Do You Have an AC Contractor Maintenance Plan?

When was the last time that you had your heating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems serviced? While many homeowners only think of the air conditioning in the summer and the heating in the winter, the best homeowners are on a scheduled maintenance plan with a heating and AC contractor.
Two-thirds of all homes in America have air conditioners, and the homes with the proper maintenance schedule an AC contractor visit twice a year, once in the spring before the unit is turned on, and once in the fall after the unit is shut down. Despite this advice for twice yearly inspections, only 42% of those using central air equipment service follow this recommendation.
Regular maintenance is not only good for the longevity of the AC unit, it can also make a system run more efficiently. For example, replacing a dirty, clogged filter with a clean one can lower an air conditioner’s energy consumption by 5% to 15%. Air conditioning service can also improve substantially when you have an AC contractor replace an older system with a newer unit. In fact, today’s best air conditioners use 30% to 50% less energy to produce the same amount of cooling as air conditioners made in the mid 1970s.
Proper maintenance also limits the causes of bigger problems. Between the years 2006 and 2010, for example, faulty or poorly maintained air conditioning and fan equipment accounted for 2,500 out of 7,200 home structure fires. That means that 35% of these fires may have been prevented by proper maintenance by an AC contractor. Broken heating pumps made up an additional 7% of the home structure fires that may have also been avoided by proper service.
Just as residential AC repair maintenance is important, so is the maintenance of commercial units. Because these larger units control the comfort of so many businesses and individual apartments, there is even more reason to create an AC maintenance plan. This plan can be followed by an individual maintenance person, or an entire maintenance staff.
Owners can expect HVAC units to last an average of 12 years. Proper cleaning and maintenance can make sure your unit reaches the longest life possible. When it does come time, however, to install a newer unit, home owners may be purchasing a more efficient cooling system, and may immediately begin seeing the savings. Switching to high-efficiency air conditioners and taking other actions to keep your home cool could reduce energy use for air conditioning by 20% to 50%.