Many people don’t think about their HVAC until it is too late. Finding the right person to maintain or replace your home system can be a little tricky for new homeowners with no experience. The tips that follow will help you understand the process.
Know what you want done before you hire a contractor. It will be hard for an HVAC contractor to provide you a price estimate on the phone without knowing what your current setup is. It will be more hard if you can’t figure out what they need to do.
Before you contact people to assist you in getting your system fixed, know what kind of system you’re working with in the first place. You need to know who manufactured the product and the item number. Also, get the maintenance records from your files if you have them. This will help make sure that the contractor you hire has all the necessary information.
Clean your fan blades and coils come spring. Clean off any leaves or debris from your external condenser unit regularly.
Don’t let grass clippings pile up against your outside unit. Direct the clippings away from the HVAC unit. This applies to leaf blowing and any other yard work that results in debris.
Check the whole house before you call for help. Note which of your rooms are hot and which are cold. Taking this step aids a contractor in figuring out what the problem is and how to repair it as quickly as possible.
Lubricate the oil ports on your fan condenser once a year.These ports are usually covered by a rubber or metal caps. Use a lightweight, and put 10 drops or fewer in each port, but make sure to avoid overfilling them.
Have the HVAC serviced at least yearly. This should happen in the fall and again in the spring.
To make sure your condenser fan works properly, keep the fan blades and the coils clean. Before you do clean the coils and fan blades, always take the precaution of turning off all power to the unit. Remove leaves and debris from the outside condenser.
Turn off outdoor condensers you have when weather turns cold. This should turn it off to prevent damage if the weather falls under 60 degrees Farenheit. This helps your system working order.
It is a good idea to swap out single pane windows for double panes. This will help you keep in heat when it gets cold.
Be sure to clean external condenser units regularly. Debris can pile up at rates that increase during rainy or windy weather, and this can foul up the inner workings of your system. Left unchecked, your unit is more likely to break down.
Air conditioners tend to ice up.The drain line may also freeze over. If you see this, put your thermostat over to fan. You can call a HVAC professional, but switching to the fan setting should start to melt the ice.
Ask people that you know and relations for contractor recommendations. People will tell you who have used and if they are often happy to share the name of their contractor. This can also provide you learn the names of those companies that you should avoid.
HVAC units may suffer when leaves are falling off the trees. When you see nearby trees shedding their leaves, clean the fan grill on your unit constantly. You can head off future problems that can be caused by blockages by making sure there is a free flow of air to your fan.
There are many sites that let customers talk about how they were treated by services. This is an excellent method of finding contractors that you wish to work with as well as those that you want to avoid.
Contractors charge different rates, so make sure to get multiple quotes. You can save quite a bit of money this way. You want to get quotes from at least a handful of contractors in order to know what you should be paying.
If you need to decide the best place to put your outdoor compressor unit, consider putting it in a location that is in the shade. The cooler the air which goes in, the less work the unit will have to do.
Think about getting a radiant barrier installed in your attic so your HVAC system can run better. It blocks outside heat from coming in which will serve as a barrier between your home cool when it’s hot outside. You may even use your attic space if it is done right.
Hopefully, you now understand more about HVAC systems in general. If your current system needs to be replaced or repaired, you’ll know what things to look out for and what things to avoid. Find the correct system by using this advice.
Make sure your HVAC unit is in the shade. It will reduce the temperature of the air going into the unit, meaning that it will not have to work as hard to cool it.
