We have clients contacting us on a daily basis who express that they wish to make a booking for one or more of their AC’s ‘that needs to be repaired’ as their air conditioning systems are not very cold.
After asking the right questions, more often than not we can deduce that the underperformance of their air conditioning systems is likely to be the result of excessive contaminants on the AC filters, coil, and fan barrel. It’s seldom the case that their air conditioning systems actually require repairs or refilling of refrigerant. We will typically recommend scheduling a deep cleaning of their air conditioning systems, and whilst our personnel are attending the appointment they can conduct a comprehensive inspection to assess whether there’s any mechanical or electrical fault(s), and whether or not any refilling of refrigerant is required.
Here’s the first 3 questions that we ask;
(1) Air Conditioner Filters: When was the last time you cleaned the AC filters?
(2) Deep Cleaning History: When was the last time you had the AC properly deep cleaned?
(3) Gradual decline or suddenly not cold?: Has there been a gradual decline in performance over the past several weeks (or months) or did the AC suddenly stop producing cold air altogether?
Whilst there are several other questions that will need to be raised depending upon their answers to the above questions, provided that our clients are able to clearly communicate the various symptoms, we are able to recommend the appropriate course of action – whether it be scheduling a deep cleaning, or scheduling for our technical services personnel to conduct an inspection.
It is worth noting that a gradual decline in an AC’s performance over several weeks or over several months is typically indicative of high levels of mold, dust and other contaminants causing degradation in an AC’s performance – whereas a sudden loss of any cooling capacity whatsoever is typically indicative of an AC having failed owing to an absence of adequate refrigerant levels, or owing to mechanical and/or electrical failure of an AC component.
Air Conditioner Filters: Did you know that the best thing you can do to keep your AC’s running efficiently is to clean the filters regularly?
No matter what type of air conditioning systems you have in your home, office, restaurant, or other commercial setting – ALL air conditioning systems have return air filters that should be cleaned regularly to remove mold, dust, lint, oils, and other contaminants. When return air filters are too dirty, this restricts airflow and this degrades the performance of the air conditioning system. Restricted airflow causes a significant reduction in the cooling capacity of the air conditioning system, as well as causing a significant increase in the energy consumption of the air conditioning system. The video below clearly illustrates the impact that dirty filters will have on the airflow of a typical residential split-type air conditioner.
Regardless of the type of air conditioning system you have, the return air filters are typically easy to access (provided that the air conditioning system has been installed correctly) and they’re very easy to keep clean. Our personnel are always more than happy to spend a few minutes of their time to show our clients how they can access the return air filters of their air conditioning systems, as well as to explain how best to clean them.
We cannot stress enough how important it is to regularly clean the filters (this is true of ALL of the various types of AC systems – split-type ACs, window-type ACs, cassette-type ACs, fan-coil units, etc. Filters are the first line of defense for an AC system as they are there to prevent dust from contaminating the system. Mold, bacteria, and algae all thrive inside AC systems (especially after the ACs have been turned off….organisms aren’t as active in cold environments) as there are two primary ingredients that are abundant within AC systems – moisture and dust. Dust is comprised of a plethora of particulates, and much of it is organic (such as dead human skin, hair, pet hair, etc.) which is essentially food for mold, bacteria and algae. So if the filters have deteriorated, the development of mold, bacteria and algae will be considerably accelerated. Furthermore, when filters are exceptionally dirty, airflow will try to find the path of least resistance and dust will be sucked in to the AC system via various nooks and crannies – and this often leads to dust getting pulled into areas where you really don’t want it to be…within the electronic compart
