How Regular AC Servicing Extends the System’s Lifespan

The average AC should last 10 to 15 years, assuming it operates at or near the designed efficiency and doesn’t experience excessive strain and wear. Discover how maintenance extends your AC’s life, improves performance efficiency, detects problems early and provides better home comfort.

Better Efficiency

Every air conditioner has a rated efficiency level, known as its SEER rating. Over time, that efficiency degrades, both raising your energy bills and increasing the wear on your system. Consider these three ways that routine maintenance protects better efficiency.

Airflow Advantage

Your air conditioner functions by circulating air and cooling it in the process. However, the amount of air it circulates slowly reduces over time due to dirt building up in the system and wearing components. When less air moves through the system, it runs less efficiently.

One of the major aspects of routine maintenance is a deep cleaning of your system, including the evaporator coil and circulating fan. A professional will test your circulating fan to ensure it’s spinning fast enough to move the appropriate amount of air through the system.

Heat Transfer Advantage

The air conditioner cools the air by the refrigerant absorbing heat through the evaporator coil. Even with a clean filter, small particles of dust will find their way into the system, eventually settling on the evaporator coil. When combined with moisture, this begins forming a kind of insulation that inhibits heat transfer. By including a deep cleaning of the system as part of routine maintenance, you protect the system’s heat transfer capacity.

Optimal Refrigerant Charge

Maintaining the proper refrigerant charge ensures the system can regulate the refrigerant pressure appropriately. The refrigerant must expand at the evaporator coil to get cold and then get compressed at the condensing coil to get hot and expel heat to the air outside. When the system has an insufficient charge, the pressure often becomes too low at the evaporator coil, leading to a frozen coil and inhibiting heat transfer. Further, insufficient charge prevents the proper pressure at the condensing coil to effectively vent what heat the refrigerant has absorbed.

Early Problem Detection

Your air conditioner can experience an array of problems over its life, most of which start imperceptibly but increase in severity over time. Maintenance helps you uncover these problems in the following three ways.

Loose Hardware and Electrical Connections

Loose mounting hardware allows excessive vibration as the system runs, causing additional wear to the system. Loose electrical connections increase the resistance through the system’s circuits, creating unintended heat and drawing excessive power. To prevent damage, a maintenance technician will check and tighten both mounting hardware and electrical connections during their visit.

Wearing Components

Every component in your air conditioner will wear over time, eventually needing to be replaced. However, that wear often goes unnoticed until there’s a catastrophic failure unless the components are checked routinely. During testing, a technician ensures that each component operates within optimal parameters. If they find something suboptimal, you can address it before it adds strain and wear to the entire system.

Refrigerant Leaks

The only reason an air conditioner should have insufficient refrigerant is due to a refrigerant leak. While these leaks reduce the system’s efficiency and add wear, if they happen inside your home, it also exposes your family to the refrigerant. If the refrigerant charge tests low, it indicates a leak. The technician will recommend tracing that down so that you can resolve it, protecting both the system and your family.

Better Home Comfort

One of the benefits of routine maintenance is protecting how well your system keeps your home comfortable. When it’s running with reduced efficiency for any reason, it often leaves your home too humid or not cooling evenly. Constantly adjusting the thermostat to deal with uneven temperatures fails to achieve the comfort level desired and adds substantial strain and wear to the system.

With over 70 years of experience, the Puyallup Heating & Air Conditioning team has become the go-to HVAC service provider for property owners around Puyallup. Our team provides trusted heating and AC maintenance, repair and installation together with indoor air quality solutions and ductwork design and installation. Call to schedule an AC maintenance visit with one of our NATE-certified technicians today.