C
Chillville
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With a cooling system the goal of course is for it to work years later like it worked when it was installed. Cooling systems need to maintained, here are a few suggestions to keep it running strong.
Indoor air filters need to be changed regularly, most people know that. I recommend for gardens the cheaper high flow filters instead of the high micron, IME they will keep your coil cleaner....unless you are changing out the high micron as soon as it gets dirty. What happens with those is that they get clogged up quickly, as soon as they do unfiltered air starts to leak around the side of the filter making the coil inside the air handler dirty. When this happens you lose efficiency from loss of airflow and less heat exchange happens.
Cleaning the indoor coil inside the air handler can increase the efficiency substantially in an older unit, or one that's been used in a dirty environment. Hopefully you can get to your indoor coil easily to make the job much easier. I use a water hose with a sprayer and it cleans it out quickly but it also makes a mess. Most of the dirty water will go out the condensate drain but some of it always ends up on the floor. With water-cooled air handlers you can actually take the coils out easily and clean them outside the garden, this can be done with an a/c too but you would have to recover the refrigerant to do so, much bigger job. To make it less messy there is other ways to do this. There is a cleaner in a spray can that will help along with brushes made to comb the coils. I’m sure that some a/c techs can probably offer some good tips to do this. Blazer, John? Whichever method be very careful with the fins on the coil, damaging them could cost you BTU’s.
Check to make sure that there are no holes torn in the ducting. Also check for leaky connections to registers and to the air handlers, you could be air conditioning the attic, happens all the time.
Make sure that your condensate drain(s) aren’t clogged, if they are water will back up in the air handler. If they are clogged I’ve used compressed air to gently blow them out. I’m talking about an air compressor with an air blower, not the can of air you use to spray off your keyboard :)
Cleaning the outdoor coil is really important too. Again there are special brushes and cleaning solution designed to do this, and you must be careful with the fins. Spraying the coil with low water pressure will usually remove most of the dust in between the fins and can give you some extra BTU’s if its dirty.
Make sure that the outdoor unit can breathe freely. Trim away overhanging trees and keep the grass short around the unit so that they coils are unobstructed. Always place outdoor units at least 12” away from walls or fences, if you have room for 24” that’s even better. Check to make sure the unit is still sitting level and that its placed on a small concrete slab or something equivalent, basically needs to be off the ground to keep it from rusting around the bottom. Treat for ant around outdoor unit, this can be really important. For some reason ants are sometimes attracted to electrical relays. You can inspect any visible wiring for damage to the outer insulation caused by it rubbing on something or maybe even from animals chewing at it.
It doesn't hurt to use soapy water around the scharder valves on the outdoor unit occasionally. These are the small ports that are used to fill the unit with refrigerant attached to the incoming and outgoing copper lines. They are notorious for leaking and are usually as a backup they have screw on caps that also have their own gaskets. Sometimes both fail and they leak. I can tell you that it doesn’t hurt for a certified tech to throw on some gauges and check the refrigerant levels once a year. For an example my home a/c has been cooling ok but we checked it recently just in case. Unbelievably it was 17 lbs low on refrigerant, which is a lot. It was hard to believe it was even working at all. We found a leak around the schrader valve, we put on some new caps and now its all good. Cooling like a champ now.
Guys did I miss anything? Any tips or tricks from you a/c tech?
Indoor air filters need to be changed regularly, most people know that. I recommend for gardens the cheaper high flow filters instead of the high micron, IME they will keep your coil cleaner....unless you are changing out the high micron as soon as it gets dirty. What happens with those is that they get clogged up quickly, as soon as they do unfiltered air starts to leak around the side of the filter making the coil inside the air handler dirty. When this happens you lose efficiency from loss of airflow and less heat exchange happens.
Cleaning the indoor coil inside the air handler can increase the efficiency substantially in an older unit, or one that's been used in a dirty environment. Hopefully you can get to your indoor coil easily to make the job much easier. I use a water hose with a sprayer and it cleans it out quickly but it also makes a mess. Most of the dirty water will go out the condensate drain but some of it always ends up on the floor. With water-cooled air handlers you can actually take the coils out easily and clean them outside the garden, this can be done with an a/c too but you would have to recover the refrigerant to do so, much bigger job. To make it less messy there is other ways to do this. There is a cleaner in a spray can that will help along with brushes made to comb the coils. I’m sure that some a/c techs can probably offer some good tips to do this. Blazer, John? Whichever method be very careful with the fins on the coil, damaging them could cost you BTU’s.
Check to make sure that there are no holes torn in the ducting. Also check for leaky connections to registers and to the air handlers, you could be air conditioning the attic, happens all the time.
Make sure that your condensate drain(s) aren’t clogged, if they are water will back up in the air handler. If they are clogged I’ve used compressed air to gently blow them out. I’m talking about an air compressor with an air blower, not the can of air you use to spray off your keyboard :)
Cleaning the outdoor coil is really important too. Again there are special brushes and cleaning solution designed to do this, and you must be careful with the fins. Spraying the coil with low water pressure will usually remove most of the dust in between the fins and can give you some extra BTU’s if its dirty.
Make sure that the outdoor unit can breathe freely. Trim away overhanging trees and keep the grass short around the unit so that they coils are unobstructed. Always place outdoor units at least 12” away from walls or fences, if you have room for 24” that’s even better. Check to make sure the unit is still sitting level and that its placed on a small concrete slab or something equivalent, basically needs to be off the ground to keep it from rusting around the bottom. Treat for ant around outdoor unit, this can be really important. For some reason ants are sometimes attracted to electrical relays. You can inspect any visible wiring for damage to the outer insulation caused by it rubbing on something or maybe even from animals chewing at it.
It doesn't hurt to use soapy water around the scharder valves on the outdoor unit occasionally. These are the small ports that are used to fill the unit with refrigerant attached to the incoming and outgoing copper lines. They are notorious for leaking and are usually as a backup they have screw on caps that also have their own gaskets. Sometimes both fail and they leak. I can tell you that it doesn’t hurt for a certified tech to throw on some gauges and check the refrigerant levels once a year. For an example my home a/c has been cooling ok but we checked it recently just in case. Unbelievably it was 17 lbs low on refrigerant, which is a lot. It was hard to believe it was even working at all. We found a leak around the schrader valve, we put on some new caps and now its all good. Cooling like a champ now.
Guys did I miss anything? Any tips or tricks from you a/c tech?
