Is it Necessary to Service your Air Conditioner?
Air conditioners are as much as part of summer as the heat that makes them necessary. There’s nothing like walking in your front door to that blast of cold air that helps you quickly forget about the heat and humidity outside.
To keep your Rosenberg home comfortable, though, your air conditioner has to work hard. With so many components required to produce cold air, there are plenty of potential points of failure that could leave you hot and uncomfortable. 
To ensure that your air conditioner keeps running strong all summer long, it’s vital that you have your system maintained regularly. Keep reading to see why this process is crucial and what exactly it entails.
What’s Involved in Maintenance?
Air conditioner maintenance performed by Custom Comfort Air involves two main components: checks and corrections. Checks involve testing various parts using appropriate tools to ensure that the components are operating correctly. Corrections, on the other hand, involve making small changes in your system to ensure that it’s operating efficiently. Some of the parts involved in maintenance include:
Compressor: The compressor is the outdoor component of your air conditioner. It has to be outside largely because it’s responsible for expelling the heat that your air conditioner pulls out of the air in your home. A technician will check for any wear and tear on the electrical and refrigerant lines leading to the compressor and on the compressor itself.
Additionally, if they notice that the compressor is especially dirty, they will use a hose to clean the compressor to allow it to circulate air more efficiently. Finally, they will make sure that all connections are tight before they head inside.
Thermostat: A technician will work to ensure that the temperature that your thermostat is detecting is accurate. If it’s not, they will work to calibrate the thermometer and check its connections to the air conditioner. They can also help you replace the battery in the thermometer if that is the cause of any detected issues.
Blower: The blower is essentially a large high-powered fan that pulls in air through the return and sends it through the condenser coils of your air conditioner. The technician from Custom Comfort Air will check to ensure that the blower wheel is turning freely and that no rust is forming on its surface. Additionally, they will put lubricant on the axle to ensure that the blower continues its trouble-free operation.
Condenser: The condenser is where the real magic of your air conditioner occurs. Within the condenser, the refrigerant line forms several parallel rows that have cold refrigerant in them.
When the warm air from the blower passes over these rows, heat is passed from the air into the refrigerant, which is then sent back outside. At the same time, the humidity in the air condenses on the cold metal of the refrigerant line, allowing it to pool and drain away, resulting in cool and dry air that is sent through the ducts around your home.
The most important thing your technician will check in the condenser is that it is clean. If the coils in your condenser are dirty, they will not be able to transfer heat or remove humidity as effectively. This can cause your air conditioner to bog down and blow warm air.
Refrigerant Line: Your refrigerant line is a long copper tube that moves the refrigerant from the compressor to the condenser and back again. The main check here is to ensure that the refrigerant pressure is at proper levels. Low levels could indicate a refrigerant leak from some component in the system. This will need to be corrected to help ensure efficient cooling.
Electrical: In addition to all of the above checks, your representative from Custom Comfort Air will ensure that all electrical connections are tight and providing the proper amount of power to the designated components. Using a voltmeter, they will test the resistance and throughput of various circuits to verify proper connectivity.
Why Is Maintenance Important?
Based on the above explanation, it’s easy to get a picture of the importance of regular air conditioner maintenance. To emphasize this point, however, here are a few benefits of having your system maintained by a skilled technician from Custom Comfort Air:
Efficiency: An efficient air conditioner is one that is clean and well-lubricated. Efficiency can suffer in any of the above-listed components if they are not properly maintained.
If the compressor can’t expel heat, the motor will reach higher temperatures, drawing more power. If the condenser can’t condense water vapor, the entire system will have to work harder to keep your home at a comfortable temperature. If you want to lower your utility bills thanks to an efficient system, maintenance is an absolute must.
Insight: By the time the technician from Custom Comfort Air is done with all their checks and changes, they will have a very good picture of the overall health of your air conditioner. This can give them insight into any components that might be nearing the end of their life so that you can prepare for their replacement. When it comes to comfort, it’s much better to know about these conditions in advance so that they don’t catch you off-guard.
Longevity: A well-maintained system puts the least amount of stress on the individual components. Just as repeatedly stretching a rubber band to its maximum length will cause it to break faster than if you never stretched it, your air conditioner will fail sooner if you are pushing it to its limits.
By removing dust and grime, ensuring electricity is flowing where it should, and lubricating all moving parts, you make it much easier for your air conditioner to do what it was designed to do. This could potentially add years to its service life.
How Often to Service
Given the monumental importance of having your air conditioner maintained, you may wonder how often you should have this service performed by Custom Comfort Air. Barring any other problems with your air conditioner, you should have regular maintenance performed once a year.
Typically, you’ll want to schedule this service a few weeks before the weather turns warm enough to need your air conditioner. This ensures that everything is ready to go the moment that your home begins to become uncomfortably warm. Having your system maintained once a year will ensure that any issues are caught quickly and that your system performs its best throughout each summer season.
At Custom Comfort Air, we pride ourselves on the superior maintenance that we can provide for your air conditioner. Our experienced team and our state-of-the-art tools allow us to accurately dial in your air conditioner to provide maximum comfort using minimal energy.
In addition to maintaining your air conditioner, we can take care of your other HVAC needs, including air conditioner repair and installation as well as furnace repair, installation, and maintenance. We stake our reputation on each project we complete, which is why we maintain an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
In business for over 50 years, Custom Comfort Air enjoys positive 5-star reviews from so many of the customers we’ve been able to serve. If you have a need that we can help with, feel free to give us a call at your earliest convenience.