Did You Check The Big 6 Yet? …..The Heat Approaches.
Routine maintenance for your air conditioner could stop the BIG 6.
The Fire rises above the mountain crest, getting closer and closer by the day. It brings the light and the much anticipated relief from the cold winter. It is summer, and it is coming. In Las Vegas, NV our summers are beyond hot. I have personally recorded temperatures of around 129 degrees 1 foot away from an air conditioner that is rated to operate in a 95 degree ambient temperature by the manufacturer.
Wow, so are air conditioners not rated to work in Las Vegas, NV or other hot parts of the country.
It’s unfortunate for us but yes air conditioners are built and designed to operate in temperatures up to 95 
degrees and may have trouble cooling the home down below 75 degrees if outdoor temperatures rise above 95 degrees. But in the hottest parts of the world we take these air conditioning systems and we install them in 110+ environments all the time. And we wonder why they break all the time. ”Max 95 degrees but its 117 out today huh”
Just Like Car’s, Air Conditioners need maintenance too.
There are numerous benefits to keeping up on your cooling system, but there a 6 Big Ones, I like to call “The big 6”…..
Here I will tell you what your big 6 worst hvac nightmares could be and how you can prevent them from becoming your reality.
1. Your ceiling caves in from water….
Your air conditioning coil is in the attic and it produces water. That water normally drains out your drain lines to the side of your home, but those drains can clog and when they do water can rise and flow over the edge of your drain pan. This water can destroy your ceiling and produce mold.
Answer. This is a huge problem but can be completely avoided by simply blowing out your drain lines yearly. Blowing out drain lines is as easy as blowing compressed gas through the drain lines to dislodge any clog or debris.
2. A Rust monster destroys your ceiling…
Your drain pan in your attic collects the water and allows it to run down into the drain lines. But, your drain pan is normally made of metal so it slowly rusts. After years of rusting it can produce a hole right in the bottom. This hole allows water to once again destroy your home and cause mold.
Answer. Again it’s avoidable during maintenance whether by you or by us it is necessary to inspect the drain pan for rust. It’s much better to catch the rust fix the problem now before you end up repairing that problem and getting a new ceiling and a mold remediation company out there.
3. Electrical monsters will eat your parts…
Your contactor closes and bridges 230 volts of power across itself every time the machine turns on. This electricity slowly burns the points of the contactor until they become rough, pitted and no longer smooth with a clean surface for contact. A damaged contactor will hurt your compressor by sending it power un-evenly. This you do not want, a compressor costs over $1200 and up to $3500 depending on size, contactors are $185.00. Now, wouldn’t you rather replace a contactor than wait and change a contactor…. and a compressor. Trust me you’re going to have to replace the contactor eventually it has roughly a 5-8 year life expectancy depending on wear and use.
Answer. Take a look at the contactor points during a routine maintenance, you will see plain as day whether they are still gold or are they turning black with burn. If they are turning black just replace it now and save yourself some future trouble.
4. The Heart could have trouble starting…
Your air conditioner has a heart too, and it likes a clean supply of fresh refrigerant in the vapor form to breathe and keep pumping. A unit that is low on Freon does not have enough vapors to properly keep the compressor cool. Outside of the fact that low on Freon makes the machine less efficient and blow warmer air it is damaging the compressor slowly. A compressor that has too much Freon will slug or pump liquid, damaging the compressor slowly.
Answer. During a routine maintenance, check the super heat and the sub cooling of the Freon levels. A machine with a perfectly charged system will last many more years. The difference in a machine that is charged close like most people have and a machine that is charged to perfection is 10 years. That means having your air conditioner charged to perfection can extend its life by as much as 10 years.
5. Burning Wires…
As the electricity flows through all the wires inside your air conditioner it slowly damages them. The more electricity or the thinner the wire, the faster the wire will burn. Also a loose connection, screw or lug can cause burning. A wire that is starting to burn will still work and you won’t know there is a problem until the wire burns off and the machine no longer works. If this happens just hope that when the wire burnt and the other wires still had power, that your machine didn’t take more expensive damage. This may or may not happen but, there is a risk.
Answer. During maintenance inspect all the wires, look closer than yes there here. Touch them and make sure they are not becoming brittle or cracking. Make sure none of the wires are turning brown or black. It is very easy to replace a slightly burning wire and tighten all the connections now. But if you don’t catch it now when the wire burns off you may be doing a lot more then changing a wire.
6. Don’t Breath Your Dirty Attic Air…
Your homes duct system was probably installed by the new construction company who eh’ probably didn’t do the best job. So we usually find small leaky where installers used duct tape instead of silicone to seal ducts. Now 3 maybe even 10 years later that tape doesn’t stick and you have a bunch of little places where dirty attic air is being pulled in and circulated throughout the home for you to breath.
Answer. During a proper inspection take a look in the attic and verify that you don’t have any duct leakage. Simply crawl through the attic and visually inspect all the duct runs you can access. Look close because even a small millimeter leak is pulling in a lot of hot air and dust. Take a bucket of silicone and a paint brush and paint every single joint in the attic. When the silicone dries your duct system will never leak again, perfect seal.
All the information in on this page can be double checked and verified at energy star :https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?
Conclusion… There are a lot of reasons to have your air conditioner or heater looked at yearly. It can be redundant but that one time you prevent a catastrophe makes it all worth it. On top of that a properly working air conditioner will run 20% more efficiently than a poor operating system and that alone will pay the service man’s bill. Just simply having your ducts painted with duct sealant can lower the energy bill by as much as 25% according to the U.S. Department of energy and energy star, visit our site at https://lasvegasair.net/ac-heating-system-maintenance/ for those links and much more information. And for a more in depth step by step tutorial on not only how to do a maintenance but also a complete guide on fixing your own air conditioner. Our patented process “The Repair Matrix” a step by step, easy to follow tutorial that anyone can follow. Check it out this link https://lasvegasair.net/repair-matrix/ here it’s free, its real and it works.
By Stephen Gamst
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