Is HVAC Preventive Maintenance Worth It?
Preventive maintenance for your HVAC system is analogous to scheduled maintenance for your car. You opt for routine maintenance for your vehicle to avoid expensive repairs or replacements in the future. You know that taking care of your car is an investment worth making.
Similarly, there are many benefits to undergoing preventive maintenance for your HVAC system. They include maintaining your warranty, saving money, increasing energy efficiency, and extending the life of your HVAC system. That’s why you call your expert HVAC technician with Apollo Heating and Air Conditioning!
Reasons for Having Regularly Scheduled Preventive HVAC Maintenance
Maintenance Costs Less Than Repairs or Replacement
An HVAC unit is vulnerable to developing issues such as a frozen coil or leak that, if it’s ignored, can become a very expensive problem in the future. Instead of a routine inspection and quick fix, an overlooked HVAC system may eventually need to be replaced. Preventive maintenance will help you catch issues with your HVAC unit, prolonging the lifespan of the system by making sure everything is in working order.
Maintenance Can Increase Energy Efficiency and Lower Your Costs
When an HVAC system experiences problems, such as running hot or dirty air filters, the unit will expend more energy and operate less efficiently. Although you might not realize it at first, your HVAC unit will not produce as much hot or cold air as it did before the issue surfaced. By doing preventive maintenance, you’ll restore your HVAC system to optimal performance and realize energy savings.
Regular Maintenance Helps You Maintain Your Warranty
HVAC systems come with a limited warranty, usually necessitating preventive maintenance by a qualified technician in order to remain in effect. You’re advised to inspect your warranty certificate on your HVAC unit to determine if this requirement applies to you. This stipulation on your warranty is a clear indication of how important it is to do preventive maintenance on your HVAC unit.
Preventive Maintenance Avoids Costly Downtime
Scheduling routine service visits with Apollo Heating and Air Conditioning will significantly improve your chances of preventing a serious equipment failure and you will enjoy substantial energy savings. Highly trained and experienced HVAC technicians at Apollo Heating and Air Conditioning know just what to look for during a routine inspection. Our technicians’ exceptional skills and knowledge at Apollo translate into faster and less expensive maintenance appointments, minimizing your downtime and enhancing customer satisfaction.
How Often Should Your HVAC System be Serviced?
At Apollo Heating and Air Conditioning, we recommend you have your HVAC unit serviced at least once a year, although twice a year is preferred to optimize seasonal performance. Opportune times to schedule maintenance appointments are in the spring before the air conditioner needs to operate the most and then in the fall before you turn on the furnace.
Because it gets so warm during the summer months here in the Tri-Cities, it is highly recommended to service your HVAC system in the spring.
Here are some interesting statistics to put into perspective how heavily used your HVAC system is during the course of a year:
- If your car was used as often as your air conditioner and furnace, it would have traveled more than 200,000 miles annually.
- Your home heating and cooling system operates approximately 3,200 hours in a year.
- If you traveled 3,200 hours at 65 miles per hour in your car, you would have needed to change your oil 66 times and used four sets of tires.
What Does an HVAC Maintenance Service Include?
Although this is not an exhaustive list, a typical HVAC maintenance service that most people can do usually entails the following actions:
- Change the air filter once a month to three months, depending on the media type
- Wash the filter if you have an electrostatic filter
- Remove debris from around the unit outside
- Keep the inside registers unblocked by furniture or rugs and fully open to unrestrict airflows
Other maintenance steps that need to be taken are rather complex and require the expertise of your Apollo Heating and Air Conditioning field technician to carry out. They include:
Tightening electrical connections
Loose connections are dangerous and could short out the entire unit, potentially causing a lot of damage.
Inspecting the condensate drain
AC units create condensation when they are operating. This usually runs in to a drain outside. However, sometimes these drains can get filled with sludge or debris and become clogged.
Lubricate moving parts
High friction can cause units to overheat and break down. Lubricating the moving parts helps everything to move smoothly which decreases electricity use and lowers energy bills.
Clean and adjust the blower
Problems with the blower can reduce equipment efficiency as much as 15 percent. When the blower is adjusted properly there is ample airflow and perfect home comfort.
Check the refrigerant (specific to AC units)
An overcharged air conditioner can force you to pay much more than necessary to adequately cool your home. If your system is undercharged, that typically means there is a system leak. An experienced technician from Apollo Heating and Air Conditioning can check for this and repair any leaks that are found.
Check fuel lines (specific to heating units)
Poor gas or oil connections are a fire hazard which can also lead to health problems. If fumes are able to escape into your home, you need the connections tightened to continue safe operation.
Look to Apollo Heating and Air Conditioning for Expert HVAC Maintenance Service
It’s spring, which means it’s time to have your air conditioning unit inspected to ensure it operates at maximum efficiency this summer. Your AC service in Kennewick can be found at Apollo Heating and Air Conditioning! We also do AC service in Pasco and throughout the Tri-Cities.
We invite you to contact Apollo Heating and Air Conditioning by calling (509) 396-COLD (2653).
