Our Top Air Conditioning Maintenance Tips

April 19 2021by Maximum Climate Control

Why should I service my AC unit?

Caring for your hard-working air conditioning system is key to ensure it continues to run efficiently, saving you money and lowering your carbon footprint. It’s also important to carry out air conditioning maintenance to ensure it’s producing clean air and is free from odours. Our experts at Maximum Air are here with tips to help you look after your system in the long term. 

Air Conditioning Servicing and Maintenance

The biggest and single most important thing you can do to keep your air conditioning system performing efficiently is to clean the indoor unit’s filter. This simple step can be completed effortlessly on our cassette, wall-mounted, ceiling-mounted units as the filter is visible and easily removed with the unit switched off. Once removed, you can wash the filter in a sink under warm water with washing up liquid. The filter should then be left to dry and fitted back into position. Remember when removing the filter to do this safely and to turn the unit off while you are removing or replacing the filters. 

Check out this video from our partner, Daikin for easy air conditioning maintenance steps to help you clean your commercial air conditioning unit.

Removing the filters on your AC unit may be more difficult if you have a ceiling-mounted ducted unit or a boxed-in floor standing unit. It’s likely that with these types of units that they may be in a loft space, fitted by in-built furniture or be suspended from the ceiling out of reach. If this relates to your air con unit, it may be easier to have your air conditioning maintenance carried out by a professional from Maximum Air. At Maximum Air we can be sure that your commercial air conditioning unit is serviced and maintained regularly, to ensure it works effectively and efficiently. 

Your energy efficient air conditioner unit will have an outdoor heat exchanger, and an excellent maintenance tip is to give the rear of the unit coil (Heat exchanger) a quick visual check to check for dust, leaves or plants that could be blocking or covering the outdoor unit coils. However this is all well and good if the unit is on the ground, but if the unit has been installed on a flat roof or on wall brackets, you may need a specialist from Maximum Air to access it. Outdoor systems include a coil at the rear of the unit, if the blockage is severe enough, it may be that the coil needs a safe environmentally friendly cleaning agent applied to it which would require an experienced professional to carry this out.

If your unit is in an accessible position and it is safe to work on then using a stiff hand brush you can gently brush the dust off the rear of the outdoor unit or use cutters to remove growing plants from blocking the unit’s air paths.  

Dust, leaves and dirt causing blockages is a problem that could seriously affect the operation and efficiency of your AC unit so it’s a good idea to perform a visual check yourself or call a professional as part of your air conditioning maintenance.

How often should I clean my Air Conditioning unit?

Our partners, Daikin & Toshiba, recommend cleaning the indoor air filters in your AC unit 4 times a year and cleaning the deodorizing filters before the start of each hot or cold season. You can see how to clean both of these yourself in the video above. 

I need help with my Air Conditioning Maintenance

If you have any doubts surrounding the general cleaning or maintenance of your AC unit, it is a good idea to consult a professional to handle your air conditioning maintenance. An experienced, trained technician will be able to assess your air conditioning unit to find any problems and fix them. Often if units have been well cared for, a breakdown will only require upgrading from an old system or repair rather than replacement. 

What should professional air conditioning maintenance include?

• Check refrigerant levels in the AC unit
• Test for refrigerant leaks
• Remove refrigerant from the system where required, safely. It is illegal to release it into the atmosphere
• Measure and assess airflow through the evaporator coil
• Clean and tighten electrical connections
• Check motors and belt for tightness and wear
• Check the accuracy of the thermostat

At Maximum Climate Control, our friendly team of experts are on hand to offer free advice or we can arrange for one of our highly trained in-house engineers to visit your site to carry out the work. All of our engineers are trained specialists, holding F Gas qualifications and have been fully trained by all the leading manufacturers. 

Not only do we offer free advice regarding your commercial air conditioning unit, but we also offer Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) Programmes. This gives you peace of mind that your AC units are receiving regular maintenance to ensure they are operating efficiently and helping your business to save money on energy bills. Regular service and maintenance by a professional is key to the longevity of your system to reduce excessive wear on parts which could lead to failure and a serious breakdown that could be costly.

Discuss your Air Conditioning maintenance requirements with one of our friendly experts or sign up for a PPM programme when carrying out your air conditioning installation. 

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