If you've stepped outside this week, you've probably noticed it's hot. Not "grab another glass of lemonade" hot. More like "I walked to the mailbox and now I need a shower" hot.
As a remodeling contractor, I'm always amazed by the things homeowners remember to maintain. They'll faithfully fertilize the lawn four times a year, have the dog groomed every six weeks, wash the car every Saturday morning, and somehow manage to keep a fiddle-leaf fig alive. But then there's the air conditioner—the one thing standing between them and spontaneous human combustion—and it gets ignored until it quits.
About this time every summer, I start hearing the same thing:
"Our air conditioner just isn't keeping up."
Sometimes that's because it's old. Sometimes a component has failed. But more often than you'd think, the poor thing is simply trying to breathe through a blanket of dirt, cottonwood fuzz, grass clippings, pollen, and whatever else Mother Nature has decided to glue to it over the past year.
Think about it this way. Imagine I asked you to go run a 5K while wearing a heavy winter coat, a scarf wrapped around your face, and a pillow taped to your chest. Could you finish? Probably. Would you enjoy it? Absolutely not. Would you perform very well? Also no. That's essentially what happens to your outdoor condenser when the coils get covered with debris.
Those thin aluminum fins aren't there just to look pretty. They're designed to transfer heat from inside your home to the outside air. When they're coated with dirt, they can't get rid of heat efficiently, which means your air conditioner must work much harder to cool your home.
The result? Higher electric bills, longer run times, more wear and tear on expensive components, and a much better chance that your air conditioner decides to call it quits on the hottest Saturday afternoon of the year. Air conditioners have an uncanny ability to break when HVAC companies are already booked solid and the forecast says 97 degrees for the next four days.
The good news is that keeping those coils clean is one of the easiest maintenance jobs you'll ever do.
Turn off the power to the unit, grab a garden hose, and gently rinse the coils from the inside out if possible. The key word here is gently. I've seen people attack condenser coils with a pressure washer like they're stripping paint off a barn. Those delicate fins bend very easily, and once they're flattened, airflow gets even worse. Your goal is to clean the coils, not prepare them for an abstract art exhibit.
While you're outside, take a look around the unit. If bushes, weeds, or ornamental grasses have decided to make the condenser their summer home, trim them back. Your air conditioner needs room to move air. Give it a couple of feet of breathing space on all sides.
Then head inside and check your furnace filter. A dirty filter restricts airflow just as much as dirty condenser coils do. It's amazing how many service calls could be avoided with a $20 filter and five minutes of maintenance.
I often tell clients that houses are a lot like cars. Most major repairs don't happen because something suddenly decided to fail. They happen because lots of little maintenance items were ignored for years until one expensive part finally waved the white flag.
Your air conditioner is no different.
Spending fifteen minutes cleaning the condenser coils once or twice each cooling season could help lower your electric bill, reduce unnecessary wear on the system, and maybe even add years to the life of an appliance that costs several thousand dollars to replace.
That's a pretty good return on investment for a garden hose and a little elbow grease.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to stand directly in front of one of my air conditioning vents for a few minutes and reconsider every life choice that involves being outside in July.
As a remodeling contractor, I'm always amazed by the things homeowners remember to maintain. They'll faithfully fertilize the lawn four times a year, have the dog groomed every six weeks, wash the car every Saturday morning, and somehow manage to keep a fiddle-leaf fig alive. But then there's the air conditioner—the one thing standing between them and spontaneous human combustion—and it gets ignored until it quits.
About this time every summer, I start hearing the same thing:
"Our air conditioner just isn't keeping up."
Sometimes that's because it's old. Sometimes a component has failed. But more often than you'd think, the poor thing is simply trying to breathe through a blanket of dirt, cottonwood fuzz, grass clippings, pollen, and whatever else Mother Nature has decided to glue to it over the past year.
Think about it this way. Imagine I asked you to go run a 5K while wearing a heavy winter coat, a scarf wrapped around your face, and a pillow taped to your chest. Could you finish? Probably. Would you enjoy it? Absolutely not. Would you perform very well? Also no. That's essentially what happens to your outdoor condenser when the coils get covered with debris.
Those thin aluminum fins aren't there just to look pretty. They're designed to transfer heat from inside your home to the outside air. When they're coated with dirt, they can't get rid of heat efficiently, which means your air conditioner must work much harder to cool your home.
The result? Higher electric bills, longer run times, more wear and tear on expensive components, and a much better chance that your air conditioner decides to call it quits on the hottest Saturday afternoon of the year. Air conditioners have an uncanny ability to break when HVAC companies are already booked solid and the forecast says 97 degrees for the next four days.
The good news is that keeping those coils clean is one of the easiest maintenance jobs you'll ever do.
Turn off the power to the unit, grab a garden hose, and gently rinse the coils from the inside out if possible. The key word here is gently. I've seen people attack condenser coils with a pressure washer like they're stripping paint off a barn. Those delicate fins bend very easily, and once they're flattened, airflow gets even worse. Your goal is to clean the coils, not prepare them for an abstract art exhibit.
While you're outside, take a look around the unit. If bushes, weeds, or ornamental grasses have decided to make the condenser their summer home, trim them back. Your air conditioner needs room to move air. Give it a couple of feet of breathing space on all sides.
Then head inside and check your furnace filter. A dirty filter restricts airflow just as much as dirty condenser coils do. It's amazing how many service calls could be avoided with a $20 filter and five minutes of maintenance.
I often tell clients that houses are a lot like cars. Most major repairs don't happen because something suddenly decided to fail. They happen because lots of little maintenance items were ignored for years until one expensive part finally waved the white flag.
Your air conditioner is no different.
Spending fifteen minutes cleaning the condenser coils once or twice each cooling season could help lower your electric bill, reduce unnecessary wear on the system, and maybe even add years to the life of an appliance that costs several thousand dollars to replace.
That's a pretty good return on investment for a garden hose and a little elbow grease.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to stand directly in front of one of my air conditioning vents for a few minutes and reconsider every life choice that involves being outside in July.
This article is for general information purposes only. Rick Kelley Builders makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or availability of any information contained herein.
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