The #1 Accessory That Can Kill Your Air Conditioner

Air conditioners need breathing room (or they break)

Like most people, your air conditioner’s outside unit needs its space—otherwise it can’t work properly. To know why, you need to know how a central air conditioner works.

Here’s a brief overview:

Your central AC has an indoor unit and an outside unit. The inside unit absorbs heat from your home’s air and then transfers the heat to the outside unit, which then dumps the heat outside.

To disperse heat, the outside unit needs plenty of airflow, which is why your outside unit has a fan. (Think of it like when you blow on a spoonful of soup before you take a bite.)

However, a decorative air conditioner cover restricts airflow around the unit. Restricting airflow can cause the air conditioner's compressor to overheat and die.

That’s awful news for you.

The compressor is the metal “heart” of the outside unit. And once it needs replacing, you might as well replace the entire outside unit. Yes, a compressor is THAT expensive to replace.

Why you need to clean the outside AC unit biannually

While you may not have a decorative AC cover, you may have other things that can cause the same problem, including:

• A fence surrounding the outside unit (there needs to be a minimum of 2 ft of space between the unit and the fence)
• Small tree branches
• Dirt

All these restrict airflow airflow and cause your AC to work inefficiently, meaning you have higher energy bills.

One common problem we’d like to highlight here is dirt. The outside unit is always exposed to the outside elements, so the unit often gets covered in dirt, dust, grass, and leaves.

That’s why air conditioning manufacturers recommend an annual checkup. Get one from Cool Today now!

CoolToday serves the air conditioning needs of Sarasota, Florida, and the surrounding cities.

This outside AC unit could use some cleaning

That’s why you should clean the outside unit at least twice a year.

You can either clean it yourself using a special coil foaming cleaner and water sprayer (make sure you use a gentle setting).

Or you can have a professional do it. Most contractors will wash the outside unit as part of an AC maintenance visit. In Florida, your AC needs maintenance at least twice a year because we use it so often.

Maintenance also helps prevent the AC from breaking down, which is a handy benefit if you want constantly cool air during our sizzling, wipe-your-sweaty-brow-every-5-seconds summers.

Spring is usually your best bet to get maintenance, because it’s easier to schedule an appointment with a contractor.

Get your AC maintained and cleaned by Cool Today

Has your air conditioner not been clean in a while? Want to prepare your AC for summer?

Schedule a maintenance visit with Cool Today.

Posted in: Tips