For a lot of consumers, the total understanding of their heating and air conditioning systems is knowing how to push the button up or down on their thermostat. Well there is more to the system than just that! Ambient Heating and Air Conditioning thinks there are some aspects to the unit that everyone should know so the next time you talk with the a/c repair guy you are not lost in the conversation.

Things Every Homeowner Should Know About Air Conditioning & Heating Repairs

1. The first thing that everyone should know is how your heating and air conditioning unit works. Most people believe that the a/c unit blows cold air into to the home or business cooling it down. Yes, it is doing that — but it also pulls or sucks the warm air from inside the house and blows it outside. How the cold air is blown into the building is an interesting process. The A/C blows air from outside and cools the air when it passes through the evaporator coil. These coils are filled with refrigerant that changes from a liquid to a gas. This is the cold air that blows into the building. When the A/C unit sucks the air through the return vent, the refrigerant is passing into a secondary coil system making the refrigerant warm again. At this point it returns it from a gas back into a liquid. This is the reason units can go a long time before the need to refill the refrigerant.
2. What do the air filters do? Almost every A/C unit has an upstream filter to the evaporator coils. Most of us know it as the return filter or vent. The return vent has an air filter that needs to be changed regularly. These filters are designed to capture the debris that the air conditioning unit sucks up. This improves air quality in the building as well as protects the coils from building up. If your coils get clogged this will damage the whole A/C unit. This is why you must change your filter often. A question many ask is how often you need to change the filter. That comes down to the home and business individually. What kind of environment do you have? Do you have pets, or a lot of foot traffic? This will determine how often filters need to be changed. It’s recommended to check the filter once a month. See how long it takes to get a lot of dirt and debris in the filter. Keep track of the date you put the filter in and when it needed to be changed. This will give you a good feel of about how long it lasts and when the A/C unit needs a fresh filter.
3. Some will notice that other rooms in the building aren’t cooling down as well as others. This is usually due to bad air ducts. Air ducts are vital when cooling down a building. As the name implies an air duct is the way the cold air travels from room to room. If there is an air duct leakage this can sap 20 to 40% of increased energy spent. This holds true especially for the air duct that might be exposed to the outside or even those in the attic or crawlspaces. The air ducts need to be insulated. By sealing the leaky air duct you can increase the unit’s energy efficiency.

Air Conditioning Preventive Maintenance, Emergency AC Repairs, Installation & Replacement in Springfield, Granby, Holyoke, South Hadley, Monson, Chicopee City & Agawam Massachusetts

At this point we covered the three basic functions of how heating and air conditioning units cool and heat your home or business. Ambient Heating & Air Conditioning is happy to help people understand the heating and cooling system, and how to better take care of your A/C unit. Contact us today for all your HVAC needs!