4 Ways You Can Prepare Your HVAC Unit for Spring
Over the last several months, your HVAC unit has likely played a pivotal role in keeping you comfortable during the chilly Niles, OH winter. Now, it will have a couple of months to recuperate before the hot temperatures of the late spring and summer arrive. However, that doesn’t mean you should simply forget about your HVAC system until the weather heats up. Since you’ll soon be relying heavily on your air conditioner, the risk of an appliance breakdown or malfunction will increase significantly. That doesn’t have to be the case, though. If you take care of a few important tasks now, your HVAC unit will be well-equipped to handle the demands of spring and summer.
1. Consider a Smart Thermostat
It’s easy to occasionally forget to turn your heating or AC off when you no longer need it. Maybe you sometimes leave the air circulating when you go to the office, run errands, or go to bed. It’s an honest mistake, and doing it once or twice is no big deal. However, if this happens regularly, it wastes energy and deprives the HVAC unit of sufficient rest. As a result, it won’t be as healthy or perform as well when you need it the most. Having a programmable thermostat in your home will eliminate this problem.
With a smart thermostat, you get to program it to your personal preferences. If you’re gone for the same eight hours every day, you can set the thermostat to automatically shut off during that timeframe. You also won’t need to worry about manually turning the thermostat off after your home reaches a pleasant temperature. Once you program in your preferred household climate, the smart thermostat will know to stop cycling your HVAC unit as soon as your home reaches that ideal temperature. Over the course of months or years, using a programmable thermostat will save you boatloads of money on electricity bills and HVAC repairs.
2. Schedule an HVAC Tune-Up
Hopefully, you’ve already been scheduling preventative HVAC maintenance on a yearly basis. Even if you haven’t, though, this spring would be a perfect time to start doing so. An HVAC tune-up, which consists of a system cleaning and a thorough inspection, will be more beneficial to your appliance than almost anything else you can do. HVAC units that receive professional maintenance regularly are more energy-efficient, more effective at their jobs, and less likely to suffer mechanical failure. Plus, when you bring in one of our maintenance technicians at A To Z Dependable Services, they’ll check for any red flags with your HVAC unit. If any part is close to wearing out or malfunctioning, they’ll take preventative measures to spare you the cost and frustration of a more serious problem later on.
3. Clean Out Your Air Vents
It’s natural for your household air vents to gradually fill up with contaminants like dust, dirt, dander, and random debris. During springtime, this issue is exacerbated by the excessive amount of pollen floating around. If you leave your vents unchecked for too long, enough contaminants will build up to obstruct your HVAC system from circulating air. That means it will be more difficult for your AC unit to keep you comfortable during the hot months.
Before the temperature starts shooting up, check each of your home’s vents. Verify that none of them are blocked by furniture, clutter, or anything that could hamper the airflow. Then, remove each protective cover with a screwdriver and vacuum out the interior. Going forward, try to do this once each month.
4. Replace the Air Filter
To keep you comfortable during spring and summer, your HVAC unit is going to require a clean, functional air filter. Otherwise, the system will need to strain itself much harder to effectively circulate cool air, wasting electricity and adding wear and tear to the appliance. Plus, the unit will be at far greater risk for a malfunction or breakdown. Replace the filter with a new one now, then keep a close eye on it over the next several months.
When your home in the greater Niles area needs heating, cooling, or plumbing work, you’ll get excellent service from our team at A To Z Dependable Services. Since 1960, we’ve proudly served this area. We offer our customers 24/7 availability for emergencies, and we make sure that every job is done right the first time. Our excellent customer service, quality parts and materials, and skilled team have earned us an A+ rating from the BBB. We’re also proud to support local charities, like Toys for Tots, the Disabled American Veterans organization, and more. Give us a call at A To Z Dependable Services now if you have questions or want to make an appointment.
