AC Maintenance in Menomonie, WI
Preventative AC maintenance can keep your home cooler for longer. It is by far the best and easiest way to extend the life of your HVAC equipment. Let the experts at Hurlburt Heating AC and Plumbing guide you through air conditioning maintenance recommendations. We’ll let you know what you can do yourself and how often you should contact the professionals.
Why preventative maintenance is so important
Our goal for regular AC maintenance is to keep your air conditioner in good, running shape for as long as possible. We’re not here to sell you a new AC unless you need it. If you have an older system that we can keep going, we’ll keep it running for you as long as possible.
A lot of the time, we can address potential problems before they become expensive repairs down the line. This can be something like replacing a noisy fan motor before it fails on you in the middle of a summer heatwave. Or it could be that we find a leak in the spring before it has the chance to cause any further damage to the system. Preventative maintenance like this can both save you money and extend the life of your HVAC equipment.
What happens at an AC tune up?
When we tune up your AC, we will inspect the entire system, check the coolant charge, clean the drain line and fitting for the evaporator coil, clean the outdoor condenser and make notes of any parts that appear to be nearing the end of their life.
If we see any repairs that should happen, we will always discuss them with you before we begin any further work. We will explain what’s going on and what recommendations we have. As always, you decide what work we do on your AC system. It’s always up to you if you want to make preemptive repairs or not.
How often should you have your AC serviced?
We recommend an annual tuneup for all air conditioning systems, whether you have a central AC, heat pump or mini split.
In Menomonie, our air conditioners sit without use all winter long. We recommend a tuneup in the spring before the summer weather gets in full swing. That way, if your AC does have a leak, we can take care of it before it becomes a bigger problem.
If you don’t have your AC serviced annually, try to do it at least every other year. Some maintenance is better than no maintenance. If you stay on top of regularly changing your furnace filter and keeping your AC clean, you’re already ahead of the game but you should still have us out every couple of years to check the coolant levels.
How long will your air conditioner last?
Air conditioning systems last between 15 and 20 years in our climate. While we can’t say for certain how long your specific air conditioner will last, we can tell you that the better you maintain your system, the longer it will last.
Doing an annual health check on your air conditioner is a small price to pay for the comfort it provides you year after year.
If your AC is getting up there in age, we highly recommend not skipping your annual tuneup. Your AC is reaching the age where things start to break more frequently. Hopefully we can catch most of these issues before they escalate. However, when your AC reaches around 15 years, you should start preparing for a replacement. While we want to keep it going as long as possible for you, there comes a time where it is not worth it to keep making repairs on an old system.
Our team at Hurlburt strives to provide honest and unbiased information regarding the state of your AC. If it is worth fixing, we’ll get it back up and running. If it’s just going to be a money pit for you, we’ll let you know that as well.
Preventative AC maintenance you can do yourself
Along with your annual AC tuneup, there are two important things you can do yourself to take care of your air conditioner.
- Change your furnace filter. This is the single best thing you can do for your HVAC system. Your air conditioner can’t keep you cool if it can’t breathe. Air restriction from a dirty filter can wreak havoc on your entire HVAC system. If you continuously run your AC with a dirty furnace filter, not only could you shorten the lifespan of your equipment but you could cause the compressor to overheat and fail. This is an expensive repair and is often recommended that you replace the entire AC unit if it fails.
- Keep the outdoor condenser clean. Your AC can get plugged up with airborne dust, debris, grass clipping and cottonwood seeds. When these coils get blocked by debris, your AC system is unable to release the heat it removed from your home. Like a dirty furnace filter, this could eventually cause the compressor to overheat, but you will likely see ice buildup on the lines before that. Luckily, you can take care of this problem yourself with a simple garden hose. All you need to do is spray the debris out of the condenser until the coils are clear. Depending on your location and the type of trees in your area, you might need to do this a few times a year.
