Summer is upon us, and this is the time when you have to really make sure that your air conditioner is operating the right way.  For most of you, this means making a call to an air conditioning or HVAC specialist and scheduling someone to come and take a lot at what you have.

This should be something you’re doing anyway, because regular maintenance is a key to maximizing the efficiency of your AC setup.  You may have a family doctor, but you may not have a regular air conditioning service company. So you’ll make some inquiries and make some calls. 

When you talk to people about a maintenance call, these are some of the things they need to tell you as far as what they do in such a visit: 

•  Lubricate the moving parts of the system. This is where they break out the oil.

• Clean out the condenser, which is located as part of the outside “package” and is obviously a critical part of the AC process. This involves getting a lot of dust and particles out of there so that there is no obstruction whatsoever in the air moving through the AC system. 

• Get the blower, which is part of the air handler, working properly if it isn’t already. 
• Check out each and every one of the electrical connections that is involved in your system. 
• Find leaks in the refrigerant if they exist, and make sure the refrigerant, or whataver refrigerant you are using, has the right amount of pressure so that it preserves the longevity of your air conditioning system.
• Examine the air cleaner, which is involved with ensuring that the air you breathe after it’s been cooled is of a healthy quality. 
• Guarantee the free flow of air by cleaning the evaporator drain. 
• Test air flow and implement procedures to make sure that the ai rhandler is adjusted minimize the “drop” of pressure that would cause you to lose air flow. No air conditioner would work correctly if this drop is too high. 
• Measure the changes in the temperature of air that flows past the A-coil, which is also known as the evaporator. What this essentially gauges is how much your system is actually cooling the air. 
• Basically take the pressure of everything. Is that general enough?  We wouldn’t claim this as a hard and fast rule, but it is safe to say that the more conscientious HVAC companies use the more sophisticated technology in conducting their maintenance checks. This includes digital instruments at just about every step of the way.