How Can You Increase the Lifespan of an Air Conditioner?
Thus, it’s essential to take great care of your air conditioning system to prevent its extensive wear and tear. You can increase the life expectancy of your AC unit with various proactive measures and make the most out of your investment.
With proper care, your AC unit not only operates efficiently but also results in lower energy bills. The regular maintenance of an air conditioner ensures improved reliability and increased durability.
Read this article till the end to know effective ways of increasing the life expectancy of an air conditioner.
How to Extend Your AC Unit’s Lifespan
Clean Your AC Unit Regularly
Include cleaning your AC unit as an essential part of your cleanliness routine. A clean and well maintained AC unit delivers optimal performance every time. Ensure to keep the debris, mud, leaves, dirt, or grass clippings away from the condenser.
Refer to the manufacturer guidelines for doing seasonal cleaning of your AC. Even though your AC looks well protected, it needs regular cleaning to avoid the outdoor AC unit from getting dirty. Also, get the indoor coils of your AC unit professionally cleaned for improving its performance.
Apart from cleaning the outdoor unit, ensure to check the drain lines and adjust the AC unit’s height to avoid water pooling.
Inspect and Clean Air Ducts Regularly
The optimal functioning of the HVAC system ensures the smooth operation of your AC unit. You need to inspect and clean the HVAC system’s ducts regularly to ensure the adequate circulation of the conditioned air into your room.
The presence of any leaks, obstructions, or gaps in the ductwork allows the cool air to escape before cooling the surroundings and exert more pressure on the air conditioner. Thus, repair any damage to the ducts as soon as possible.
Also, ensure that ducts have adequate insulation, and if required, give extra support to joints. Finally, clean the air ducts regularly to remove accumulated dirt and debris that may obstruct the flow of cool air into your home.
Get Professional AC Tune-Ups Regularly
It is essential to get the regular professional AC tune-ups as it serves as an effective solution for extending the life of your AC unit. The preventive air conditioner maintenance includes a professional cleaning, inspecting, and servicing your AC to prevent any issues in time.
Regular AC tune-ups by a certified HVAC company help you avoid minor issues being blown out into significant problems. It ensures that your AC unit stays in great condition, and it treats the issues even before they begin.
Get your AC unit inspected by professionals before the beginning of summer so that it gets ready to deal with the upcoming frequent workloads. With preventive maintenance, you can make savings on future costly repairs.
Change the Clogged Air Filters
The quality of conditioned air circulating in your house largely depends on the air filters in your air conditioner. The air filters determine the efficiency and performance of your AC unit.
Thus, you need to get the air filters inspected and, if required, get them changed.
It’s important to get the air filters changed frequently if you are using your AC unit heavily. Changing the air conditioner filters regularly prevents them from getting clogged due to dirt, dust, pollen, pet dander, etc.
Ideally, you should get the air filters changed after every 1-2 months. It depends basically on your air conditioner usage and the levels of poor air quality in your home.
Replacing air filters helps extend the life expectancy of your AC unit and allows you to make savings on energy costs.
Keep Your AC Unit In a Cool and Protected Area
Ensure that the indoor and outdoor units of your AC are placed in a cool and protected area away from direct sunlight or other heat-producing appliances. You should shade your AC units by using heavy blinds and drapes indoors on the sides facing the sun.
Keep the outdoor AC unit under an awning or a shady tree for providing added protection. Ensure that your outdoor AC unit is away from the dirt, grass, leaves, weeds, etc.
Remove Air Blockages for Ensuring Smooth Air Circulation
Your AC needs proper airflow without any blockages for maintaining an optimal circulation of cool air in the house. Thus, you need to clear out any obstructions from the air vents to allow the air to pass freely.
The open and clean air vents ensure that your air conditioner doesn’t have to work harder for circulating cool air. Keep the space surrounding the condenser clean and also ensure to maintain unobstructed airflow to indoor air circulation.
Vacuum the area surrounding the cooling vents and return inlets for removing the dust and clearing any obstacles. Also, make sure the drapes and furniture do not block the airflow between the rooms. It also helps in maintaining the proper pressure balance of cool air.
Give Breaks to Your Air Conditioner
Don’t run your air conditioner continuously for many hours at a stretch, as it tends to wear out quickly. Also, whenever you move out of your room for any purpose, ensure to switch off your AC unit.
Turning up the thermostat during the night and keeping it a minimum of 5 degrees helps boost the life of your air conditioner by giving a much-needed break.
How Long Do Air Conditioning Units Usually Last?
The life span of modern air conditioners varies between 15-20 years. If you have an older air conditioner, it may last for 10-12 years. However, if you are maintaining your AC unit regularly, you can increase its life expectancy to last 15 to 25 years.
The health and efficiency of your air conditioner depending on various factors, including its timely maintenance and repairs.
Look for the following signs in your air conditioner to determine if it needs replacement or repair.
- The life of your AC extends over ten years
- Your AC uses freon
- Your AC has experienced multiple motor or compressor breakdowns
- Your AC produces annoying loud sounds
- Increase in costly repair or service calls off late
Ways for Maximizing Air-Conditioning Efficiency
Let’s discuss some effective ways to maximize your air conditioner efficiency to extend its life and make savings.
Place Your Heat-Producing Appliances Away From the Thermostat
The efficiency of your air conditioning unit depends on the location of the thermostat. Ensure that the thermostat is installed away from the heat sources. If it is kept near the lamp, window, or any other heat-producing device, it cannot gauge the home’s temperature accurately.
This causes the thermostat to work more for cooling the area than needed. Thus, it results in higher cooling costs and increased wear and tear of your AC system.
Cover Your Windows
Close the blinds of your windows and draw the curtains for blocking the heat coming in from outside into your home during the daytime. It contributes a lot towards improving your system’s efficiency. It ensures that your AC unit does not have to work too hard for the desired cooling.
Vacuum Your Vents
Ensure that the vents of your AC unit are always clean and debris-free. The AC vents are usually located on the ceiling. Use a vacuum cleaner for removing the accumulated dirt and dust. The steady airflow through clean air vents helps in boosting the efficiency of your AC.
Close All the Doors and Windows
Don’t leave the doors and windows of your room opened when using an air conditioner so that the conditioned air does not escape to the outside. If you want the fresh outside air in your house, make sure to turn off your air conditioning unit.
Fix Leaks In Your House
The presence of air leakages in your home may result in decreased efficiency of an air conditioning unit. Ensure that there are no leaks under your doors, around your windows, in your attic, etc. When you notice any such leaks, fix them immediately.
Increase the Temperature On the Thermostat
Keep the temperature on the thermostat a few degrees higher. Adjusting the temperature up to 5 to 8 degrees helps make savings on both cooling costs and energy. Thus, you can increase the temperature in summer and decrease it during winters.
Keep the Area Around Your Condenser Unit Clean
Do regular cleaning of the outside area surrounding your condenser unit. The clean and debris-free condenser delivers effective performance for long periods. Moreover, ensure to keep your condenser unit in the shade away from direct exposure to harsh sunlight.
Avoid Using the Oven or Dryer During Sweltering Days
When you use your oven or hair dryer during scorching hot summer days, these appliances circulate hot air throughout the home. Thus, your AC needs to work harder to compensate for this surge of warmth in an indoor air environment. Therefore, avoid using such devices during hot days.
