How To Stay Cooler This Summer
Heat and humidity — it’s a part of summer in Englewood, Florida. If you want to escape the heat and humidity in your home, there is no more important component in your air conditioning unit than its air filter. Keeping the air filter clean will keep the house cooler and will make humidity inside the home less; this all adds up to how to stay cooler this summer in your house!
What does the air filter do? The air filter protects the outdoor air conditioner’s compressor’s air handler from airborne particles in the home. These airborne particles are pulled into the air filter, trapped and help protect your home’s air quality. The filter impacts the life of the outdoor compressor and if it gets dirty (and it will) it can cause the air conditioning unit to fail — that is not something you want to have happen in the height of a Florida summer.
Even a window unit air conditioner is impacted by a dirty air filter.
How To Stay Cooler This Summer
The good news is that air conditioner failure can be avoided through simple and routine maintenance of the unit and cleaning of the air filters.
What trouble can dirt and dust cause your air conditioner?
There are many, but here are a few:
- Air handlers in the air conditioning unit or compressor will slow when too much dirt and dust collect. This means the compressor will have to work longer and harder to perform the same cooling task. This will add to your energy consumption and increase your utility bills.
- The fan’s motor runs harder and hotter than it should when the air filter is dirty. This will lead to the potential for the motor to wear out more quickly and also make the unit work harder.
- If dust and debris collect on the evaporator, the unit’s insulation, it will slow the flow of air. The dust build up will add an additional (and unnecessary) layer of insulation and can cause the evaporator to freeze. When this happens, the compressor runs constantly. After you turn the unit off, the frost build up will melt and then that can lead to the water pan in the air handler to overflow which in turn, leads to indoor water damage.
As you can see dirt and debris build up leads to rolling levels of potential damage and increased cost of running the unit.
What can you do to protect the air conditioning unit?
- Remember to change the filters regularly. How? When your utility bill comes in use that as a reminder to check the unit.
- Hire an air conditioning and geothermal professional to pay a service visit regularly to clean the unit.
Upgrade your air conditioning unit.
In addition to changing the filters in the air conditioning unit regularly, you may need to upgrade and replace the unit itself. Until the time to replace the unit arrives, though, use high quality air filters. Look for a filter with a MERV rating — this means “minimum efficiency reporting value.” The MERV ranks filters from 1 -16; the higher the rating the more particulates it captures.
Make certain, though, that the MERV rating is compatible for the air conditioning system you have installed — a higher MERV filter won’t perform at a higher level if it is too high for the unit into which it’s being placed. Ask a Symbiont Service geothermal professional what the correct MERV filter rating to use for your unit or pull out your owner’s manual which will explain the correct filter.
To learn more about air filters and air conditioner performance, contact Symbiont Service Corp. We have provided HVAC services for southwestern Florida since 1983.
We educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For information about air filters and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Symbiont Service Corp. serves Englewood, Florida and the surrounding areas. Visit our website to see our special offers and get started today!
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