Most air conditioning units will run for many years with no maintenance at all, but just like a car a regular service can avoid costly bills when a breakdown does occur.

Air conditioning units are very rugged pieces of equipment. They are manufactured to a high quality and designed to withstand all types of environmental conditions. They are often overlooked for maintenance purposes but regular maintenance can save money against costly failure of the entire system.

When an air conditioning unit or heat pump is not maintained, it will loose approximately 5% efficiency for every year it continues to operate. This has severe effects on the load the unit can handle and will make the unit perform poorly.

With proper maintenance efficiency can be regained and regular maintenance will maintain manufacturer’s claims. Maintenance costs will easily be recovered by savings in electricity bills and a properly maintained unit will cool, heat and dehumidify more efficiently reliable ac services las vegas.

As an end user you are expected to remove and clean the washable filters within the evaporator (indoor) unit regularly. Most units have an easy to open panel with the filter elements directly inside. The easiest way to clean them is to hold them under running water from a tap. Dry the filter before replacing. Try to clean the filters at least once a month or more often if the unit is operated for long periods or the indoor environment is dusty or dirty.

If the actual evaporator coil inside the indoor unit is starting to block with dust and debris then it will require cleaning. There are a wide variety of specialist chemical coil cleaners available but coil cleaning is best left to the professionals.

A good quality evaporator coil cleaner will also sanitise the drip tray and condense lines. This will also kill any bacteria that may be breeding in the unit and eliminate nasty odours that the unit may generate whilst operating. If a condense pump is fitted to the unit this should be checked and inspected and a quantity of water poured into the system to make sure it works.

The coils on the condenser (outdoor) unit should also be cleaned. Again there are professional acid based coil cleaners available which will remove all dust, debris and foreign objects from the coils. These cleaners are extremely powerful and should be used with caution. Use of these acid based cleaners should be left to a professional engineer.

It is worth checking the current that the compressor draws during operation. This can help identify problems before an expensive compressor failure occurs.
The four way valve within the condenser can also be tested (for heat pump models) and the system operated in heating mode to make sure that the unit is working correctly.

On a professional unit both the liquid and gas line pressures can be measured by attaching a refrigerant gauge to the corresponding service ports on the condenser unit.

Some units only have a single service port on the gas line, but the suction pressure can still be measured and compared for peace of mind.