Your air conditioner keeps you cool throughout the summer and makes it much more bearable to deal with summer heat, but have you ever thought about what the heat does to your air conditioner? What dangers lurk for your family if your air conditioner suddenly stops working in the middle of summer?
Leaking ducts can steal your cooling air
Summertime heating can cause your air ducts to expand. This means that any ducting in the house can crack or break from winter to summer. When your air ducts leak, they let the cool air into your crawlspace, basement, and attic. This means you are not getting all of the cool air into your living areas that you think you are. Sealing these ducts is helpful and can retain more cooling from your air conditioner.
Sticky heat can clog up the filters
Humidity is a huge problem for air conditioners. With heat, comes storms and moisture. The more times your filters get wet from storms and humidity, the more likely they are to collect dirt, grass, and other debris. A clogged filter reduces your air conditioner’s efficiency making it work harder and longer.
In time, this stickiness reduces the air flow that gets through to the coils and limits the amount of cooling your unit can perform. The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, or ASHRAE says that humidity can cause mold to grow in ducts, on filters, and in homes when air conditioners are not properly ventilated.
Wear and tear on rubber parts
Rubber hoses and o-rings are especially susceptible to heat and humidity. They can rot or crack because of the intense temperatures. When these parts break, it can leave your home or office hotter than the outdoors until you can get an HVAC expert to diagnose and fix the problem. Over time, these items can fail on their own.
Overworking your unit
Extreme heat causes your air conditioner to work harder and longer. This extra work costs you more money. If you try to cool an area that is too large for the amount of BTU’s that your unit can cool, then you are also working it too hard. This overburden can cause your air conditioner to wear out faster, break more often, and cost you much more money to cool your home or business.
One of the best things you can do to avoid extra damage to your air conditioning unit is to have a yearly maintenance inspection and cleaning performed by a trusted, local expert. You want to hire someone who has the experience, equipment, and skills to check out your cooling system and repair it if necessary.
Many home heating and cooling companies offer summer AC checks and routine inspections at the end of winter and beginning of spring to help homeowners and businesses get ready for the heat of summer. You can protect your unit by scheduling an appointment any time of the year, or keeping up with general maintanence throughout the year.
Charlie Teschner started MESA Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling in 1982. Charlie has a journeyman and master plumber’s license. He was raised with a strong work ethic and he now applies those values to tasks such as Longmont, CO heating repair.