Co services the Yuma area in Arizona. To get started, check out our website.