Home a/c maintenance required?

just wondering to know... do i need to any sort of maintenance every year on my a/c ? my a/c is working fine.





any thoughts?

Home a/c maintenance required?
I have always had a service tech come out about every 3 years. They check the freon level and clean the case out for good air flow. Otherwise, I wait for it to quit running. Not the best thing to do but I can't see paying for someone to "look" at the unit and charge me.
Reply:About the only maintainance most of us are qualified to do on our own A/C's is to keep the filter element clean every month or so. Other than that, repairs are mostly done by certified HVAC tech's who can handle the refrigerants involved.
Reply:I am a HVAC tech, and I am here to tell you that the number one killer of all A/C equipment is neglect. The other answers are partially correct. There is not much that the homeowner themselves can do. Here are a few things that you can do.





1.keep your filters changed. Once a month whether you think they need it or not. Air flow restrictions can greatly increase operating costs, and decrease in home comfort.





2. Keep the coil on your outdoor condensing unit clean. Wash real good with WATER! once in the spring, and once in the fall.





3. If you can acess the indoor evaporater coil easily try to keep all dust and debris knocked off of it. You can purchase a coil cleaner that you can spray on, and walk a way from.





4. Seal your return chase with silicone to force all air through the filter grill.





5. SEAL ALL DUCT WORK. You can do this yourself to save money. It is a pain so if you want to have someone do it I would not blame you. Buy a duct mastic and just paint it on all seams and joints, and supply line taps.





6. If you can get a prevenative maintenace contract with a local trust worthy contractor. It is usually less than two hundred dollars a year, and the benefits vastly outway they already low cost.
Reply:We are told by manufacturers to service the units every year, but realistically every 2 to 3 years seems good . We check the electrical systems incuding motors , check or replace air filters , clean evaporator and condenser coils with an acid solution , check and clean condensate drain/pump , clean leaves and debris from condenser cabinet, attach gauges and check pressures , perform superheat calculation to determine that the unit is properly charged. What you can do between services: keep air filters clean, make sure return air grills are not covered by rugs or furniture , keep condenser coil sides and front free of grass and leaves.
Reply:The coils should be cleaned every year. This is to optimize efficiency.





Can be a pain depending on the manufacturer and how hard it is to get to the coils to spray them.





A pro will come armed with a foaming coil cleaner, but the frequency of this type of cleaning depends on how dirty your coils are actually are getting.





An evaporator coil cleaning every so often will help efficiency also.





Besides cleaning for efficiency, the only reason to have regular maintenance is for reliability reasons... and even then there is no 100% guaranty even the finest service tech will prevent you from having down time.